This is a review of the book The Stupidity Paradox by Mats Alvesson and André Spicer which explores the role of functional stupidity in contemporary organizations.

The authors’ thesis is that functional stupidity is omnipresent, especially in large firms, and it has a mix of positive and negative outcomes. The paradox is that presence of stupidity is not always bad, but it can have some benefits.

Stupidity Today

In the first part of the book the authors claim that predictions from the 1960s about the arrival of knowledge-based economy still remains a promise. The reality is that only a small fraction of jobs are knowledge-intensive. In fact, contemporary organizations make many smart people do stupid things.

Functional stupidity is the absence of reflection on the purpose or the wider context of a job. You do the job correctly, focusing on the technical details but stop searching for questions about the work. Three aspects characterize functional stupidity:

1. Lack of reflexivity: You don’t think about your assumptions.
2. Lack of justification: You don’t ask why you’re doing something.
3. Lack of substantive reasoning: You don’t consider the consequences or wider meaning of your actions.

Wishful thinking, following leaders without scrutiny, unreasoning zeal for fads and fashions, senseless imitation of others and the use of clichés in place of careful analysis are examples of functional stupidity.

In organizations a small amount of functional stupidity is beneficial. Avoiding difficult conversations can help individuals to suppress their doubts, be happy and feel comfortable with ambiguity. Ignoring negative impulses help to get along better with colleagues and provide a steady climb on the corporate ladder.

But if people stop asking probing questions and ignore problems for too long, functional stupidity can lead to larger problems and disasters. People grow cynical and alienated when they see a large discrepancy between proclaimed values and actual work.

Five kinds of Functional Stupidity

The second part of the book explores five sources of functional stupidity which are common in organizations, induced by leadership, structure, imitation, branding and culture.

Leadership-induced stupidity. When people develop an unquestioning faith in their boss and in the magical powers of leadership.

Structure-induced stupidity. Formal processes and structures are required in organizations but they don’t guarantee quality, reliability and productivity. People often blindly trust processes and systems which don’t produce the results they hope for. The mixture of senior managers who mainly sit in meetings talking to other managers, narrowly focused experts, and routinized workers create organizations where rule-following trumps good results.

Imitation-induced stupidity. Managers often adopt structures and formal practices that look good and not what makes the organization function more efficiently. This is to create an image which conforms to broadly shared expectations of how an organization should be. But a disconnect between the organization’s image and its everyday practices lead to frustration, low commitment and cynicism.

Branding-induced stupidity. There is a massive overproduction in many parts of the economy. To dispose of this surplus we developed an economy of persuasion. Branding helps to transform the dull job of convincing people about things they don’t need or want into something that sounds exciting and interesting. But branding activities are often met with indifference and cynicism.

Culture-induced stupidity. Corporate culture coordinates people, offers a shared sense of purpose, creates a common identity and reduces conflicts and confusion. But culture always includes a degree of functional stupidity. Most organizations foster a culture of optimism, focusing on the present and being change oriented. But when you can’t mention bad news you often can’t adapt to important changes. If you don’t look at the past you cannot learn from it. And an organization that drifts from one change initiative to another without real benefits becomes self-obsessed and gets harder to get actual work done.

Stupidity management

Although it’s never presented explicitly, stupidity management, that is to reduce thinking at work, is an important activity for managers. Again, small amount of functional stupidity can be advantageous because too much thinking can lead to conflicts, uncertainties, doubts and reduced motivation.

The third part enumerates four ways managers encourage functional stupidity:

• Authority: Manager use their formal position in the hierarchy to make subordinates follow polices and orders. The hope for a reward or the fear of punishment discourages staff from thinking too much.

• Seduction: Managers enlist attractive ideas and arrangements to persuade people. It’s often about arguing that change is always good and about painting a rosy picture of the future absent of the past and present problems.

• Naturalisation: Managers claim that the organization’s assumptions, its view of the word, and goals are self-evident, or natural.

• Opportunism: Managers buy into questionable trends or actions because good things will follow. Instead of searching or explaining the purpose of an action they rationalize the doubts.

The closing chapter proposes to fight functional stupidity with critical thinking: querying assumptions, asking for and being prepared to give justification and considering the outcomes and meaning of what we do.

The authors suggest that organizations instead of encouraging only optimism they should build up negative capability, the ability to face uncertainty, paradoxes and ambiguities. Some steps in this directions are:

• Post- or pre-mortems: Take a good look at a failed project and learn from it. Or, before a project starts try to imagine all possible ways the project could fail.

• Listening to newcomers and outsiders: New employees or an external person may point out deficiencies or silly things in your organization that you’ve grown accustomed to.

• Reflective routines and anti-stupidity task force: Regularly stop to think and ask: Why?. Evaluate your projects, structures and processes. Do they make sense? What’s their purpose? Perhaps even try to discontinue or cancel an activity or an arrangement.

Summary

I’d recommend The Stupidity Paradox to everybody who works for any organization that employs more than a dozen people. Functional stupidity — characterized by the lack of reflexivity, lack of justification and the lack of substantive reasoning — is everywhere in today’s organizations. This sounds depressing. Indeed, even the authors are concerned:

Everyone from CEOs to low-level employees is regularly put at risk of overdosing on stupidity management. We believe that this corporate no-think is one of the most urgent, yet most challenging, issues that organizations face today.

But the book also makes the point that inhibiting individual thinking in certain cases results in less conflicts, happier work environment and higher productivity.

The Stupidity Paradox helps to spot elements of functional stupidity and provides some advise how to keep it under control. In summary, the antidote of functional stupidity is critical thinking: reflecting on your assumptions, on your actions and on their consequences.