We’ve seen this phenomenon at work: perfectly lucid writing being turned into unintelligible hash. Dilbert creator Scott Adams even turned this tendency into the ultimate prank. I knew a pastor who had a plaque on his wall that read “For God so loved the world, that He didn’t send a committee.”
In the Harvard Business Review this month, is a piece that addresses this tendency, and ways to fix it. The usual suspects are involved: roles that are not clearly defined, and management structures that impose conflict rather than clarity. There are some gems in this piece, so be sure to give it a look.