Explaining Corporate Culture Through "The Office"

Writing in the ribbonfarm.com blog, Venkatesh Rao uses The Office to explain and illustrate a theory of management he calls the Gervais Principle (after the TV series's creator). Taking off from Hugh MacLeod's cartoon laying out a corporate hierarchy in layers of Sociopaths, the Clueless, and Losers, Rao riffs on and updates the Peter Principle, in these terms: "Sociopaths, in their own best interests, knowingly promote over-performing losers into [clueless] middle-management, groom under-performing losers into sociopaths, and leave the average bare-minimum-effort losers to fend for themselves." Don't know about you, but this analysis suddenly makes sense of much that mystified me in my sojourn in corporate America.

Comments

Re:Yes men

[DangerFace]

From the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology, the premier psychological dictionary of Britain:

sociopathy n. Another name for antisocial personality disorder. sociopath n. A person with sociopathy.

And here's the definiton of antisocial personality disorder:

antisocial personality disorder n. A personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, beginning in childhood or early adolescence and continuing into adulthood, with such signs and symptoms as failure to conform to social norms, manifested by repeated unlawful behaviour; deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying or swindling [confidence trickery] for pleasure or personal gain; impulsivity or failure to plan ahead; irritability and aggressiveness involving frequent assaults or fights; reckless disregard for the safety of self or others; consistent irresponsibilty involving failure to hold down jobs or to honour financial obligations; and lack of remorse for the mistreatment of others, as indicated by indifference or rationalization.

Please note that not all of these indicators need necessarily be present for a diagnosis of sociopathy, but my apologies, I don't have a copy of the DSMIV with me right now. In any case, jandersen is talking out of his arse, and has apparently made up a definition of sociopathy by watching some TV shows.

... but that is only a layman's opinion.

Yes, jandersen, it is a layman's opinion. Perhaps you have heard the saying "'tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt"?

Re:Hanlon's razor

[Anonymous Coward]

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity" -Hanlon's razor

"When you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better." -Occam's razor

Re:Yes men

[Nidi62]

DSM-IV: Diagnosis of anti-social personality disorder requires 3 or more of the following(after age 15): 1. failure to conform to social norms with respect towards lawful behaviors 2. deceitfulness, as indicated by repeat lying or conning others for personal pleasure/profit 3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead 4. irritability or aggressiveness 5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others 6. constant irresponsibility(failure to honor financial obligations) 7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another