125: Resurgence of the Hierarchy

Podcast #125 Resurgence of the Hierarchy

 

Sponsored by Numi Tea and REBBL. Please support our podcast by supporting our sponsors.

 

Carol’s topic for discussion: Examine the idea of hierarchies and their usefulness in the workplace and organizational structure.

 

History of Hierarchies

 

Historically, they were brought into existence in business, because of Frederick Taylor and let to what is now often called Taylorism. Plus, recent ideas from academia like Jordan Peterson in support of the confrontation to Capitalism have raised the volume.

 

There were several articles in Harvard Business Review about who was using the Holacratic approach but now then we have not heard much although they are still around. It almost gives you the feeling that the new push for hierarchies is a push back to what people would call progressive ideas.

 

Overview of the Three Myths Behind Hierarchies

• First, efficiency is improved when you break tasks and work in general down into smaller tasks and at different levels of difficulty and skill needed and assign them to people who we believe can handle more of less difficulty with in each of the sub tasks.
• Second is the idea that hierarchies are organic in nature and so that proves it is how things are supposed to be, the natural way of things.
• And the third is that people are born with certain capabilities and cannot be advanced much beyond their birth IQ. Even when people can grow, the Growth Mindset, they managers are thinking of building skills, not levels of intelligence, judgment or management of complexity of thinking.

 

A Deeper Look Into the Three Myths Behind Hierarchies

• Let’s take the first myth. That to make something efficient is simple to do with less energy and cost. Because we only need supervision and all the layers above that, if this myth is true. We had no idea of systems thinking when Taylor was alive. That is people can grasp a whole they can make sense of individual actions.
  • Taylorism can be boiled down to 4 main points:
    • • The method of doing a task should be informed by a scientific investigation of the task
      • Employees should be selected and carefully trained for tasks
      • Tasks should have detailed instructions and should be subject to supervision
      • Management should evaluate tasks and formulate optimized approaches for the workers to follow
    • Taylorism was great at breaking down tasks into small parts and then requiring supervision layers. But it never worked with people, there were more ideas that came along to solve that problem so to speak. Actually, it did not create a way of working, it just added more roles for hierarchy with more things that need managing.
• Using metaphors for understanding is problematic which is the core rationale given in the debate between Jordan Peterson and Slavo Ziziek ! Elon Musk as well as Einstein who cautioned us against using metaphors and analogies to understand one thing by another thing or beings, because we take the first one as definitely true for the second– untested.
  • Paul McLean’s work at the National Institute of Mental Health. He did the work showing that when the lower base brain is activated, as in survival situations, we lose connection to our executive functions and fall to competing.
• The third myth review how there are hierarchies of complexity of understanding. Or we might say hierarchies of minds which are not dependent or smarter or stronger people, but on our ability to grasp the world from different scope of aspects or term systems to understand.
  • The difference in what we can see when we think only about ourselves- a self-referential scope.

 

FIND US AT BusinessSecondOpinion.com.

• To offer topics or an article to critique
• To share your own experience with our ideas
• To sign up for our newsletter

 

* * * * *

 

WAYS TO CONNECT WITH CAROL SANFORD EVENTS OR HER WAY OF THINKING

 

• Explore how you can learn to apply the alternative approaches offered in Business Second Opinion.
• Participate in The Regenerative Business Development Community series with 10-12 other business. Options include: Strategic Thinking/Business Development or Leadership of Industry and Market.
  • The Regenerative Business Summit: a one-day event (4 Time Zones- USA eastern and western state, EMEA, Deep Pacific) on Strategic thinking and Leadership for non-displace-ability in your markets. Meet others who have been doing this successfully and making a difference.
• Pursue how Carol gets to the ideas she does. Explore how to integrate Systemic Critical Thinking Skills, based on a Living Systems Paradigm into your practice of coaching, consulting, and mentoring. Join the Change Agent Development Community. Four online or local options
  • Explore joining the community or email Carol
• Apply the concepts in the Business Second Opinion Podcast to roles you personally play in and beyond business. E.g. parent, designer, earth tender, educator, media content creator, entrepreneur, citizen, economic shaper, spirit resource (coach, ministering, therapist). Join, for free, The Regenerative Human Book Project Check it out. Email to join or ask questions.
• Read Carol’s books or join a book club
  • The Regenerative Business: Redesign Work, Cultivate Human Potential, Achieve Extraordinary Outcomes
  • The Responsible Entrepreneur: Four Game-Changing Archetypes for Founders, Leaders, and Impact Investors
  • The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success
  • No More Feedback: Cultivate Consciousness at Work

 

Her books have won over 15 awards so far and are required reading at leading business and management schools including Harvard, Stanford, Haas Berkeley and MIT and almost 100 other academic institutions. Carol also partners with producing Executive Education through Babson College, Kaospilot in Denmark and University of Washington, Bothell, WA, sponsored by The Lewis Institute at Babson.

 

* * * * *

DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR?

• Please rate and review this podcast wherever you go for podcasts.

 

• Donating = Co-creating (bringing something meaningful and significant into the world, together)

 

We love bringing you a second opinion on toxic ideas in business. We examine alternatives— from history to underlying paradigms. Our gift is clear thinking and discerning wisdom.  

 

Engage with us. Raise your voice. Join us in co-creation. Don’t let toxic practices go quietly into the world, unexamined.

If our podcast stirs you up, knocks you back on your heels or just makes you jump for joy, consider joining now as a spontaneous or sustaining patron.

 

Give Now

 

• This podcast was sponsored by REBBL. The show notes are sponsored by Numi Tea.  Please support our podcast by supporting our sponsors.

Thank you!!!!

 

Carol Sanford and Zac Swartout, co-producers