Slug: functional-stupidity-0
Title: Functional stupidity
Category: Au coin du feu
Tags: organisation, meta, société, entreprise, functional stupidity
Date: 2018-09-01 22:00
Summary: Or how our work-places drive us into stupidity
Image: /images/stupidity-paradox.jpg
Lang: en
Status: published

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![stupidity paradox][cover]

I'm currently reading a 2016 book on workplace organization and the business
world : "_**The stupidity paradox : the power and pitfalls of
functional stupidity at work**_". It was written by two researchers in
organisational behaviour and management, and questions lots of commonly held
beliefs regarding the so-called intelligence of our societies.

As my reading progresses, I will try and extract the main ideas out of it
with no personal comment (unless mentioned) and sum them up the best I can
(given the density of the book's content). And realising how much work is
involved in redacting the next articles, I add that most of the time I will
not quote the sources mentioned in the book ; but don't hesistate asking for
them on a particular point if you wish.

The book stems from a feeling commonly shared among friends or colleagues
in anecdotal form : that **most companies and organizations find
themselves doing stuff that seems stupid as soon as it is appreciated with
some hindsight**. They seek advice from consulting companies who send them
recently-graduated employees with no expertise, and do not apply their advice
anyway, spend more in communicating around changes they make than in actually
applying them, use mindless procedures that are never questioned, ... While
all levels of society brag about the intelligence of companies, their
management, their employees, and society as a whole, the reality seems to tell
another story.

**A few striking examples** are put forward to illustrate that feeling.
First among these is that of the **2008 financial crisis**, which was
mainly caused by the introduction a few years before by "quants" (brillant
mathematicians who turned to bank and trading agencies) of financial models and
products that were extremely profitable but so complicated and disconnected
from reality that using them would eventually prove dangerous. Very few
insiders raised warnings on those packages that had magically turned
into safe investments while they were mainly made from rotten obligations. **One
can only get stunned by the thoughtlessness that had become the norm in those
companies that were so full of smart people** ; the crisis that eventually
followed was a cruel reminder, and its consequences were unfortunately not
limited only to those responsible for it.

The second example is that of the management methods that were promoted at
Pepsi's during **the "Cola wars" in the 80s**. Former senior executives describe
meetings that resemble cult following, with uniforms and order of entry
into the room that depended on the hierarchical rank, managers that were
brutally asked for explanations in the event of a single negative result, and
publically humiliated in case of repeated failures, .. The employees
liked to think of themselves as **the "Marine Corps" of business**. That extreme
competition among the staff, endlessly requiring from each manager to prove his
masculinity, his loyal and total devotion, his ability to handle pressure, had
overall positive consequences for Pepsi, which went from a hardly-known company
to Coca-Cola's major competitor ; but at what human cost ? All that, as the
authors remind us, with the unique goal of selling ever more of a soda whose
dietetical and sanitary qualities are well known.

The third - short but remarkable - example comes in the form of a
[recent **psychological experience**][just-think]. The goal was to test the reaction
students would have when faced with the obligation to **think for a short
period of time** ; the subject was asked to remain seated all by himself in an
empty room and to get entertained with his own thoughts, for 5 to 15 minutes.
Most reported difficulties in staying focused, and half thought the experience
was not enjoyable. Even worse, in another version of the experience, **nearly
half of the students elected to deliver themselves electrical shocks to keep
themselves entertained instead of sitting still with only their thoughts**
during that rather short period of time.

The thesis of the authors that aims at giving a meaning to all those
observations gives the book its title : most organizations are stuck in what
they call _**functional stupidity**_, which means **they get otherwise smart
people to do many stupid things**. The paradox holds in the fact that this
stupidity often has positive consequences in the short term (which explains why
it keeps sticking around), but catastrophic consequences in the long term.

They will obviously try to demonstrate this thesis in the remainder of the book,
exhibiting a few facts on the way ; most jobs regarded as intellectual are not
as intellectual ; seeming smart is more important than actually being smart :
most people do not like to think : companies usually look for conformance
instead of creativity ; letting employees think too much lowers their
productivity , motivation, and short-term implication.

... many points, and yet a few others that will be expanded upon in several
articles to follow !

[cover]: {filename}/images/stupidity-paradox.jpg
[just-think]: https://wjh-www.harvard.edu/~dtg/WILSON%20ET%20AL%202014.pdf
