Master Systems™

Everything every organization does is information.

• Strategy is information, and it is created from information about markets and competitors.
• How products are assembled is determined by an engineering process, which is created from information.
• Paper-flows and IT-flows are determined by what information each step in the flow needs and where that information will come from.
• An organization’s culture is determined by which behaviors are encouraged and discouraged by groups; these subtle encouragements and discouragements are information.
• Each person’s actions and statements are determined at every moment by information they receive and their responses to it. This incoming information can be policies, statements made by others, e-mail, rumors, to-do lists, calendar appointments, presentations, etc. These are responded to based on values, priorities, beliefs, attitudes, rules, culture, etc.

Any system that controls the information, controls the organization.

• The Master System processes all information of every kind in the organization, which means the Master System controls everything: all behavior, decisions, processes, strategy, etc.

How the Master System processes information determines how successful the organization is:

• What it does
• What it produces
• Its finances
• Who works there and what they do and how well they do it
• All strategies and plans, and how well they work
• Meetings and their effectiveness
• Etc.

Every organization or people-grouping of every kind and size has a Master System

• Families and life-partners
• Churches, clubs, member associations, industry groups
• Business teams, departments, subsidiaries, and whole organizations from sizes one to 100,000
• Government work groups, agencies, divisions, administrations
• Neighborhoods, villages, cities, states, nations

There are two ways to categorize information: by its positive-negative and by its importance:

• “Positive” information is information such as, “Profits increased 10% last quarter.”
• “Negative” information is information such as, “Customer B has gone to our competitor.”
• Low-significance information is information such as the fact that Worker C just threw a gum wrapper into the trash at their workstation.
• High-significance information is information such as the fact that a new contract with Vendor F will cost 30% less than anticipated.

Negative information is information that makes us uncomfortable in some way . Uncomfortable information is information that is:

• Threatening
• Embarrassing
• Insulting
• Worrisome

High-Intensity Information™ is information that is both:

• Highly important, and
• Highly uncomfortable

High-Intensity Information

The Defense Structure™

High-intensity Information is processed by the part of the Master System called the Defense Structure™. Defense Structures process information differently than the rest of the Master System; Defense Structures:

• Ignore or cover up information
• Distort information
• Block or delay the transfer of information
• Misdirect information
• Discount or minimize information
• Don’t uncover necessary information
• Create distractions that take attention away from important information

The information mis-processing of the Defense Structure leads to all organizational errors, such as:

• Decision errors
• Process and paperwork errors
• Organizational structural errors
• Organizational conflict, turf wars, and political battles
• Bureaucracy and inefficiency
• Personnel problems and apathy

The Master System and Defense Structure are invisible

• People and organizations seem to believe that they control their own actions. Our data shows that executives especially seem to feel strongly that they control the organization.
• The idea that a System controls the organization threatens this concept and degrades those who believe in it.
• This means that the idea of the Master System, and the evidence for its existence, is High-Intensity Information: it is threatening and insulting information.
• The Defense Structure then blocks the information regarding the existence of the Master System and its operation, and this makes the Master System and the Defense Structure invisible.

Q: You claim that organizations cannot see or address their own Master Systems, and that significant, lasting change is impossible without changing the Master System. Yet don’t organizations make significant, lasting change all the time on their own?

A: Yes. Highly disruptive events often alter an organization’s Master System. These events can be things such as sweeping changes in the executive team or board of directors, massive layoffs, significant regulatory changes, or significant financial declines.

The question may be, does an organization want to make improvement because a highly disruptive event forces it to? Or does it want to make improvement based on plans that preserve the interests of all stakeholders, such as the interests of customers, and current staff and executives?

Q: You claim:

• That organizations are controlled by their Master System;
• That the organization cannot see or change its own Master System;
• That only outsiders can see and correct an organization’s Master System;
• And that only Zenith has the expertise to do this.

  Isn’t this a little self-serving?

A: It depends what you mean by “self-serving.” We have researched organization information processes for 40 years, and we know of no other group that has defined and studied the processes that we have; we also know of no group that focuses on bringing about positive change in organizations that doesn’t have the same fundamental problems as the organizations they are seeking to help.

If a group has information and skill that can significantly help others, does the fact that they ask to be paid make their skill and information less useful or important or valid?

Strictly speaking, every business organization could be said to be self-serving, because the organization seeks to serve its own interests. Does this make every business organization in the world dishonest or deceptive, or tawdry? Does this mean that its own interests are the only interests it seeks to serve?

Q: You claim that the Master System controls the organization’s executives. Yet executives seem to do what they want — even contrary to an organization’s culture. So how can it be that they are controlled as you claim?

A: Executives often get what they want. But this doesn’t mean they are in control. If executives’ desires mesh with what the Master System will allow, they will get what they want. But note that this is not always the case. Our data on over 1200 organizations shows that 82% of executives report that they do not get out of their jobs what they want to get out of them, and 78% report that they are not able to achieve all the significant aims within their own spheres of authority that they desire to. It may be that executive power is more myth than truth.