Conversation
About Conversations
Through the four weeks, the course developed collective ideas and reflections through a series of structured conversations. In the first week, the conversations opened up the predominant and prevalent logics of structuring through classical management theories. Conversations further opened up discussions towards factory logics, universal standardisations, efficiency, workability, power, responsibilities, its impacts on human psyche and relationships and the role of the individual in an organisation. These conversations were anchored with a series of readings and movies, movies provided a platform for analysing and evaluating situations with contextual reference. Each one added layers to structured methods of thinking - rationality, emotions,empathy, evaluations, the idea of questioning a given framework, collective responsibility. The group developed new conceptualizations of structuring logics that accommodate change, are agile, develop familial networks and friendships, and mobilise empathy.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES
by Khushi Bagrecha & Shaurya Pawar
An organisational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organisational aims. To summarise, multiple aspects related to the structure of organisations were discussed. The discussion began with an introduction that encompassed organisational structures. The different organisational structures which are seen in many companies and startups are:
Flat Structural, Hierarchical structures, Circular Structures, Network structures, Matrix structures and Team based structure
Questions that emerged during the discussion were how does one determine the workability of a structure beyond the logics of cost and time? What could be the coordinates of efficiency? How does it emerge as a determining factor for the workability of a structure? Here the idea of relevance is discussed with respect to a given geographical location and time. It plays a key role in, if and how the structure responds to the unsettling or the shifts.
The coordinates of efficiency are:
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Comparison and competition
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Efficiency is also measured by being relevant in a community
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Performance
The idea of working in teams is more efficient as each person becomes responsible for their own work.
Also a smaller scale of people can communicate much better which develops the vision and aspiration of each employee.
A team should have different people with different specialities so as to form a strong cohesive team and develop the skill of co-learning. For a system or organisation to come into play, a lot of structural thinning is required.Also, an efficient organisation is the one which is able to adapt to the unforeseen conditions and is ready to adapt to the changes.
The parallel ecologies come into play when the friendships that are not known to the organisations.
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The movie is pivoted around positions and portrays how behavior changes with the shift in roles/position/place. Positions of power, socio-economic dynamics etc. The movie is about how a journalist tries to hide his identity and works on an article regarding Anti - Semitism. It also describes how to stay and function in some sort of community or society, how one’s identity, behavior changes to work parallel in a system. In this movie, Philips tries to hide his identity as he is Jewish and lies about his identity to function in this system. Philip’s behavior toward people changes as per his surroundings, which dictate his domination over others. For example, when he’s home he exercises his power as the head of household by ordering his kid to do particular chores. The way he talks and the way he stands asserts different levels of domination in different spaces. When at work, his voice is low and head is a little tilted down, showing respect for the superior/ head/ boss. When he is in a social space, like a party, the way he behaves is convincing, attracting more people, forming more connections/ networks by considering everyone as his equal.
On the other hand when he is in the presence of Kathy (fiance), he is charming. When he decides to experience Jewish lifestyle, he goes around hiding his Christian identity and lives as a Jew in the Christian community. He suffers a lot when he questions people about their beliefs. In the scene where his mother has a heart condition, and he visits the doctor, until he identifies himself as Jew, he is welcomed, but upon knowing that he’s Jewish, the doctor refuses from treating his mother. He is forced to go to a Jewish doctor for treatment. Also there is an instance where his mailman questions him for being Jewish when he changes his nameplate. In this trial of experiencing not only him but his child suffers discrimination in school where the Christian children call him a ‘dirty little Jew’.
At a party by his boss, he meets a scientist who questions the entire idea of segregating people into these religions which put people at different levels of domination in the society.
CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT THEORIES
Tanushree Bhagwat & Arnav Mundhada
The term Taylorism, named after Fredrick Taylor, is defined as a factory management system developed in the late 19th century to increase efficiency by evaluating every step in a manufacturing process and breaking down production into specialised repetitive tasks. Taylor wanted to make organisations more standardised, efficient and productive by studying their work process closely. He believed in the division of labour, division of work processes into small, simple and separate steps, and in the system of hierarchy. He wanted a clear chain of command that separated managers from workers; A system where the managers and the bosses became the thinkers while the people who worked for them became only the doers who would simply follow directions. Taylor followed a method called time and motion studies, and basically wanted people to work like machines.
Henry Ford, the founder of ford motors, took Taylor’s ideologies to the next level and perfected the concept of the assembly line. Fordism is a term widely used to describe the system of mass production that was pioneered in the early 20th century by the Ford Motor Company or the typical post-war mode of economic growth and its associated political and social order in advanced capitalism. When he first started making cars, the cars would stay in one place while the workers mobilised themselves around the car, in the new process, the workers remained stationary while the car moved from one worker to another.
Although the outcomes of these systems are mixed, it is evident that the advantages only benefit the ones in power. Boost in productivity, efficiency, and fewer no. of workers meant more profits for the ones in power. Companies often failed to pay their employees and it also normalised the ideology that the managers are the thinkers and the workers are only meant to take their orders. It reduced the ability of the worker and de-skilled them by separating them from the greater meaning of the work being done.
In the contemporary context, we continue to observe large corporations anchored around 4 concepts: efficiency, predictability, calculability and control. Working with the logic of production, time and efficiency and does not include the human aspects. The contribution of an individual here is not monetised. These systems become standardised, leaving no scope for customizations. An example of this is the education system where secondary education becomes standardised. The same textbook is used every year with minimal changes; The contents in the textbook remain fixed regardless of its relevance in a given context. A theory was established as a response to the demands of society, as an intermediate between customization and standardisation which works with logics of permutations and combinations offering the user a sense of customization and individuality.
GREMLINS
by Avantika Padalkar & Prachi Shah
A comedy horror film based on the main character, ”gremlin”. Gremlins are folk creatures invented at the beginning of 20th century to originally explain the malfunctioning of aircrafts and other missionaries.
The story revolves around a father who gifts his son, Billy, a pet as his christmas gift named mogwai from china. When he buys it there were three specific instructions given to him by the store owner which were:
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Further in the movie due to the careless attitude of Bill , Mogwai comes in contact with water and starts multiplying. Billy gives one of the mogwai’s to a science teacher in school to experiment on it without passing on the three rules told to him by his father. Moreover, he also feeds them food after midnight which causes them to transfer into small monsters called gremlins. These monsters then slowly start taking over the existing with the help of water bodies found around them, creating chaos. On the other end, Billy and his friend Kate start killing them through various individual methods restoring the town.
On watching the film, we understood that the idea of reasoning and questioning is very crucial to validate and accept the conditions. The shop owner should have given the reasons for each rule he gave in order to derive the seriousness of following them. A sense of responsibility would have generated avoiding the mishap. It also brought up the thought of gremlins as a new system of organisation overpowering the organisation and systems of homosapiens. Lastly, we observed how animals were undertreated mainly by one of the characters of the film, Mrs.Deagle. This shows a clear hierarchy generated amongst different existing species .
GARETH MORGAN & HIS 8 ORGANISATIONAL METAPHORS
by Bhoomi Bakrania & Hrishikesh Chhaparwal
After this reading, we headed into a discussion about how the organizations in today’s world work through the 8 metaphors specified in this book. We identified connections between these metaphors.
The book talks about various methods that organizations use, like Organization as a Machine where the idea of hierarchy is dominantly seen. Here, a constant give and take of orders happens. To have a better understanding we looked at an assembly line in a vehicle manufacturing factory, where a path is set towards the building of a final product. There is also a possibility of modifications, where a section of the assembly line can be altered changing the final product. Looking at this, we noticed a connection with the Organization as an Instrument of Domination. Here the similar thing happens but with a change in the attitude of the head, where he/ she cares only about the results and considers the workers as objects. The decision making is done only by the head only. This shows a transition in the surrounding environment of the organisation changing from machine to domination. The way an organisation reacts to a change is related to the metaphors of organisation as organism.
Coming to the organisation as Brain, we looked at the situation COVID-19 had formed and how the doctors and scientists were trying to develop a vaccine. Here the organisation works the same way as a brain where the objective is known and the path is to be thought of. This is also connected to the metaphor of organisation as politics as here there can be different opinions of people having different beliefs. This forms groups of like minded people in the organisation, which might turned against each other. The head here can look at it as a diversity of inputs to perform upon.
But the formation of groups is also possible on the basis of religious groups. The organisations that want to preserve it come under organization as cultural systems.
There are always people who will have feelings against the organization’s working, sometimes the failure of the organization is foreseen but no changes/ developments are made in light of them, this shows organization as psychic prison.
In case the organization is to make changes according to the needs of the organization, not always will the path/ method be known. The experimentation of methods on a safe-to-fail scale and implementation of the successful ones on the larger scale is seen in organization as flux and transformation.
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic psychological war film. The movie is set in the Vietnam war, and follows the journey of an army captain who is assigned to assassinate a colonel who is said to have gone insane. This highly classified mission carries him through many army campsites, with an assigned crew on a boat to lead him up the river into enemy territory. During the entire duration of the mission, the captain is not allowed to disclose any information regarding it, even to his very own team on the boat. This highlights how the army works on a highly hierarchical basis, with limited information passed on from post to the other. Each post in the army follows what they are told to do, with no questions asked, and is largely oblivious to what the other is doing.
“I don't think, my orders say I'm not supposed to know where I'm taking this boat, so I don't”
-Chief of the boat
A hierarchy is a system or organisation that has many levels from the lowest to the highest. The army rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in an army hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the army chain of command – the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The importance of this system of work division in the army is considered essential as during a war, there is little to no time to question orders, backtrack the validity of information or review the orders for oneself. There is trust in the positions higher up in the hierarchy in what orders that were given, are the right ones.
“I’m just doing what I’m told”
-A soldier in a run-down camp
An evident flaw of this system however, is that the obliviousness to what one is actually doing puts them in a state where there is lack of identity in their work. This is evident in a scene where the boat reaches a run down camp along the river, and the soldiers there are clueless on what to do, the camp is completely disorganised with no leader/commander to guide them.
“You’re an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect the bill”
-The colonel to the captain after the captain says he is a soldier of the US Army
APOCALYPSE NOW
by Keerat Kaur Gill & Pranav Kabambi
THEORY OF BUREAUBUREAUCRACY - MAX WEBER
by Aditi Gaikwad & Tanisi K
Max Weber was one of the first thinkers to systematically study bureaucracy. In his book Economy and society, Weber reflects on the social situation of Germany.
According to Weber, power can be understood as being able to enforce one's will despite facing resistance while authority can be exercised only when people upon whom it is being exercised willingly follow it. He further discusses the types of Authority and the types of people in an organisation.
Modern Bureaucracy is characterised by certain features like official duties, a linear chain of command, general rules, filing or documentation of official duties and specially trained officials.
The chapter also discusses in depth the emergence of Caesarism as an effect of bureaucracy. Caesarism is an organised form of domination, wherein an individual becomes a “free trustee of the masses”. This could be a result of the method of appointing the official. Regardless of whether the official was elected by a board or was appointed by the chief, the official works for the benefit or the interests of the party.
Where does the need for power emerge from? How does it play out in relationships? What is the measure for the potential of power and its scale? Here, I think the telugu movie “Nene Raju nene mantri” is useful. The movie follows the story of a young couple, whose life is completely changed due to an adversity caused by the ruling party. The movie depicts how desperation for justice changes to greed and how power and the lack of agency impacts the individual. Contrary to the theory of bureaucracy where the personal is proposed to be separate from the professional, the movie speaks through the impacts of personal life of power holders in their professional life and vica versa. It also showcases the shift of power from a group of individuals to an individual, a common feature of democracy.
Connecting to this, was the question of How rationality and emotions play out? What connects these largely distinctive features of an individual? When does one take over the other? How does the personal which is understood as synonymous to the emotional, get defined in bureaucratic structures?
At present we see that separation of personal and professional has become a key feature to companies. We keep hearing about Companies asking their employees to sign an agreement which includes clauses like:- can not marry during the first 2 years of employment, can not initiate a romantic relationship with someone within the same company, can not fall pregnant during the first 1-2 years of employment etc.
These clauses act as regulatory methods to control the workforce. Companies often employ divide and rule policies to get the most out of their employees which gives rise to unhealthy competitions. They work through logics of efficiencies and profits. The idea of life or what is being provided is amenities which are of little use in old ages. The structure does not nurture or allow for friendships and networks which play a significant role in everyone's life.
The chapter also discusses the system as a linear structure of superiors and subordinates, which brings in the idea of evaluation. Evaluation in bureaucratic structures is thought of as a method to instil accountability. But in actuality it also brings with it a bounded system that leaves little room for one’s own free will. An added layer to this system is the need to verify. Evaluation is for verification and not learning or doing. The system verifies the skill set of an individual through tests and recommendations. Recommendations have a politics of their own that result in the formation of networks and familial filtering people who have access to the job/education.
Society adopts these systems which is evident in the way attitudes like “I want to learn” are treated. They are read as hobbies, something that can go along with the main curriculum but can not be the main subject by itself.
THE BRIDGE OVER RIVER KWAI
by Chetasvi Patel & Khushi Surana
The setting of the movie is a war situation in which the Japanese have captured the british. They use the prisoners of war to work in making a bridge over the river Kwai. Two main leads, Colonel Saito who shows dictatorship, commanding and leading from the front, forcing English officers to work beside their men, taking the control in his own hands when his Engineer fails to deliver results. On the other hand Colonel Nicholson acts as an indirect influencer by refusing to succumb to the demands of the Japanese. This refusal to work might look ridiculous, but his not giving in serves as an inspiration to his men. One of the most important lessons that can be learnt from this movie is “When execution takes priority over strategy, the results can't help being catastrophic”.
The question then arises is, Is Colonel Saito's system of making every man work irrespective of their ranks more efficient or Colonel Nicholson’s system which works on hierarchy?
Time constraints make you dependent on certain negotiation systems. The moment the group increases, time negotiations come in.
Even today when the global pandemic COVID-19 virus hit us people were forced into their homes. The whole world stopped and people had to work from home. The rules had to change involuntarily. When people called in sick, they were allowed paid leaves. At the same time there were people who suggested the househelps should stay in their society, to avoid infection, and work to earn their salary. People expected the workers to live in their building, away from the family just because they were expected to do the job. While on the other hand there were also people who paid the househelps without getting any work done. People need to be more considerate of the people around them. The rules need to change according to the situations.
A THOUSAND PLATEAUS BY DELEUZE & GUATTARI (CHAPTER: RHIZOME)
by Shubh Sankhala & Ruchi Kalantri
Rhizome in botany means a plant stem capable of producing a shoot and root system. In the book, the author has explained rhizome as a process or method of existence and growth that does not come from a single point of origin.
In the postmodern world, the narrative of arborescence falls apart as logic and philosophy has multiple entry points and reasoning becomes stronger. Hence they offer rhizome, an organism with interconnected living fibres that has no central point. It does not start anywhere or end anywhere. It grows from everywhere. It becomes difficult to break a rhizome because of its non origin. Rhizome operates on the basis of variation, expansion, conquest, capture and offshoot.
6 characteristics of rhizome are connection, heterogeneity, multiplicity, asignifying rupture, cartography and decalcomania. To explain it he has formed their groups.
Connection and heterogeneity means any point can be any other point no matter how similar or different they are.
By multiplicity what we understand is it has no subject or object. Only magnitude and dimensions. Adding or subtracting temperature will add a different feeling as a qualitative difference. On the other hand, adding or subtracting something from a bag of rice won't make any difference. It is still a bag of rice. It is a quantitative difference.
Asignifying rupture means it can be broken from any point but will regenerate itself
Cartography and decalcomania makes us look rhizome as a map which is always open and extended at any point
Rhizome is nothing but a bunch of multiplicity put together without any structure.
Anyone might wonder why the concept of rhizome is useful. So it provokes many ways to approach or think of anything. Helps question hierarchy and binaries. Provides a way on how everything is multiple and interrelated.
As an example we discussed how the internet can be related and compared to rhizome. No root, no origin.
THE GODFATHER
by Sakshi Maeen & Nidhi Bhoir
The Godfather is a mob drama,based on Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name,focuses on the powerful Italian-American crime family of Don Vito Corleone(Marlon Brando).
The story begins as “Don” Vito Corleone,the head of a New York Mafia “family”,oversees his daughter’s wedding with his wife Carmela.His beloved son Michael has just come from the war,but does not intend to become part of his father’s business.Through Michael’s life the nature of the family is just like the head of the family,kind and benevolent to those who give respect,but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family .Don Vito lives his life in the way of the old country,but times are changing and some don’t want to follow the old ways and look out for community and “family”.An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York ,and needs the Don’s influence to further his plan.The clash of the Don’s fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price,especially from Michael,all for the sake of the family.
The discussion was stirred around the idea of power and how the organisation structure was affected due to involvement of family and friends. The Corleone family lawyer is hearing requests for favours because, according to Italian tradition, "no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day."This scene and many others in the movie got the idea of favour in return of favour which can be seen leading to a lot of networking across the family . Also the idea of family as an institution was quite evident and which not only bonded the members of the mafia family to a lot of rules and restrictions but also didn't let them question any of the happenings.
But on the contrary the movie also points out what are the repercussions of involving the family in business by pointing out at certain points while making decisions. The don has to make the family remember “This is business. Not personal.”It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business. It reminds to not get too sentimental or emotional when making decisions that could have devastating consequences.And the family should put aside thoughts of vengeance and while making a deal.
The scene where Michale says, "My father taught me many things ... keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." This also tries to familiarise with the negative things in your life, thus being able to anticipate them and plan accordingly will become easier. The devil is always in the details.
NO RULES RULES
by Khushi Bagrecha & Shaurya Pawar
The CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings explains the working of his organisation which is Netflix.
Lead with context, not control
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LEADERSHIP WITH CONTROL :
In this case, the boss approves and directs the initiatives, actions and decisions of the team.
There are 2 ways in which the boss interacts with the employees one is the leader guides each employee and constantly checks and corrects their work. The second is that the leader just gives an order to do the work by putting a control.
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LEADING WITH CONTEXT:
It gives more freedom to the employees. The employees work together in a team and make better decisions and this builds up their decision making ability.
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CONDITIONS FOR LEADING WITH CONTEXT:
HIGH TALENT DENSITY: In this case, there are 2 ways of putting a statement or rule
Leading with control- In this method a command is passed as to how one should behave, obey the commands and act according to how the orders are passed.
Setting context: In this method the boss only tells what work is done whereas the employees work according to the way they feel is more comfortable for them.
SAFETY FIRST: Goal is error prevention or innovation:
-leading with control is better as it prevents error.
-more safety is ensured
-leading with context is better if you have a group of high performing employees.
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WORKING SYSTEMS
LOOSELY COUPLED- Loosely Coupled is the design system which has very few interdependencies between the component parts and it makes the system more flexible.In a loosely coupled system, the decision making is dispersed and there are very few rules and policies.
TIGHTLY COUPLED - Tightly coupled is the design system which is intertwined with each other so if you want to make any changes, the entire system needs to be changed.In a tightly coupled workspace, the decisions are taken by the boss and are pushed down to the employees.
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ALIGNMENT IS A TREE AND NOT A PYRAMID:
According to the pyramid system, the boss gives an order of what work is to be done and the commands are pushed from the boss to the employees
According to the tree system, the boss is at the roots and the employees in the branches so the employees do the work in their own way and the boss only checks the work done and if the employees are properly aligned or not.
In leading with control, there is no self alignment among the employees and they do the work only for the sake of doing but it aids in the larger working of the system.
Ruling with control leads better for an organisation as the boss keeps a record of how each employee is working and work is done efficiently and quickly.So unless you have a good team of working employees, you can’t rule with context.
Leaders became clear with the idea that error prevention or saving money was not their primary objective but the main objective was to adapt to all the unforeseen conditions.
THE MANY HEADED HYDRA
by Pranjal Sancheti & Heeya Mashru
The book, The Many-Headed Hydra the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic published in the year 2000 by the authors Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker reflects the working of a system as that of a Hydra.
It starts with the conference of the working group of people who have come together to plan against the state and the people in power. They plan to burn down the Governor’s mansion, the instrument of ruling-class power in New York.
The title of the book is derived from a Greek tale of a multi headed serpent named Hydra which grew twice the amount of heads one slaughters. The person who slayed this serpent was named Hercules who is also referred as a saviour for the people. So this serpent was hard to kill because the more someone tries to defeat and slaughter the heads of this serpent, the more heads will grow in the place because they were growing back 2 fold.
To slay Hydra, Hercules’s nephew tries to distract the Hydra by grabbing the attention of the serpent which gives Hercules a chance to slaughter Hydra’s heads one after the other leading to it’s death.
Similar grounds were chosen by the state to decrease the revolutionary practices performed by the working class. They compared themselves to Hercules and the working class to the Hydra and came up with this idea to distract the working class’s attention from the state to themselves by giving the white people, consisting these groups, some raise and power which helped them as they shook hands with the state which created conflicts among the groups resulting in the destruction of these groups easily by the people in power.
This all started because of the idea of revolution that emerged in the heads of some individuals. Due to extensive work given to these people, they did not have time or thought to revolt against them in power. It was only at the maritime period when the workers were transported and had no work to do. They were collectively present in the ship and had time to think about these ideas. They used to convey these ideas to the workers in the different places they used to be sent at for work and formed these revolutionary groups.
Further the discussion opened with how does the working of hydra help in the present era?
In the process of Hydra, authority and responsibilities lie on each and every head, so this opens the discussion by a lot of opinions and choices. This helps in the efficiency of work. In this type of work the power is decentralised. Human rights are not neglected.
But the question arises when you have to maintain the balance which is disrupted due to so many heads and opinions. Multiple heads give rise to multiple questions which need to be answered and countered.
EXTRASTATE CRAFT THE POWER OF INFRASINFRASTRUCTURE SPACE
by Avantika Padalkar & Prachi Shah
The position of these spaces(physical and virtual) then become a way to access new information.Where the current thinkers question the authorities to know what is the actual system to master their narratives.The International Organisation of Standardisation creates these soft laws to rationalise a few things like the computer protocol, the pitch of the screw head or the contemporary buildings that are just duplicates of one another.These laws then become a medium for global exchange.The infrasturctural space then becomes a by product of volatile market and a political game.The three different bureaucratic strata which helps form these infrastructural spaces include the free zone, broadband and the ISO’s global management system.Disposition is the character or propensity of an organisation that results from all its activities.The urbanist should thus, acquire these active forms to develop the infrastructural spaces.Infrastructure then is not an urban substructure but the urban structure itself.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books & Articles :
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. 1987. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Translated by Brian Massumi. N.p.: University of Minnesota Press.
Easterling, Keller. 2014. Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space. N.p.: Verso.
Hastings, Reed, and Erin Meyer. 2020. No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. N.p.: Penguin Publishing Group.
Linebaugh, Peter, and Marcus Rediker. 2013. The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic. N.p.: Beacon Press.
Martin, Reinhold. 2005. The Organizational Complex: Architecture, Media, and Corporate Space. N.p.: MIT Press.
Morgan, Gareth. 2006. Images of Organization. N.p.: SAGE Publications.
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and society. Edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich. Translated by Ephraim Fischoff. N.p.: University of California Press.
Movies:
Coppola, Francis. Director. The GodFather. 1972. United States: Paramount Pictures.
Coppola, Francis. Director. Apocalypse Now. 1979. United States: Omni Zoetrope.
Dante, Joe. Director. Gremlins. 1984. United States: Warner Bros., Amblin Entertainment.
Lean, David. Director. The Bridge on the River Kwai. 1957. United Kingdom: Columbia Pictures.
Zanuck, Darryl Francis, and Moss Hart. Gentleman's Agreement. 1947. United States: Twentieth Century- Fox.