Management Stance Patterns

What is it about?

Situations repeat in every organisation. While some of them may constitute a reassuring structure, others may constitute an irritating obstacle in daily routine. Repeating situations may emerge quickly or slowly, they may be stable over time or volatile, and they may have minor or major consequences within an organisation. Either way, they are likely to affect each and every person within an organisation in one way or another. This raises the question if, in turn, one may influence repeating situations by adequate means. In this work, we try to provide such means and propose three management stances that constitute an approach to address repeating situations. We provide examples of use and mention their limits before codifying them into a pattern format as it is used within the pattern community.

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Photo by shawnanggg on Unsplash

Photo by shawnanggg on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This paper assumes that repeating situations in organisational structures and interactions manifest as behavioural patterns. Timing a response to such a “sticky issue” (to dampen or amplify a pattern) might pose a challenge. If one responses to a pattern too early, the response might imply an improper generalisation of a one-off event. If one responses to a pattern too late, the pattern might already have become established – and accepted – routine within an organisation. It is a challenge to address a repeating situation at an appropriate time.