Transforming IT Culture by Frank Wander

Author:Frank Wander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

Dysfunctional Organizations Have Less Time for Compassion

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

—Socrates

Organizations that are suffering from dysfunction are caught in a downward spiral. As dysfunction increases, work slows, and as work slows, pressure increases. Deadlines fall behind, tasks build up, and people need more emotional support than ever. But research shows very clearly that people in a rush are least likely to help.

In a study on this topic, John M. Darley and C. Daniel Batson designed an experiment at Princeton Theological Seminary that used 67 seminary students as subjects who were told they were needed to do a reading.5 When the subjects arrived at the location they were instructed to come to, they were asked to practice some scripted text and then told to proceed to another building where they would be recorded. Interestingly, half the students were told they would be doing a reading on the parable of the Good Samaritan and the other half something else. Along the way, they passed a man slumped in a doorway, in obvious need of help. The purpose of the study: Find out how many would stop.

To understand the impact of pressure, a time variable was added, and the students were broken into three groups: High Hurry (you’re late, go right now); Intermediate Hurry (they are ready for you but no need to rush); and, last, Low Hurry (they aren’t ready; you can take your time).

The research showed that 63 percent of the Low Hurry group stopped, followed by 45 percent of the Intermediate Hurry, and only 10 percent of the High Hurry subjects. Whether they were giving a talk on the Good Samaritan or not had no impact on their helping behavior. The time pressure led them to behave selfishly.

The lesson for work is clear: There are always pressures, so modeling the right behavior for your teams or coworkers will greatly increase the bias to help. More important, designing a culture that is productive, collaborative, supportive, and creative greatly improves the flow of work, reducing the incidence of high-hurry, struggling projects. Also, building a culture where helping others, showing empathy, and demonstrating compassion is both valued and noted will overcome this negative bias, especially in IT, where there is always more work than time. The toxicity of selfishness is always prevalent in dysfunctional organizations, not in emotionally healthy ones.

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