Muddling through

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"Muddling-Through" (German: "sich-durchwurschteln" ) is a conception of control in organizational theory, the results of which result from mutual coordination processes of all actors involved. With this method of control, centralized or centralized planning is completely dispensed with.

In contrast to self-control, neither an escalation rule nor a sanction concept are defined in this chaotic concept .

Main representative

"Muddling-Through" was first portrayed in 1959 by Charles E. Lindblom . Further representatives of this approach are HE Wrapp 1967, J. Quinn 1980, K. Ganser, W. Siebel and T. Sieverts.

This teaching comes from the field of social theory and was then also taken up by organizational theory. The focus here is on questions of organizational change. "Muddling-Through" was developed in a more or less direct discussion with representatives of plan-based control concepts.

This control concept - in contrast to a “ shock therapy ” - belongs to the category of incremental control. For this purpose, all approaches are subsumed that reject comprehensive total planning and instead recommend control in small, manageable and therefore easily revisable steps. A representative of another variant of incrementalism is Karl Popper with his concept of piecemeal engineering . It does not completely dispense with planning, but this should be guided by the principle of constant error correction.

The starting point of Lindblom's considerations is the limitation of any holistic view of a social system. Overall plans therefore necessarily lead to unexpected and undesirable (secondary) consequences when implemented directly.

Application of the concept in organizational theory

The concept of Lindblom is in different ways business has been applied contexts and also has found the general concept of corporate management well received, such as HE Wrapp 1967 or J. Quinn 1980. In vocabulary and reasoning structure K. Ganser, W. Siebel sit back and T. Sieverts also to Charles E. Lindblom. This differentiates between a "rationally comprehensive" method and one of "iterative limited comparison" in planning situations, but warns in conclusion:

"So the iterative (gradually approximating) method of limited comparisons is in fact also a method or a system; it is by no means the failure of all methods for which the administration should feel guilty. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of this method are (. ..), numerous. For example, it has no guarantee that all the affected values ​​will be taken into account; excellent planning alternatives could be ignored simply because they have not yet appeared in the interplay of incremental changes. "

Criticisms

The following points of criticism were expressed in the debate:

  1. The control concept "Muddling-Through" does not take sufficient account of the balance of power in the negotiation processes.
  2. With its preference for achieving short-term success, the control method endangers sustainability or the achievement of longer-term objectives.
  3. Far-reaching, irreversible (directional) decisions cannot be made as a result of incremental steps.
  4. "Muddling-Through" supports the forces that want to maintain the status quo and prevent innovations.

M. Rainer Lepsius criticizes the fact that the ongoing processes of institution building and deinstitutionalization are discussed by the responsible politicians in terms of their constitutional and economic consequences, but not in terms of their social consequences. Explicit sociological impact analyzes would be replaced by declarations of values .

Other critics of Charles E. Lindblom include Amitai Etzioni and Gerry Johnson .

literature

  • David Braybrooke, Charles Lindblom: A strategy of decision. Free Press: New York 1963.
  • Ganser, K .; Siebel W .; Sieverts T .: The IBA Emscher Park's planning strategy - an approximation. RaumPlanung magazine, No. 61, Dortmund 1993.
  • Quinn, James: Strategies of Change. 'Logical Incrementalism Homewood 1980, ISBN 0-256-02543-6
  • Schreyögg, Georg; Von Werder, Alex: Concise dictionary of corporate management and organization. 4th edition, Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 1369-1374, ISBN 3-7910-8050-4 -
  • Wrapp, H. Edward: Good Managers Don't Make Policy Decisions. HBR, Jg. 45, H. 5/1967, pp. 91-99.

Web links

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  1. ^ Charles E. Lindblom: The Science of Muddling-Through. Public Administration Review, Vol. 19, 1959, pp. 79-88, ISBN 0-829-03504-4 .
  2. ^ Karl R. Popper: The misery of historicism. Tübingen et al. 1965, ISBN 3-169-45291-6 .
  3. ↑ ders., 1975, p. 175
  4. ^ Raymond Boudon: La logique du social. Introduction à l'analyse sociologique. Hachette Litterature. 1979. p. 241
  5. ^ M. Rainer Lepsius: Modernization Policy as Institution Building: Criteria of Institutional Differentiation. in: interests, ideas and institutions. Opladen 1990, ISBN 3-531-11879-X .
  6. ↑ Amitai Etzioni: The active society. London 1968. ISBN 3-531-11151-5 .
  7. ↑ Gerry Johnson: Rethinking Incrementalism. SMJ, Vol. 9, 1988, pp. 75-91