Stupefied (@andre_spicer, @aeonmag)

André Spicer, professor of organizational behavior at the Cass Business School at City, University of London, writing for Aeon in, “Stupefied (How organisations enshrine collective stupidity and employees are rewarded for checking their brains at the office door)”:

For more than a decade, we’ve been studying dozens of organisations such as this management consultancy, employing people with high IQs and impressive educations. We have spoken with hundreds of people working for engineering firms, government departments, universities, banks, the media and pharmaceutical companies. We started out thinking it is likely to be the smartest who got ahead. But we discovered this wasn’t the case.

Organisations hire smart people, but then positively encourage them not to use their intelligence. Asking difficult questions or thinking in greater depth is seen as a dangerous waste. Talented employees quickly learn to use their significant intellectual gifts only in the most narrow and myopic ways.

The motivation:

Those who learn how to switch off their brains are rewarded. By avoiding thinking too much, they are able to focus on getting things done. Escaping the kind of uncomfortable questions that thinking brings to light also allows employees to side-step conflict with co-workers. By toeing the corporate line, thoughtless employees get seen as ‘leadership material’ and promoted. Smart people quickly learn that getting ahead means switching off their brains as soon as they step into the office.

This article is a pretty damning look at the mindlessness large corporations impose on employees. It may come across as a very cynical read, but I’ll stick my neck out a little and say that in my experience working with organizations in the private and government sectors, a lot of it rings true. Big, bureaucratic environments usually breed conformity and compliance rather than a dynamic environment that promotes frank discussion and real problem-solving. None of this is news, but this article goes into great detail.

A large part of this, in my view, is simply a lack of courage – on the part of the leadership as well as subordinates. It takes some courage to think critically about issues in a group setting and voice those thoughts, and even more to establish consensus in order to change things, even relatively minor things.

Former New York Giants coach Bill Parcells had a good comment about this once:

Hey listen, if you don’t trust each other enough to air out your differences, you are never going to have a team. If you are afraid of conflict within the team and afraid of confrontation within the team, you are never going to have a team. That’s not a team. That’s a bunch of guys soaking around wondering what the other guy is thinking.

Categories    Management