Shifting the Burden
Shifting the Burden
„An underlying problem generates symptoms that demand attention. But the underlying problem is difficult for people to address, either because it is obscure or costly to confront. So people "shift the burden" of their problem to other solutions — well-intentioned, easy fixes which seem extremely efficient. Unfortunately, the easier "solutions" only ameliorate the symptoms; they leave the underlying problem unaltered. The underlying problem grows worse, unnoticed because the symptoms apparently clear up, and the system loses whatever abilities it had to solve the underlying problem.“ (Senge 1990)
Systems archetypes are one of ten systems thinking tools. Systems archetype in general refers to „…recurring, generic systemic structures that are found in many kinds of organizations, under many circumstances, and at different levels or scales, from internal personal dynamics to global international relations.“ (Kim a Anderson 1998)
The Shifting the Burden archetype comes into play when a complicated problematic situation arises. The problem might be difficult to fix and it might also be hard to even identify the root cause of the problem. In such case people might be naturally inclined to apply temporary or more easily available “solutions” to seemingly fix the problem. However these quick solutions only fix the symptoms and not the root cause of the problem which means that even though the solution might be successful short-term, the problem will most likely manifest itself again later on or a completely new symptom might appear.
Along with the “Fixes that fail” and “Limits to Success” archetypes these are the three most easily recognizable archetypes in a real world. (Kim a Anderson 1998)
Systems thinking
The first mention of the term “Systems thinking” comes from Barry Richmond who used it in 1987. (Arnold a Wade 2015) Richmond defines Systems thinking as “…the art and science of making reliable inferences about behavior by developing an increasingly deep understanding of underlying structure.” (Richmond 1994)
The art and science are composed of the parts shown in Picture 1.
