REVOLUTIONS AND REORGANIZATIONS

"Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy."

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) Czech writer.

Take away the guns and bullets and there's a lot of similarity between revolutions and corporate reorganizations.

A lot of movement ending up at the same, or worse, place.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE OLD

"The new organization is edgeless, permeable, amorphous . . . constantly reforming according to need."

Unknown

This sounds like something an organizational consultant would say to their client.

As if all "new" organizations are this.

Not so.

Because resistance to change is as strong as it is, new or old, this does not happen way more often than it does.

Hierarchies: What Do You Do?

"We cling to hierarchies because our place in a hierarchy is, rightly or wrongly, a major indicator of our social worth."

Harold J. Leavitt
Management Expert

If you doubt this think about how many people answer the question "What do you do?" with their title. Titles do little more to describe job function than does a person's name.

While I don't think hierarchies are inherently bad they are dangerous because they can become too comfortable.

I use to wonder why large corporations reorganize so often. To be sure, much of it happens because the new leader wants his/her regime in place but in some cases it may also occur just to break down the status quo and that's not a bad thing.