Participating
The guiding process decision-maker clarifies which positions, roles and functions must be included in the decisions. If everyone decided about everything, there would be too little reduction in complexity! Therefore, there is an inner structure in each organisation which dictates where and what is decided. This structure ‘exists’, in a manner of speaking, parallel to the structure of where something is done (guiding process networking). It is conspicuous with many consultancy projects for reorganisation that the operational procedures and structure are designed with great meticulousness, whilst decision-making processes and structures are more often treated as secondary.
Often the head of the hierarchy dictates the structures of the communication and decision-making bodies and it is underestimated how influential these can be and what consequences they can have. It is not only a question about who can contribute factually, when deciding who should be involved in decision-making (frequently the criteria is this: “What is he doing here, he doesn’t understand anything about this issue!”), but it is also just as important to know whose interests are affected or must be considered in the respective decisions. Often this is not desired, because representatives of other areas are seen as spies or disruptors who only complicate the issues. It is thus important to keep in mind that, in organisations, one can only decide where disputes are carried out, but not if. For this reason, enormous significance lies in the decision structures, – procedures, -rights and -duties for the process of organising and the performance of the organisation.