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In physics, there are phenomena in which a moving object keeps moving in the same direction or a stationary object keeps stopping.
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This is called the law of inertia.
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Humans have such inertial movements and non-inertial movements that start moving in new directions that are not so inertial.
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The organization strengthens inertia.
- Suppose there are three people who have a 60% chance of choosing “maintenance of the status quo” and a 40% chance of choosing “reform”.
- Individually, 40% of the time, we choose to change.
- If these three people take a majority vote…
- All maintain status quo: 22
- 2 maintain status quo: 42%.
- 2 people transformed: 29%.
- All transformed: 6%.
- and the probability that the status quo will be chosen increases.
- majority rule strengthens the majority option.
- It would be interesting to visualize how the increase in the number of people biases the majorityExperiment needed
- On the other hand, a majority for “change” would strengthen it.
- Call it “company culture,” but dominant design in decision-making.
- Example: “If an improvement fails, do not undo it, but improve it further.” Toyota Production Capability: The Ultimate Wisdom of Monozukuri.
- This calculation was a choice between “maintenance of the status quo or change,” but in the form of a proposal and discussion, it could happen that the change proposal differs in a case where “more than one person chose change,” making it even more likely that “maintenance of the status quo” will be chosen.
- We can alleviate that a bit by making the choice “first, maintain the status quo or change.”
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It is inevitable that inertia will be stronger in an organization that has been maintained for many years.
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