One example where a Conflict / Dilemma between two opposed (?) principles was managed successfully.

Lean Management made it possible to make cars having BOTH higher quality AND lower prices.

There was a big price to be paid - but the alternative was worse.

Major Japanese car makers adopted Lean Management first and got a huge competitive advantage. 

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 OLD MENTAL MODEL (truism assumed by many): 

"Choose your priority.  You/they can't have it both ways."  

NEW MENTAL MODEL (under consideration by players, as the conflict is faced in dialog meetings with open minds):

"We need to satisfy both of these although that seems "impossible". But WHAT IF we could change the constraints, especially some of our assumptions (mental models) ?   

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The Lean Management case occurred over a decade. It began with innovation at Toyota and other Japanese auto makers. Thru the new system they developed (Lean Management) they were able to produce cars that offered BOTH higher quality AND better cost value. Other producers finally saw that they to choose between this radical change or bankruptcy.  

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REF.  Womack, J. P., &  Jones, D. T. (1996). Lean Thinking. New York: Simon and Schuster.

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Can we spot other Both/And dilemmas developing earlier?

The solutions might be less drastic. 

Is it possible that some CONFLICTS within an ORG may reflect an unrecognized Both/And situation?

That diagnosis could open more possibilities for good solutions, instead of the usual (e..g. find someone to blame).  

 

"Smart ORGs use conflict to stay ahead."

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That paraphrases the view of Richard Tanner Pascale in his book 

Managing on the Edge.

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