Modelling and muddling: The long route to new organisations

This article considers two main responses in organisations to present-day business turbulence — designing and experimenting (modelling) and practical adaptation (muddling). Joost Muller and Diana Watts look at ‘fashionable’ approaches to solving crises, like TQM and strong centralised leadership. Then they reconsider traditional management recipes under the three ‘S’ — strategy, structure and steering, as well as trendier ideas like chaos theory. But the authors focus less on modelling solutions than on ‘muddling through’ ones, in particular, the role of learning in developing organisations. They note that the ‘learning organisation’ is heavily influenced by the cultural assumptions of the country in question.