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Is It Possible To Lift Oneself By The Hair? And If Not, Why Is It Worth Trying

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Abstract

The title of this text alludes to the legend of Baron Munchausen, who reportedly did many impossible things. A change of a system by the same system belongs to such impossible tasks, as shown by Niklas Luhmann's theory of autopoietic systems. Reforming organizational structures and processes is a doomed enterprise, and yet this text suggests that it might be worth undertaking. Various examples of reforms demonstrate that their result is frustration and a host of unintended consequences. Many of unintended consequences might, however, prove beneficial and worth permanenting. Reforms should therefore be treated as periods of purposefully created instability, making the present system transparent and vulnerable. Such an induced instability might lead to innovation and invention, and therefore aid a spontaneous change.

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  • Czarniawska, Barbara, 2004. "Is It Possible To Lift Oneself By The Hair? And If Not, Why Is It Worth Trying," GRI-rapport 2004:10, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg Research Institute GRI.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhb:gungri:2004_010
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    Keywords

    planned organizational change; autopoietic systems; diffusion and translation; paradoxes; reforms;
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