Systemic inactivism: a modern form of laissez-faire thinking

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Sachs, Wladimir | Calhoun, George

Affiliations: The Philadelphia Consulting Group, Wynnewood, PA 19096, U.S.A.

Abstract: Organizational managers frequently need to find ways of legitimizing inactivity or resistance to change. Traditional anti-change ideologies (e.g., laissez-faire) no longer serve as effective legitimizers. The systems approach can be easily adapted to this purpose by distorting and reinterpreting the basic principles of systems thinking. This reinterpretation, which we refer to as systemic inactivism, is analyzed in detail in this paper.

Keywords: Systems planning, inactivism, laissez-faire, dynamic conservatism, systems approach

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1981-2307

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 191-198, 1981