The need
for optimisation or continuous improvement originates from production
management. There is even a production management method called OPT, which
stands for optimisation. We have a general belief in society that optimisation is the
foundation for success. Is that really true? Could our exaggerated optimisation
rage also be the foundation of failure? Our optimisation tendency has turned
into an optimisation compulsion. We tend to optimise just about anything,
continuously, from the location where we produce our goods to the partner we
share our life with. As a result, nothing is stable and we lose ourselves in
endless transformation efforts.
Optimisation
works well in a stable environment, where the parameters remain the same for a
longer period of time. This is rarely the case, especially if everyone is already optimising everything. All optimisation efforts will prove to be pointless
because the environment changes too rapidly, and you will need to change
direction before you can complete your optimisation process, which is by definition also a transformation process. Our self-inflicted optimisation compulsion
is based on intellectual blackmailing: “If you don’t optimise, you will not
reach the top; you will not make it. It is all or nothing. Therefore, if you
don’t make it, it will be your own fault.” This is the typical reasoning in a
society based on meritocracy.
I refer to
my blogs: “Beschleunigung”,
and in Dutch: “Hyperactiviteit”
and “Vloeibare
Waarden”.
3 comments:
Isn't it a little oversimplified to blame optimization per se? If people were socially aligned on their thinking their different optimizations could be mutually beneficial. The probable reason for the frustrating optimizations that triggered the topic post must have been selfish optimizations by different parties.
The answer to that is the proper educating of those involved, so that their optimizations may be coherent and mutually beneficial.
And, if it's done that way, one could have a useful meritocracy, rather than the contrived ones that we so often see in modern business and politics. Examples of the contrived merits: They have merit, because they are put in charge (in business) or were elected (in politics).
I would like more information about this, because it is very nice. Thanks for sharing.
I'm afraid this will be hard to do, as your comment is quasi-anonymous and doesn't contain an e-mail link behind the blogger identity.
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