Why Blaming Others Does Not Resolve Conflicts

It is always easier to blame an individual than to understand a complex system. As a result, the great majority of what is written about conflict comes from an individual perspective. It assumes that a person (as opposed to a system) is the cause. Yet in over twenty years of helping people resolve conflict, I am amazed at how often the system is the cause. What do I mean by this? 

We all live in systems. We come from family systems; we study in school systems and work in organizational systems. The system is greater than the sum of its parts. Systems have their own cultures, structures, beliefs, and patterns of interactions that are hard to change. 

As one example of this, several years ago a large health care system was working to reduce errors in calculating medications (which are estimated to kill a quarter of a million US citizens annually). They worked hard at training those who calculate medications and holding them accountable for mistakes. It wasn’t until the hospital realized that it wasn’t the people, but rather interruptions that were the problem that things started to change. By giving those who were calculating medications yellow highway construction vests (signally, “don’t interrupt me) the health care system reduced medication errors by 60% over a 6-month period. 

When things are not working it is always easiest to find someone to blame. Yet the easy answer is often the wrong answer. As an alternative, try to find where the system is breaking down. This may hold the key to long-term improvement. 

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