A simple sense of obligation is not enough to inspire someone to wholeheartedly throw all their energy into their assigned tasks; they also have to feel a degree of ownership over their duties.
An organization’s evolution is continuously driven by the energy generated from the inner motivations of those who work there. A simple sense of obligation is not enough to inspire someone to wholeheartedly throw all their energy into their assigned tasks; they also have to feel a degree of ownership over their duties. Through that process, as they grope their way through the uncertainties, their abilities grow, bringing with it a renewed passion for their work. These individual developments are what organizations are made of, and they form the foundation that underpins both their personal and organizational growth.
But self-discipline is a difficult goal to attain, and human weakness can sometimes compel a person to take the easier path. In order for them to overcome these flaws and realize their potential, they need to have a community or network of relationships where people can rely on and grow with each other.
Being a disciplined person requires the individual to show tolerance and respect towards their fellow humans, and to be proactive in their personal interactions and in their relationships with the organization.
A member of an organization tends to become set in their ways once they’ve established their own way of doing things. Couple that with an institutional order and mechanism premised on stability, and you have an organization that, if left to its own devices, is destined to become rigid and unadaptable.
But people and organizations are organic beings that rely on organic systems to function, and the constant changes they experience give rise to a host of issues and contradictions. That is simply the natural state of things, and the existence of these issues does not in fact indicate a flawed organization. Rather, the real sign of trouble is when the organization is unable to acknowledge these issues, refusing to see how the disruption caused by shedding light on them is a necessary part of the evolutionary process.
As long as they exist, organizations will absorb new elements and undergo change. And when these changes are for the better, disruption is inevitable. The organization can accept this as a natural development and embrace the notion that disruptions bring new possibilities. Or they can choose not to. And that choice will have a great impact in determining the course of its evolution.