Rereading “The Halo Effect” and Thinking About Open Government

bill — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:03:02 +0000

As I read about the plans for implementing Open Government, I decided that I needed to reread The Halo Effect … and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers. Not because I am dismissive of open government but because I want it to succeed. And one way of ensuring success is to make sure the plans don’t fall victim to these management delusions:

The Halo Effect – Attributing organizational success to unrelated factors such as leadership, strategy, workplace motivation, etc.

Delusion of Absolute Performance – Seeing success as absolute rather than if the organization is doing better than its competitors.

Delusion of Rigorous Research – Confusing the quantity of research with the quality of research.

Delusion of the Single Explanation – One factor completely explains success or failure.

Delusion of Correlation and Causation – This should be a familiar one.

Delusion of Connecting the Winning Dots – Basing a sample only on outcomes such as only studying successful companies.

Delusion of Lasting Success – No company is successful in every business environment.

Delusion of the Wrong End of the Stick – Confusing cause and effect.

Delusion of Organizational Physics – Companies and the people who inhabit them are not easily predictable and the complexity inherit in their relationships makes them hard to study.

Bill's Notebook » Halo Effect

Rereading “The Halo Effect” and Thinking About Open Government