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Through the Detox Prism throws some light on the modern-day pathologies that are crippling the productivity, resilience, innovation and survival of our private, public and social organizations, and therefore of our standard of living.
It probes the proximate sources of dysfunction at five interfaces: between the organization and its employees (x-inefficiency), its value chain upstream (escaping fault), its socio-physical environment (externalities), its governance regime (hijacking by certain groups), and its ethical context (moral vacancy). Toxicities at these five interfaces are interrelated and moral vacancy is of central importance in this complex of relationships that may be the source of something like two-thirds to three-quarters of the observed waste. Our inquiry, built around the Detox Prism, gauges the toxicity at these five interfaces, probes their sources, and suggests useful families of design repairs based on a mix of mechanisms of practical use in the different sectors.
This detox perspective is based on a systematic effort to lift both analysts and practitioners with the skyhook of a crane in order to broaden their outlook, to lengthen their time horizon, and to help them escape from mental prisons to inspire effective and practical design thinking.
Gilles Paquet (1936–2019), O.C., MRSC, was Professor Emeritus at the Telfer School of Management and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on Governance of the University of Ottawa. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Society of Arts of London, and served as President of the Royal Society of Canada (2003–2005). He studied at Laval, Queen's (Canada) and at the University of California (Los Angeles) where he was Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics. He taught at Carleton University for almost 20 years before joining the University of Ottawa in 1981. He received honorary doctorates from Queen's, Laval, and Thompson Rivers University, received the Public Service Citation Award of APEX, and was made Honorary Member of l'Association des économistes québécois. He was made Member of the Order of Canada in 1992.
Tim Ragan (Author)
Tim Ragan is an entrepreneur and transformation consultant to CEOs and their executive teams. He has over 20 years of experience in a management and executive capacity with global companies and startups. He has also taught business process redesign and governance at the Telfer School of Management.
Introduction – About detoxification as a new way of thinking
Chapter 1 – X-inefficiencies: the interface of management and labour
Pathologies
Sources of the pathologies: cheating and shirking
Redesign required: incentive rewards and conventions of trust
A primer on conventions
Illustrative cases: Lincoln Electric and ROWE
Chapter 2 – Escaping fault: the opacity of the production network
Pathologies
Sources of the pathologies: opaqueness and irresponsibility
Redesign required: SP(I)N and intrinsic motivations
Illustrative cases: cell phone towers and conflict diamonds
Chapter 3 – Externalities: the organization and its socio-physical environment
Externalities as pathologies or gifts
Sources of the pathologies: inadequate arrangements
Redesign required: prices and sensitivities
Illustrative cases: environmental externalities
Chapter 4 – Hijacking: the challenges of stewardship
Pathologies
Sources of the pathologies: hijacking
Redesign required: value-adding, scoreboards and corporate forms
Illustrative cases: finessing corporate governance
Chapter 5 – Moral vacancy: the burden/power of sociality and ultra-sociality
Pathologies
Sources of the pathologies: cultural and moral vacancy
Redesign required: cultural and moral corridors
Illustrative case: a new sense of honour as lever
Chapter 6 – Putting it all together: constructing a Detox Prism
Crippling epistemologies
The need for a crane
The Detox Prism: a diamond perspective
The map changes the landscape
A research agenda
Conclusion – In praise of design thinking