In essay 19, “Diversity Inclusion Equity as bureaucratic pathology,” you observed that a problem with bureaucracies is that they tend to focus on tasks and processes rather than on goals and outcomes. But the more they reject merit in favor of irrelevant external appearance, the more they will *have* to rely on tasks and processes.
In essay 19, “Diversity Inclusion Equity as bureaucratic pathology,” you observed that a problem with bureaucracies is that they tend to focus on tasks and processes rather than on goals and outcomes. But the more they reject merit in favor of irrelevant external appearance, the more they will *have* to rely on tasks and processes.
When employees don’t understand - and, more importantly, don’t care enough to even try to understand - the reasoning behind their organization’s tasks and processes, then the best that can be hoped for is that they’re at least capable of following a set of step-by-step rules.
An intelligent, motivated employee, after learning how the business works and the goals behind the tasks, will be able to intelligently apply the rules and adjust them according to circumstances. But the last thing we want is an unintelligent, unmotivated drone adjusting the rules. Therefore, any vestiges of initiative must be thoroughly eradicated from such a workforce.
Customers, struggling with an AI-generated voice at the other end of the phone line, often quickly ask for a representative. Dealing with an unintelligent robot mindlessly following an if-then script and leading callers in circles is maddening. So, we’ll know we’re in trouble when customers start preferring the mindless robot to the human representatives.
In essay 19, “Diversity Inclusion Equity as bureaucratic pathology,” you observed that a problem with bureaucracies is that they tend to focus on tasks and processes rather than on goals and outcomes. But the more they reject merit in favor of irrelevant external appearance, the more they will *have* to rely on tasks and processes.
When employees don’t understand - and, more importantly, don’t care enough to even try to understand - the reasoning behind their organization’s tasks and processes, then the best that can be hoped for is that they’re at least capable of following a set of step-by-step rules.
An intelligent, motivated employee, after learning how the business works and the goals behind the tasks, will be able to intelligently apply the rules and adjust them according to circumstances. But the last thing we want is an unintelligent, unmotivated drone adjusting the rules. Therefore, any vestiges of initiative must be thoroughly eradicated from such a workforce.
Customers, struggling with an AI-generated voice at the other end of the phone line, often quickly ask for a representative. Dealing with an unintelligent robot mindlessly following an if-then script and leading callers in circles is maddening. So, we’ll know we’re in trouble when customers start preferring the mindless robot to the human representatives.
Nicely observed.