The first point is that "negative"
does not mean "bad." The term "negative" is used
to refer to the fact that this type of loop "negates" change. Push a condition in one
direction and a negative feedback loop will cause it to bounce right back in the
other. Negative feedback relationships thus seek to maintain conditions in line with
fixed (or slowly changing) goals. The negative feedback loops in our bodies are
responsible for the fact that we don't boil in the summer and freeze in the winter.
These same loops keep us from falling into a blood glucose coma every time we
eat a sugary snack, and from completely flying off the handle every time we're
peeved. Negative feedback relationships are responsible for the stability in our
bodies, our lives, and in the organizations and society around us.
This figure illustrates a common negative
feedback process. In the loop, the Level
of Effort is being used to regulate the Level of Peformance. If performance falls
below the level that you've set as your target (often such targets are implicit), then
effort is "cranked up." A higher Level of Effort, other things equal, leads to an
increased Level of Performance.
And so, an initial decrease in performance
propagates a signal around the loop,
which leads to an increase in performance. The loop thus acts to counter, or
negate, the initial change.
The loop also will negate change in the
other direction. That is, if performance
should rise above target levels, effort would be scaled back so as to return
performance to target levels. This type of relationship is operating when, for
example, people feel they're performing "over their heads" or "out of their league."
In effect, by feeling this way, people are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, which will
cause performance to decline- thereby providing the evidence that they were
indeed "over-achieving." Such is the way negative feedback maintains the status
quo, but left to their own doing, they do not inspire growth or evolution. For these,
we need the other kind of feedback relationship: positive feedback loops.
