What Is the Abilene Paradox?

Professor Jerry Harvey tells a story in an 1974 article entitled "The Abilene Paradox and other meditations on management" . It has a subtle insight into the way sometimes decisions are made that are not "consciously" made by people.

Abilene Paradox

Right!
Professor Jerry Harvey tells a story in an 1974 article entitled "The Abilene Paradox and other meditations on management" . It has a subtle insight into the way sometimes decisions are made that are not "consciously" made by people.
Chinese name
Abilene Paradox
Foreign name
Abilene Paradox
Presenter
Jerry Harvey
Time
1974
The story is as follows:
On a hot summer day, the Texas couple and their parents played dominoes comfortably together. At this time, my father-in-law playing cards said, let's go to Abilene (53 miles away) for a meal. The daughter said, "It sounds good." The husband had a small drum in his heart, knowing that it was a long way to Abilene Road, and it was hot, why did he run so far to eat? But he was afraid that he would be out of place, so he said, "I'm fine, it depends on your mother's willingness." His mother-in-law said, "Of course I do. I haven't been to Abilene for a long time." Along the dirt road surrounded by gray soil, sweating and rushing past. Arrived at the restaurant and found the food extremely unpalatable. Back home, everyone was exhausted. One of them said politely, "It's not bad, is it?" Others finally broke out: Mother-in-law said that she actually wanted to stay at home, but seeing the others were so happy, she didn't want to be disappointed. The husband also said that he did not want to go, in order to please other talents. The wife also said that she was afraid of other people's unhappiness, so she agreed against it. At this time, the old father-in-law said that he really wanted to go. I was afraid that everyone would be bored. He just proposed it. I thought everyone would oppose it. I didn't expect everyone to be so interested. In this way, all four felt that they were for each other, abandoning their desires, and all of them were unhappy.

IN OTHER LANGUAGES

Was this article helpful? Thanks for the feedback Thanks for the feedback

How can we help? How can we help?