Friday, September 28, 2007

Potemkin Decency

The right thing is almost never the easy thing.

The easy thing is almost never the right thing.

This is especially true in human relations.

Ask almost any child, or any employee.

Rarely will a parent, teacher, minister, or boss take the time and make the effort to find out

who really did what,
to whom,
when,
and why it matters.

It's messy.

It takes time.

It requires thought, and the expenditure of effort.

It often involves ethical dilemmas.

It isn't any fun.

...why bother?

It's much easier to favor the one who yells the loudest.

The one who tells his story first.

The one who tells his story most.

The one who sucks up.

The one who cries most convincingly when other people are watching.

In the contest between decency and expediency, expediency will win almost every time.

Monday, September 3, 2007

The "Prakticline"

There is a physical phenomenon, seen in lakes and oceans, known as the thermocline.

It is the layer of water that exists as an interface between warm surface and cold bottom layers. It may be very shallow, or have considerable depth. Within the thermocline, temperature changes rapidly with depth; above and below it, the warm surface and cold benthic layers exist as separate strata; in the deep ocean, these strata do not mix.

There is a similar phenomenon in organizations, which I like to call the "Prakticline". The Prakticline is the interface between the uppermost layers of an organization, which tend to be focused primarily on stock prices, Sacred Deadlines, logos, mission and vision statements, Centers of Excellence, and other intangible, often mythical items, and the lower layers, in which the practical work of the organization, which must meet the Sacred Deadlines, support the stock prices, and bear the cost of all the company coffee mugs and stationery that carry the new logos, is actually done.

Simply put, the Prakticline is the corporate interface between fantasy and reality.

Not all organizations will have Prakticlines. Small companies, and those in which the top-level managers have risen from the shop floor without losing touch with realities on the ground, may not have them. But most organizations do, and the stratification and impenetrability is every bit as marked as if they were true oceanic thermoclines.

The management layers that comprise the Prakticline are extremely stressful places to be. There is, of course, a constant, inescapable tension between fantasy and reality, and the stratification and lack of mixing between the upper and lower layers exacerbates this tension. The shear forces acting on a mid-level manager who is trying to communicate to his or her higher-ups that something simply cannot be done in the way, or at the time, or for the price that is being demanded, can be incredibly destructive and demoralizing to any person of conscience.

In the late 1980s, a little allegory circulated in my place of employment, which beautifully illustrates the transition of information through the Prakticline. I reproduce it here, with kudos to whoever first thought of it; it deserves immortality.
1. In the Beginning, there was the Project, and there were the Assumptions.
2. And the Project was without form, and the Assumptions were void; and Darkness was upon the faces of the Implementers.
3. Then cried they out unto their Supervisor, saying:
4. "Lo, This Project is a Crock of ----; and Verily, it Stinketh."
5. And the Supervisor looked upon the Project, and saw that they spoke Truth.
6. Then went the Supervisor unto his Director, saying:
7. "Our Project is a Load of Manure, and my Workers cannot abide its Stench."
8. And the Director went unto her Vice President, saying:
9. "This Project is Pure Organic Fertilizer, and its Odor is Terribly Strong."
10. And the Vice President went unto the Executive VP, saying:
11. "This Project is Made of That Same Stuff, Which Causeth the Roses to Grow; None can abide its Strength."
12. And the Executive VP spake unto the CEO, saying:
13. "This Powerful Project Shall Stimulate the Growth of our Company."
14. And the CEO looked upon the Project,
15. And It was Good.
While this allegory is funny, in real life, the Prakticline can be deadly.

Just ask the crews of the Challenger, or Columbia.