Feudal Model for Project Management?
May 10th, 2004 by HalIn the May issue of Fast Company Shoshana Zuboff writes in her monthly column Evolving From Subject to Citizen: Getting the Feudalism Out of Capitalism. She makes a rather compelling case that our model of organizing and managing the work of companies is for the most part obsolete.
Shoshana's writing reminds me of David Schmaltz's The Blind Men and the Elephant, Mastering Project Work. David speaks of a usual master-servant relationship that keeps us from doing our best work on projects and therefore having unsuccessful projects. I'd say Shoshana and David are onto something.
The two authors lay responsibility for this continuing situation at both employers' and employees' feet. We keep doing the things we did before without consideration to how well we are taking care of our needs and those of our employers.
In 1987, Robert Reich called for changing the story of work in his book Tales of a New America. Reich proposed that our myths (the stories we tell about our experience of being American) were keeping us from being competitive. He proposed four key stories that need changing:
- The Mob at the Gates — There is a crowd of others who are out to take away what we have.
- The Triumphant Individual — Through hard work and perseverance we can rise from our situation to be a success.
- The Benevolent Community — Our family, our company, and our government are all here to take care of us.
- The Rot at the Top — Given the opportunity, people in power will abuse that power for their own ends.
Reich claims the stories we tell are out of phase with our grounded experience of work. Yet, we continue telling the stories, consequently locking in our experience of work. He proposed we adopt a new story about ourselves. One that would free us. His basis for a new story is a collective trusting view of our situation…where we succeed (or fail) based on our ability to collaborate while competing.
I am encouraged by the new emphasis on changing the model of organization. By changing the story we can engage the whole of our project community to take on the promises of the project as their own. In doing so, we will engage the assessing and evaluating capability that put to use can keep us on target to fulfill our promises.
Feudalism, master-servant, indentured servitude, exploitation of our efforts…it's just a story; a story that we must change.
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