Rob Paterson is on the warpath and he has big organisations in his sights. He paints a picture entirely at odds with the ideal put forward by people like Peter Drucker.
The sole purpose institutions is to get bigger and to accrue more financial resources in its direct control. The sole purpose of its subsidiary departments and divisions is to do the same. To imagine any other purpose is to be recklessly naive. Institutions do not exist to serve any external purpose. They exist to look after their own interests. The same is true for their parts.
It’s a good polemic and a useful counterblast to a lot of the idealistic doublespeak to be found in managment textbooks. Lately, I’ve become acutely aware of how organisations talk the talk of innovation, yet seem to create environments quite toxic to any significant change or disruption.
