THE ABILENE PARADOX

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THE ABILENE PARADOX

• Managing Agreement

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History of Abilene Paradox

• Was observed by management expert Jerry B. Harvey
  in his 1988 book The Abilene Paradox and other
  Meditations on Management
• Organizations frequently take actions in
  contradiction to what they really want to do and
  therefore defeat the very purposes they are
  trying to achieve
• The name of the phenomen comes from an anecdote
  in the book J. B. Harvey uses to explain the
  paradox
• Moviehttp//www.media-partners.com/communication_
  skills/abilene_paradox.htm

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What is Abilene Paradox

• Paradox in which the limits of a particular
  situation force a group of people to act in a way
  that is directly the opposite of their actual
  preferences. It is a phenomen that occurs when
  groups continue with misguided activities which
  no group member desires because no group member
  is willing to raise objections

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Agenda

• Symptoms
• Case-Studies
• Causes
• Solutions

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The Symptoms

• The inability to manage agreement - the essential
  symptom, which has 4 specific subsymptoms
• Agreeing as to the steps that are required to
  cope with the situation/problem
• Failure in expressing own desires and/or beliefs
• Taking actions contrary to own desires and
  beliefs
• Expressing anger, frustration, and dissatisfaction

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Case- Studies

• Case 1 The Boardroom Ozyx Corp.
• In private members say - project looks great but
  will fail because of unavailable technology.
  Continued support will create cash flow problems
  jeopardizing the existence of the organization.
• All try to maintain optimistic facade so others
  wont worry. The research director writes
  ambiguous progress reports so the president and
  the vice-president can interpret them to suit
  themselves.
• End result declined prestige of the company.

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Case-Studies cont.

• Case 2 The Watergate - high public officials
  bugging the Democratic National Committee
  headquaters
• During hearings by Congress on the scandal,
  person after person on the White House staff said
  they privately thought the Nixon White House
  dirty tricks plan was a bad one, but voiced
  support for it because they believed everyone
  else on the staff supported it. The collective
  perception was that everyone favored it, yet few,
  if any, privately thought it was a good idea.

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Causes

• Action Anxiety
• Negative Fantasies
• Real Risk
• Separation Anxiety

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Solutions

• PHASE 1 Diagnose the Paradox
• Organization Diagnostic Survey
• -how well the team is structured, supported, and
  led.
• PHASE 2 Proposal on how to Solve the Problem
• 1) Corporate culture/philosophy
• Build a process of openness and trust be safely
  built into corporate
• 2) Implement Motivation Strategies

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Solutions cont.

• 3) Training
• Develop Communication Strategies
• Avoid false consensus
• Overcome the fear of speaking out
• Encourage effective decision-making within a
  group
• 4) Devils Advocate
• 5) Anonymous feedback via
• Suggestion box
• Online chat

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Solutions cont.

• PHASE 3 Implement the Plan
• PHASE 4 Feedback and Control/ Revise the plan or
  not

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

• By
• Abdullah Tajari