Coherence is necessary if actions are to make sense. Those actions then promote further development of the coherent point of view. Instead, they are simple checks and balances that what is expressed as purpose or identity matches the values from which they are drawn. What coherence can do is enable actions to be grounded in certainty of purpose, identity, context, and further actions. Incoherence and decoherence reveal themselves by uncertainty, shame, or actions which defy sense making.
Coherence is only a part of culture in society or in an organization.
Cultures provide context for being coherent or not. An organizational culture which thrives on inducing shame is incoherent. By contrast, an organization whose actions make sense to its members and stakeholders must have found a coherent viewpoint from which to guide such actions. It has coherence. In this book we will be providing examples of such coherence and of its absence.