SUCCESSFUL FAILURE - AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW ON ORGANIZATIONAL COPING

Although organization theory has acknowledged low-performance-high-per sistence phenomena, the question remains how resources can conceivably be mobilized in favor of permanently failing organizations. This arti cle argues that permanent organizational failure requires those contri buting resources to an organization to be interested in both failure a nd ignorance about failure. Two illustrative examples-help for battere d women, employment of the handicapped-are interpreted as cases where ''principals'' are not necessarily interested in high performance of t heir ''agents'' but rather in symbolic problem solving. It is stated, though, that neither the competitive market nor the public sector in a democratic system is likely to provide a favorable environment for su ch interest. Rather there is good sense to assume the third (or nonpro fit) sector to provide a structural and ideological setting in which b oth interest in failure and interest in ignorance about failure may be flourishing.