"Human organizations can be exciting and challenging places. That is how things are usually depicted in management texts and corporate annual reports. But they are just as likely deceptive, confusing, and demoralizing. It is a mistake to assume that an organization is either a snake pit or a rose garden (Schwartz, 1986). Managers need to be mindful of several natural characteristics of life at work that create opportunities for the wise as well as traps for the unwary.

• First, organizations are complex.
• Second, organizations are surprising.
• Third, organizations are deceptive.
• Fourth, organizations are ambiguous."

- Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership