Russ Ackoff once again does a great job of providing insight into management. I highly recommend A Little Book of f-Laws [the broken link was removed] where Ackoff, with Herbert Addison and Sally Bibb, present 13 common sins of management, such as:
See: Deming’s thoughts on unknown and unknowable figures. A book with over 80 management flaws (er I mean f-Laws) will be published in January – you can even submit your own [the broken link was removed].
Related: Ackoff articles and books – blog posts on Ackoff’s ideas – Management Advice Failures
It is more difficult to define what we want than what we do not want. Nevertheless, a ‘getting rid of’ strategy is a cop out. Great gains are seldom made easily. Therefore, it is important for managers to know what they would have if they could have whatever they wanted.
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The most effective way of creating the future is by closing or reducing the gap between the current state and the idealized design.
Have your own f-Law? Submit your f-Law [the broken link was removed] and you could win fame and a splendid prize”
“f-Laws are are truths about organizations that we might wish to deny or ignore – simple and more reliable guides to managers’ everyday behaviour”
My f-Law, which I came up with some years ago though it has not to my knowledge been “published” formally:
“What gets rewarded appears to get done. What gets punished appears not to get done.”
It’s a twist on the old “What gets measured gets done” which I think is not quite true when rewards and punishments are involved, and it builds too on Goodhart’s law.