Leverage can be either physical or non physical. One can have leverage over another person because they have information that might embarrass or hurt the first person.
Leverage can be obtained by transferring some of the work load from one object to two objects.Need help with an environmental science homework problem?Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I can move the world.
鈥擜rchimedes, 287-212 BC
If he didn't actually discover it, Archimedes certainly popularized the concept of leverage. In the third
century BC, he designed war machines exploiting the lever for the armies of Greece in their pursuit of
empire in the Mediterranean. As the quotation above implies, an understanding of leverage can enable
one to apply force to something far out of proportion to one's individual strength.
The concept of leverage applies to systems, too鈥攑articularly to organizational systems. But before we
see how, let's revisit the concept of a system.
Deming characterized a system as a network of interdependent components that work together to
accomplish the aim of the system. [1:50] As soon as we acknowledge the idea that a system is composed
of multiple component parts, a question immediately arises: Are all the components equally important, or
are some more instrumental than others in striving for the goal of the system? In most organizations,
people act as if all components are equivalent. For example, everybody is considered an "equal member
of the team." But is this really the case? Does every component contribute equally to the system's
success? As George Orwell observed in his classic allegorical novel, Animal Farm, "all animals are
equal鈥攂ut some are more equal than others."
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