A company is two sub-systems competing against each other

If you spend well worth time using the tools of systems thinking to model any company, business or non-profit organization (with over ten people). You’ll find two main subsystems that compose the system you are analyzing. One subsystem is the management system, the variation of scientific management, administrative and bureaucratic management theories that still dominate the business world. The second subsystem is the informal network between people. This network results from a natural social order that emerges when people are grouped for any reason.

When you use casual loops to model how those two sub-systems are working (including understanding their purpose, parts and how they interact); you’ll find out that those two sub-systems are fighting one with each other and creating vicious reinforcing loops that damage the purpose of the whole, the company (system).

Those two sub-systems are a systemic issue that we can track back into history. A complex issue that is complicated to resolve and contribute to the fall of many businesses. Understanding and acknowledging the problem is the first step for a solution. This is a shift in thinking paradigm, but when you get there, you can start the long journey of fixing the system and become a more efficient organization.