Dörner’s book can
be a life-changing book; however, it is provided here because of the practical
value of its content in helping educators and citizens in general understand
the multiple customers of higher education. It is also useful in helping
students understand disciplines that are complex, detailed, and
interconnected—terms that Dörner
explains.
This webpage
provides:
§
Why
the Title The Logic of Failure?
§
Why Is
Systems Thinking Necessary?
Background |
Dietrich Dörner was “director of the Cognitive
Anthropology Project at the Max Planck Institute in For the above phrase
and an overview of Dörner’s value, |
Publications |
Dietrich Dörner. The Logic of Failure: Why Things
Go Wrong and What We Can Do to Make Them Right. Translated by Rita and
Robert Kimber. |
Website |
N/A |
Failure does not strike like a bolt from the blue; it
develops gradually according to its own logic. As we watch individuals
attempt to solve problems, we will see that complicated situations seem to
elicit habits of thought that set failure in motion from the beginning. From
that point, the continuing complexity of the task and the growing
apprehension of failure encourage methods of decision making that make
failure even more likely and then inevitable. We can learn, however. People court failure in predictable
ways.… We need only apply the ample power of our minds to understanding and
then breaking the logic of failure. (p. 10) |
Dӧrner defines a system as “a network of many variables in causal relationships to one another.” (p. 73) A system may, however, best be understood by this visual image:
[W]e could liken a decision
maker in a complex situation of a chess player whose set has many more than
the normal number of pieces, several dozen, say. Furthermore, these chessmen are
all linked to each other by rubber bands, so that the player cannot move just
one figure alone. Also, his men and his opponent’s men can move on their own
and in accordance with the rules the player does not fully understand or
about which he has mistaken assumptions. And, to top things off, some of his
own and his opponent’s men are surrounded by a fog that obscures their
identity. (p. 42) |
…we face an array of closely¾though often subtly¾linked problems. The modern world is made up of
innumerable interrelated subsystems, and we need to think in terms of these
interrelations. In the past, such considerations were less important. What
did the growth of The need to see a problem embedded in the context of other
problems rarely arose. For us, however, this is the rule, not the exception. Do our habits of thought measure up to
the demands of thinking in systems? What errors are we prone to when we have
to take side effects and long-term repercussions into account? (pp.
5-6) |
One basic error accounts for all catastrophes: none of the
participants realized that they were dealing with a system in which, though
not every element interacted with every other, many elements interacted with
many others.… They did not take into account the side effects and
repercussions of certain measures. They dealt with the entire system, not as a system but as a bundle of
independent minisystems. And dealing with systems in this way breeds trouble:
if we do not concern ourselves with
the problems we do not have, we soon have them. (pp. 86-87) |
For all of the quotations from The
Logic of Failure and these topics, click here:
For information or problems with this link, please email using the email address below.
WCJC Department: |
History – Dr. Bibus |
Contact Information: |
281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu |
Last Updated: |
2012 – 06/04 |
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