Up the Boland: A Crisis of Disengagement

Abstract

The central purpose of this article is to describe what the authors term a “crisis of disengagement.” A crisis of disengagement is defined as the unwillingness of a person, group, or organization to change a chosen course of action, which while initially desirable, is no longer clearly supported as a wise choice by incoming data and feedback. In fact, new data may suggest that continuation along a current path may actually be detrimental to the welfare of the person, group or organization in question. Given this prospect, why are persons, groups and/or organizations so remiss about giving up a particular course of action in the face of conflicting information? This article strives to address this question through a discussion of the events surrounding a recent salmon fishing trip made by the authors to the Boland River in Ontario, Canada.