Overcoming Organizational System Blindness

Abstract

The management theory of “leading systems” and understanding the space conditions within organizational systems (Oshry, 1999) illustrates how subconscious sense-making results in narratives that are counterproductive within organizations. Barry Oshry’s theory illustrates how involuntary predictable reflex patterns inherently molded within organizational spaces (top, middle, bottom, and customer) result in all-too-familiar stories and narrative language that yield unhealthy and detrimental behavior throughout the system. The “organizations” where system blindness is apt to occur are many and varied. Any system and the individuals within (including governments, corporations, non-profits, and family units) would benefit from understanding Oshry’s work aimed at restoring system sight.