& Research Paper The Tyranny of Small Steps: A Reoccurring Behaviour in Management Ho ¨ rður V. Haraldsson 1 * , Harald U. Sverdrup 1 , Salim Belyazid 1 , Johan Holmqvist 2 and Robin C. J. Gramstad 1 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Box 124 Lund, Sweden 2 SWECO VIAK, Gejersgatan 8, 21618 Malmo¨, Sweden The Tyranny of Small Steps (TYST) behaviour has been investigated. Explained through a systemic perspective, the behaviour TYST is an unwanted change to a system through a series of small activities that may be independent from one another. These activities are small enough not to be detected by the ‘surveillance’ within the system, but significant enough to encroach upon the ‘tolerance zone’ of the system and compromise integrity of the system. TYST is an unintentional process that is experienced within the system and made possible by the lack of transparency between an overarching level and a local level where the encroachment is taking place. The O ¨ rby case study illustrates a real life manifestation of the TYST behaviour in management and planning. The TYST illustrates the necessity for total transparency in any systems in order to avoid unintended con- sequence. The TYST process may be regarded as a part of wide range of complex systems but depending on the conditions, it can remain dormant, and only become active when the conditions for lack of transparency are fulfilled. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Keywords system dynamics; reoccurring behaviour; planning; management; archetypes BACKGROUND Many organizational systems are steadily fru- strated by the inefficiencies of policies. A care- fully designed policy, based on good intentions and careful planning, simply turns out to be powerless when it comes to dealing with the problem we wish to address. This is not necessarily linked to bad project management or planning but rather to the effects of the decisions made within the organization. Kahn (1966) argues that there is a tendency for project development and management to be influenced by a series of small decisions. He discusses how consumers, through their decisions, possess considerable power on market development through a concept called ‘the tyranny of small decisions’. Resources in the market economy are highly dependent on the cumulative market transactions of individual consumers. Although Systems Research and Behavioral Science Syst. Res. 25 , 25^43 (2008) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI :10.1002/sres.859 * Correspondence to: Ho ¨ rður V. Haraldsson, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Box 124 Lund, Sweden. E-mail: hordur.haraldsson@chemeng.lth.se Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received September 2006 Accepted April 2007