Planning and Taking Action

Polarity management is a strategy of how to shift from concentrating on one pole as the problem and the other pole as the solution to considering the importance of both. It helps to differentiate workplace problems that can be solved and cannot be solved. The aim of the polarity management is to attain the best of both poles while avoiding the limits of each pole. It is utilized for acknowledging, understanding, and managing complex problems.

The effective management of polarities is required to solve modes of thinking that are not appropriate to the new real situations. It also helps lessen the negative effects while taking advantage of positive effects. Polarity management can only be applied if problems are still existing and the two poles are interdependent. One problem in managing an organization or a company is planning and action.

If planning is selected as a solution and taking action is neglected, an organization or a company attains the negative effects of planning alone: failure to implement plans, lack of accomplishment, and failure to learn from acting (Johnson, 1992). If taking action is selected as a solution to the problem and planning is neglected, an organization or a company achieves the downside of action alone: more mistakes and waste, lack of direction, and difficulty in achieving coordination (Johnson, 1992).

Both planning and action are dependent on each other to work well and are interdependent opposites (Johnson, 1992, p. 84). Creating a polarity map is important in managing polarity because it enables those individuals in an organization or a company with different viewpoints to work together by discussing both positive and negative viewpoints to achieve the best outcome. A polarity map consists of two or more positive aspects for each of the polarities. It must focus on the positive aspects of both poles to attain a goal.

Polarity mapping also enables an organization or a company to determine the real aim of strategy formation in polarized situations. The Individual Responsibility Pole refers to a perspective of a manager to focus on him or herself as the source of power (Johnson, 1992). Managers anticipate they will change and grow despite of the circumstances in which they will encounter by themselves and believe they will achieve success so they are not making an effort to involve others or the organization to make it happen for them.

The advantages of the Individual Responsibility Pole include no waiting for a change in the rules, structure, or leadership, using one’s own initiative and creativity, and more organization support (Johnson, 1992). The disadvantages include failure of the organization to get valuable feedback, more individual resistance, and failure of the organization to respond and improve (Johnson, 1992). The Organization Responsibility Pole is focused on the practices and policies of an organization or a company and their impact on the ability of people to do their jobs (Johnson, 1992).

Changing the practices and policies in a positive way empowers the organization or company and the individual by increasing both of their ability to function well (Johnson, 1992). The advantages of Organization Responsibility Pole include the ability of the organization to get valuable feedback, ability of the organization to respond and improve, and more individual support, while the disadvantages include waiting for the organization to improve, failure to use individual’s initiative and creativity, and more organizational resistance (Johnson, 1992).

Johnson (1992) explains the five elements required for managing any polarity effectively include an understanding of the difference between a solvable problem and a polarity to be managed, an awareness of the existence of positive and negative aspects to each pole, a need to be sensitive to the negative effects as they are experienced, willingness to shift from the negative aspect of one pole to the positive aspect of the other, and ability of managers to be effective in leading the people to shift from the downside of the present pole to the upside of the opposite pole, in leading the people who fear the possible negative effects of the proposed changes, and in mediating between the two forces involved in all dilemmas. The author adds that a well-managed polarity spends most of the time experiencing the positive effects of one pole or the other and when the negative aspects of a pole is experienced, it is employed as a warning sign to move to the positive of the other pole. Managers can easily anticipate and minimize problems by implementing strategies.

The steps that need to be taken in using polarity management in the marketplace business fundamental include involving key stakeholders, determining the difficult problems to be solved, creating the polarity map, understanding how polarities work, identifying the actions or measures to know whether an organization or a company is experiencing positive effects of each pole, and determining the actions or measures to know whether an organization or a company is experiencing negative effects of each pole. There are several stages to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. The stage one and two must be process-focus while stage three and four must be product-market focus. The process-focus stages must describe the advantages of attaining the goal by reducing inventories, increasing efficiency, improving delivery on time and quality, and reducing cost.

It must also describe the possible negative outcomes of attaining the goal such as the inability to change processes and over reliance on fewer customers. The product-market focus stages must outline the advantages of attaining the goal such as increasing turnover and enhancing customer retention and satisfaction. It must also describe the possible negative outcomes of attaining the goal such as the inefficiency of processes, slow moving breakeven, and increasing costs due to the intricacy of various customers. Reference Johnson, B. (1992). Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems (2nd ed. ). Amherst, M. A. : Human Resource Development Press.

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