The Traditional Way of Organisational Behaviour

Business = Battlefield.
Business is a series of conflicts between companies inside a market, between departments inside a company, between groups inside an organisation, between individuals in a group and (by extension) between customers and vendors. Resulting behaviours: Managers build big empires and "armies" of employees to fight the war. The troops wait around for "marching orders," until managers order the "troops" around. Customers become territory to be conquered rather than potential partners, and the competition is demonised into the "enemy". Women, not believed to be natural soldiers, are considered in appropriate for positions of authority.

Corporation = Machine.
An organisation is a system in which employees are faceless cogs. Nobody is indispensable, and everybody is as replaceable as a spare part. Individual initiative, goals, and desires are considered to be completely subsumed by the demands of the corporate machine. Resulting behaviours: Managers create rigid teams with rigid roles and rigid functions. Managers and workers alike become convinced that change is very difficult, similar to retooling a complicated machine. Managers are encourage to think of themselves as "controllers" whose job it is to make sure that people follow the rules of the "system". Employees are treated in dehumanising ways while the corporation centralises control at the top.

Management = Control.
The real job of the managers is to control employees' behaviours so that they do exactly what management wants them to do. Employees who disagree with a manager or refuse to do something are "insubordinate" and therefore dangerous. Resulting behaviours: Managers create organisations that can't adapt to new conditions because there are conflicting power structures, each of which is trying to "control" the corporation. Management gets involved in a supercharged political atmosphere where productive work becomes difficult. Individual initiative is killed in favour of a "let's-wait-and-see-what-the-boss-says" mentality.

Employee = Child.
Employees are too immature and foolish to be assigned real authority and simply can't be trusted. If not restricted by complicated rules and regulations, they'll steal a company blind. Resulting behaviours: Employees develop a deep and abiding resentment toward management. They refuse to do anything until they're certain that they won't get blamed if something goes wrong. Employees spend more time "covering their butts" than doing productive work. Employees only work when they're being watched, if then.

Motivation = Fear.
Employees only work because they're afraid of getting fired. Managers must therefore use fear - fear of getting fired, fear of ridicule, fear of loss of privilege - to motivate people. Resulting behaviours: Employees and managers alike become become paralysed, unable to make risky decisions or take courageous action. Work becomes a loathsome experience filled with truckling, ass-kissing, and compulsive corporate politicking.

Change = Pain.
Change is seen as complicated and difficult. Change is considered something that companies only undergo if they are desperate. Resulting behaviours: Reengineering, restructuring, and downsizing operations fail as people in the organisation torpedo the change efforts to avoid the pain of change.

Computers = Masters.
Technology is seen as a way to strengthen management's control over the rest of the company. Employees become dehumanised into mere attachments to the computer system, the needs of which become far more important than the needs of the employees themselves. Resulting behaviours: Employees distance themselves from the corporate goals and may even indulge in sabotaging the computer system.

Work = Toil.
According to this view, work, by its very nature, is something that is separate from the rest of life, a necessary evil that takes time away from the things that one would rather be doing. Resulting behaviours: People resent going to work and resent having to work. This resentment creates endless conflict between managers and employees who define themselves, respectively, as oppressors and victims.

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The Modern Way of Organisational Behaviour

Business = Ecosystem.
The business world is made up of symbiotic relationships formed to exploit market niches. The company that is the most diverse is the most likely to thrive. Business result: Companies adapt quickly to new market conditions, tend to hire and promote people with different backgrounds and thought processes, and form interesting partnerships with other companies.

Corporation = Community.
An organisations is a collection of individuals with individual hopes and dreams that are connected to their organisation' higher purpose. Business result: Employees dedicate themselves to the goals of the organisation truly enjoy contributing to their own success, the success of their peers, and the success of the community at large.

Management = Service.
A manager's job is to set a direction and to obtain the resources that employees need to get the job done. Management wants to "lead" rather than "run" the organisation. Business result: Decision making takes place at the appropriate level of the corporation. Teams form their own rules and direction without interference from corporate headquarters.

Employee = Peer.
Every employee is hired - regardless of position - as if he or she were the most important in the company. Excellence is expected and encouraged everywhere from the loading dock to the boardroom. Business result: Employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies. A spirit of friendly competition develops to see who can serve the organisation the best.

Motivation = Vision.
People know where they're going and are amply rewarded when they get there, so the process of working is filled with energy, enthusiasm, and humour. Business result: Employee work hard, not out of obligation or out of fear, but because they believe in the organisation's goals, truly enjoy what they're doing and know that they'll share in the profits.

Change = Growth.
Change is a desirable thing because it's part of the process of adapting to new market conditions and growing into new levels of success. Business result: Employees and organisation embrace new ideas, new ways of doing business, and new ways of making profit.

Computers = Servants.
Technology is a means to automate repetitive and boring work, thus freeing human beings to be create and to build relationships. Business result: Organisation can learn faster and coordinate activities effectively.

Work = Play.
Work is something that should be inherently enjoyable and the job of management is to help put people in jobs that will truly satisfy them. Business result: Employees tend to want to spend time at the workplace, among their friends at work, doing the kind of things that they truly enjoy doing.

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Posted by Purity And Simplicity at 17:20