These days, with the advent of social media, any
employee can mail, tweet, ping, comment and tag her/his top guy of the company.
The line of control to provide higher powers and right to speak out or decide
is becoming hazy over the last few years. Or has it?
Studies show and many optimists believe, the
traditional hierarchical, top-heavy, controlled business scene is now diluted
helping in being nimble and quick on decision making. I have my doubts. We love
to believe that we are now living in an ultra-slick, modern, high performing,
merit recognizing environment. Cultures within a company and the corporate
environment as a whole is changing. I don’t think so. And it’s not just my
belief. There are counter research studies and academic write ups elaborating
the same. They have found that the way organizations function now exhibits
hundreds of years of hierarchical structures and remain unchanged. This is so
because these structures “can be linked to survival strategies” in the
workplace.
I believe the biggest reason why hierarchy is still
around, will remain so and should remain so, is that hierarchies work better. A
human mind keeps looking for order and security. We are always looking for
something to give us that extra push and an added cushion of comfort. We need
someone, seemingly better and brighter to show us the way. Add to that, a more
competent mind/individual will always want to be differentiated from his so
called less proficient peers. Her/his need to grow, move ahead and access more
power and accountability only accentuates hierarchy and layers of superiority.
Another latent but critical factor as I have experienced is, professional and
sometimes personal (out of office) relationships with superiors still matter
for an employee’s current job and opportunities at work. I would call it as
“in-house networking skills”.
It is not what leaders in the company say or
publish in weekly, monthly or quarterly meets. It is the mind. And mind is very
complex. We as humans need to perform well. But our need to perform well more
often than not, comes from being competitive. We need to be better than the
other. Added to that is the need to be seen with high performing, more
influential crowd. It’s like becoming a fan of a cricket or football team. We
all like underdogs. But we love and want to be seen as a supporter a winning
team. As it is said by some wise man,
“if you want to improve, be with people who are better than you”.
Another very acute factor as I notice is during
decision-making. Whether amicable discussions which turn into a constructive
debate before becoming a never ending mail trail or a fire-fighting situation,
wherein, on the moment trick decisions are to be taken. A person on a higher
ground, apparently more effective with his repeat successes and hence cannot go
wrong comes to the rescue of the quarrelling group. People at a higher pedigree
are thrust with certain behavioural and performing characteristics which may
not really be true to them. But with time, because of their successes in one area
of specialization, broad and unjustified inferences are made for that person,
many a times, finally making him falter.
But then, why do we want to believe in flat
organisation stories? I believe, that’s how we are brought up. We all believe
fairy tales till late in our lives. Partly it is make believe, aspirational
thoughts. Then there is the sudden up rise of “ways to reach” your right
audience such as in-house professional networking forums and social networking
to make one believe it is a flat structure.
If
everything is so flat and non-hierarchical, why is it that organisations still
call some businesses as front-ending while others as back-end functions? Or,
why is a certain function a support service or a shared service while the other
is a critical market facing business? Because, it works!
11
players make a team. But there is still a captain. And everyone dreams to become
one.
