Corporate Theory - Too Simple?
Business Pundit thinks:
When I first enrolled in an MBA program (fall of '99), this kind of discussion just blew me away. It was so liberating to think of business in a "new way". Of course, those were crazy days - before the internet bubble burst. After the dot-com craze, I entered my sober grey-flannel suit days: A widget is just a widget, stop talking about taking your dogs to work, etc.
Lately I've come around to enjoying a good argument that the business model as we know it is cracked. Perhaps too many years in a cube? Perhaps all the white noise is driving me crazy? Perhaps because I feel I don't have enough time/energy for work or home? There's got to be a better way.
. . . most corporate theory is too simple. It labels people A or B, X or Y, it assumes they hate work, it assumes they love it if properly motivated, whatever the theory proposes, it tries to fit employees in one or more boxes, and make recommendations according to the characteristics of these boxed employees.
But it's bogus. Employees don't fit into categories because any lines you draw are arbitrary. Employee traits fall along a continuum. They are "fuzzy." So the point is really to think about bigger systems. If you design the systems correctly, the employees will find their niche and flourish or perish, just like a real ecosystem.
When I first enrolled in an MBA program (fall of '99), this kind of discussion just blew me away. It was so liberating to think of business in a "new way". Of course, those were crazy days - before the internet bubble burst. After the dot-com craze, I entered my sober grey-flannel suit days: A widget is just a widget, stop talking about taking your dogs to work, etc.
Lately I've come around to enjoying a good argument that the business model as we know it is cracked. Perhaps too many years in a cube? Perhaps all the white noise is driving me crazy? Perhaps because I feel I don't have enough time/energy for work or home? There's got to be a better way.
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