Posted on 10th July 2021
Another, more frivolous, listen has been Matthew Syed's excellent Radio 4 series Sideways. In particular, Episode 6 made me think of academia. (But all episodes are well worth a listen, IMHO)
In this episode, "A Recipe for Happiness", in the 2nd half, Syed talks about the experiment at Zappos with Holacracy, a rather flat management style (but listen to the episode to really understand what is meant).
At about 20:40 is the (short) part which made me think of academia. Here is Syed discussing Valve which also had a very flat management structure:
In 2013 an ex-employee of Value described a hidden layer of powerful management in the company which made it feel like high-school. ... In flat organisations like these, the lack of formal rules and hierarchy can mask a viscous informal power structure. But unlike in a good old-fashioned hierarchy there are almost no checks or balances in place. Powerful Barons can pursue their caprices with few limitations.
Now, this does not describe how, say, a vice-chancellor would think of a university: there are formal rules, for example! But I think the coal-face of academia does rather well approximate what is being described here-- I do have a lot of freedom in the classroom, and especially around what research I pursue. But at the same time, there are sort of "hidden rules", around who gets resources, or recognition, or advancement. Even in popular culture, the idea of tyrannical Professors / Lab Managers abound, and there is a lot more than a kernel of truth to such stereotypes.
As many people in Syed's programme describe, a flat structure can be attractive-- you are your own boss! But it can also be exhausting, with the constant, subtle, jockeying for recognition (or power, or influence, or whatever you want to call it). I am not sure I would like to work in a version of academia which had strict hierarchies, or an "internal market". Especially around research, I see freedom as being incredibly important in fostering creativity; and there is such a vast mismatch between the "5 years is a long time" view of modern business, and the "this is a lifetime's work" which (certainly in mathematics) I see creative thought as being about. However, I also wonder if a lot of the tension and disappointment in modern academia comes from a failure to understand that academia is a lot closer to a (very imperfect) holocracy than certainly senior managers might think.