There is a consistent thread to the stories I hear employees tell when speaking of their organisation, job and relationships at work: that of the separation between themselves and the people classified as management. These stories typically refer to management as the different, distinct unfathomable other. This thread is then also mirrored when "management" tell stories of the people they have responsibility over.

It seems that we cannot get past the hierarchical metaphors used when describing these two groups of people – and they are two groups in most organisations. We refer to those "up the totem pole", "in the lofty offices", "in the inner circle", "up the organogram" and "the folk upstairs" as well as those "on the ground" and "at grass-roots level". Such imagery is the remnants of an industrial age concept where managers were literally "above" the employees in walkways set up so that they could observe and cast a power-gaze to ensure the "hands" were productive (not slacking off).

The inimitable linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky has had much to say, amongst others, about the role of power and authoritarian structures in society. In brief, there is a viewpoint that power is always illegitimate, and that the burden of proof lies with the mechanism of power to prove that an exercise of power is legitimate.

Chomsky uses the example of walking down a street with his 4 year old daughter. If she were to suddenly start walking into the street, and he pulls her back, that is a exercise of power, but legitimate for obvious reasons. However, the burden of proof for that legitimacy still lies with him, the exerciser of power.

And so, from an organisational perspective, the authoritarian structures of management thus bear the burden of proof with regards to the legitimacy of their actions (of power). This helps explain the insatiable thirst general employees have for explanations for why management behave in the ways they do – it is an insatiable thirsting for legitimacy.

Put these two groups together in a story circle and you have one of two responses: a tangible silence on issues of leadership and decision making (especially from the general staff who know when to keep quiet in order to preserve their comfort), or an eruptive argument over who's perspective is the right one (again, power dynamics at play!). This is part of the reason why I assert that a story is a story. It is not a opinionated statement, nor analytical assertion that can be debated or validated. It is simply the retelling of an experience, and by this, it valid.

The separation between employees and management is also cyclical in nature. The scriptural maxim of the sins of the fathers being passed down to the third and fourth generation rings true in this instance as employees progress through the ranks and (some) inevitably become managers themselves. These "sins" are then passed down as the new managers adopt the self-concept, as manager, as reinforced by those who managed them.

Mysteriously, the new managers seem to forget their once lowly position as an arbitrary employee who bitched about management. Or, more accurately, their recollection of those days is thwarted by the power dynamics involved in management circles.

It saddens me, and I guess this is the point I wanted to make (thanks for reading this far!), that newly appointed managers are not made aware of these power dynamics and how, by virtue of their position, they bear the burden of proof. Managers are not taught this at business school and there are few mentors who address this reality.

Does this situation have to remain? Of course not, we could get past the chasm between management and employees by embracing new organisational structures (e.g. those of networks and communities of practice) but we are a far way off of having them as the norm. For now, and for the foreseeable future, hierarchical organisations are going to be around for a while.

I fear that the resilience this narrative thread has within organisation speaks of how reluctantly this model will change. We need to hear different stories of how this dynamic is overcome.

Images courtesy of Rachee_Face and emacs1969