Bolman and Deal’s discussion of short-term thinking versus long-term consequences (pp. 27 – 30) is on the money. How many of us have been awed by the stupidity of a policy decision in the workplace? Many seem arbitrary and appear to have been made with no thought given to the downstream repercussions, but what about decisions over which the organization has no control?

I am thinking of examining the effects of recent state budget cuts on the Virginia Community College System. Specifically, I want to look at contingency planning by the Humanities and Social Sciences department at the Alexandria Campus of NVCC.

Sometimes an organization is at the mercy of forces over which it has no control. All the reframing and restructuring in the world cannot mitigate the harsh fact that there is no money forthcoming. It appears that there is nothing an organization can do but put the best face on a bad situation.