Roger Coe Eddy edited par_textbf_Institutional_Resistances_begin__.tex  over 7 years ago

Commit id: f3b354bb01cb82ab33cf7cfabe70af7d9a507e6a

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\begin{quote}  4b. An organizational committee of a law firm had responsibility for promotions. The chair was very quiet throughout presentations and debate on candidates but at the end would ask: But is he/she \emph{sound?} This question led to confusion. What was meant by this term? A conclusion could not be reached so no promotion would occur and the subject would be postponed to a later agenda. While several partners noticed this behavior the chair would always be reappointed. The individual reluctance to promote had been converted to a systemic habit that avoided any periodic evaluation until a much later strong reaction of associates who had been passed over. \emph{The functioning of the committee became invisible because of a hidden in plain sight unacknowledged structure for deferring action, discussion and dealing with reality. A personality characteristic of the chair person had become part of the institutional structure or vice versa. They were mutally adapted to ignore reality and threats to organizational survival.}   \end{quote}