A Review of How to Prevent Organizational Dry Rot
Change has come a way life for most large organizations. As John Gardner described it, “Like people and plants, organizations have a life cycle. They have a green and supple youth, a time of flourishing strength, and a gnarled old age . . . An organization can go from you to old age in two or three decades, or it it may last centuries (Garnder, 1965).” Nevertheless, organizations differ from people and plants because their cycle can never be predicted and they can renew themselves continuously.
In this article, Mr. Gardner went on to explain the rules for organizational renewal: 1. The organization must have an effective program for the recruitment and development of talent. People are the ultimate source of renewal. 2. The organization must be a hospitable environment for the individual. Indivduals who feel like cogs in a machine will not produce ideas for change and will resist the ideas produced by others. 3. The organization must have a built-in provisions for self-criticism. It must have an atmosphere in which ALL questions can be asked. “For those in power, the danger of self-deception is very great, the danger of failing to see the problems or refusing to see them is ever present (Garnder, 1965).” 4. The organization must have fluidity of internal structure. Organizations cannot exist without structure arrangements of divisions, branches, departments and so forth. Specialization and division of labor are at the heart of modern organizations. 5. The organization must have an adequate system of “easy” internal communication. 6. The organization must have some means of combating the process by which men become prisoners of their procedures. It is in our nature to develop an affection for customary ways of doing
