Efficiency vs. Resilience -- An analogy based on an essay by Chip Ward

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174826/chip_ward_how_efficiency_maximizes_catastrophe


A long academic essay by Chip Ward on the tradeoffs between efficiency and resilience within natural systems. The thesis is that decisions that maximize efficiency in the short term often create fragile systems that collapse catastrophically when the unexpected inevitably occurs in the long term.

To explicitly recast this thesis (which I agree with) into the world of organizations and management, an organization can decide to streamline procedures so that they involve fewer people and are more efficient.
However, that same decision can erode the organization's ability to respond creatively and organically when something unexpected happens that requires experienced and thoughtful decision-making at a lower administrative level.

In addition, and this was not a point made in the article, this same process dramatically reduces the number of people who are experienced and seasoned enough to step into the smaller number of decision-making roles.