One of our assignments for Organizational Behavior is a 1500 word essay on one of four topics. The essay is to be written in partnership with another student, and is due at the end of next week (essentially the end of the term). The topic that we have chosen is this:
The "old school network" is another example of power run amuck. An organization should be a meritocracy, rewarding hard work and concrete performance, not someone's backroom connections to powerful others. Discuss.
Our professor, David Krackhardt, has spent his career exploring the nature of relationship, power, and influence, and his research provides a great place to start thinking about this statement. David seems to be teaching at both Carnegie Mellon and Insead, and he flies around a lot.
If you had asked me to write this paper five years ago, I would have written strongly in favor of a meritocratic evaluation method in organizations. However, given what I have learned through experience and research, I think I am more inclined to accept the proposition that people hire and promote those that they like, not because it is anti-meritocratic but rather a basic risk-minimization response. I'm thinking of applying Simon's models of bounded rationality to the decision-making processes of managers when conducting human resource management (e.g. hiring and promoting).
12:59:38 PM 
|
