WORK AND CULTURE

Kultur im Geschäftsalltag beschränkt sich nicht nur auf nationale Einflüsse. Der Unternehmer, die Abteilung, das Geschlecht und auch die eigene Persönlichkeit können eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Unser Sonderbeitrag befasst sich mit diesen Aspekten.

For many people, recent months have seen a return to the physical workplace after a long period of working remotely (see Business Spotlight 4/2020). It is therefore time to reflect on the lessons to be learned, including the fact that remote working seems to have many benefits. In many cases, the Covid-19 crisis triggered higher, not lower, levels of care, trust, togetherness and efficiency.

Why did it take a form of forced remoteness to bring us closer together? How can it be that so many organizations needed an existential crisis to become so caring and organized? One of the key insights is that there should be no going back to the past. We now see that, in ordinary times, many organizations have been highly inefficient and lacking in togetherness. Indeed, perhaps the greatest gift of the crisis is that it has exposed a central myth about the nature of organizations — namely, that they are organized at all.

In this article, we reflect on the nature of the organizations in which we spend our lives, and ask whether they are, in fact, not organizations, but “disorganizations”.

To suggest that organizations are really “disorganizations” and some kind of myth may seem bizarre at first. After all, the walls of our institutions seem tangible enough. Inside, familiar colleagues walk through familiar corridors clutching familiar cups of coffee, walking to doors displaying names, job titles and functions. And if we are in any doubt about who has which function, there is often an organigram, which adds visual weight to this idea of a structured organization.

The tribal identities of our departments and teams foster a sense of loyalty, purpose and emotional belonging. Key performance indicators (KPIS) and financial targets supply a numerical gravity and logic that aims to align our beliefs about the organization and its goals. The concept of leadership — and its opposite, “followship” — suggests that there really is something rational and purposeful to commit ourselves to. And our routines of daily or weekly meetings, and technology tools such as email, confirm our sense of organized communication and a form of collaboration that is both rational and achievable.