Politicization dilemma

Politicization dilemma describes the paradox of increased power struggles due to internal competition and unclear areas of responsibility from hierarchically flattened structures in organizations.

As a result of the attempt to save costs (such as lean management ), decentralization, de-bureaucratisation and demands for flexibility in relation to constantly changing customer needs (changing "markets"), companies tend to flatten their hierarchies, which can make areas of responsibility unclear, internal competition increases and power- and conflicts of authority among the respective teams, departments and employees may increase. The original goal of depoliticization in the organization cannot be achieved or is counteracted. A paradox arises: the increasing diffusion of responsibility gives rise to politicization processes in the organization and unplanned costs.

Making power taboo in organizations

Making power taboo leads to disguised (informal) power struggles. Egbert Steiner and Ludwig Reiter (1986) write : "The rejection of existing hierarchies only leads to their obfuscation and makes them unassailable." Often, "post-bureaucratic" companies assume that the promotion of "win-win situations " and the abolition of hierarchies made power struggles obsolete. The opposite is the case. Stefan Kühl as follows: "These politicization tendencies are often accompanied by a taboo on power in organizations.", And: "The constant latent danger for bureaucratic organizations to perish in unbridled power struggles, the reaction has the consequence that central problems and Power relations are covered with a cloak of silence. "

Further unwanted side effects (complexity and identity dilemma) from decentralization

From reduced structures in the hierarchy of the respective organization or from decentralization, the complexity of bureaucratic decision-making processes should also be reduced. In addition to the politicization dilemma, i.e. from unclear competence, responsibility and decision-making competencies, the complexity in organizations is also increasing at the same time - the complexity dilemma . An identity dilemma results from the increasing demands for flexibility of individual organizational units ( flexibility dilemma ) as well as from the increasing outsourcing of internal processes (outsourcing) and insofar unclear external borders of the organizational system .

Identity dilemmas, in turn, usually increase the politicization tendencies in organizations - an internally unclear (blurred) corporate identity often means that, due to the pressure from internal competition for higher positions of power, employees ultimately only act for their own (individual) advantage at the expense of the company's interests . If individual or even entire units of the organization turn so far away from a “weak organizational identity” to their own (individual short-term) benefit calculation, structural egoism is also spoken of and this can go so far that any loyalty of the members to the organization is lost and instead a mere "mercenary" developed in organizations.

Status

The politicization dilemma according to Stefan Kühl (1994/98) inspired the young generation of German sociologists to criticize the Peters / Waterman concept (also: McKinsey -7-S ) (developed at the end of the 1970s) until then as a modern concept .

literature

• Günter Müller-Stewens, Mathias Fontin: Management of entrepreneurial dilemmas. Stuttgart 1997.
• Stefan Kühl: When the monkeys rule the zoo. The pitfalls of flat hierarchies. Frankfurt and New York 1998.
• Stefan Kühl: Sisyphus in management. The futile search for the optimal organizational structure. Frankfurt and New York 2015.

Web links

• Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen, 1995: Decentralization. Companies between stability and disintegration (PDF).
• Stefan Kühl, 2001: Centralization through decentralization. Paradoxical Effects in Leadership Groups (PDF).
• Reinhard Bahnmüller, Christiane Fisecker, 2003: Decentralization, marketing and shareholder orientation in human resources (PDF), pp. 16–27.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Siegfried Rosner: Systems staged. Organizational and structural constellations as a management tool and simulation process. Leonberg 2006 (reprint 2015), p. 117: “As Stefan Kühl has shown with the exemplary analysis of some particularly advanced 'post-bureaucratic' organizations, these get caught in a 'politicization dilemma', ie the dissolution of rigid hierarchies and precisely delimited areas of responsibility creates new zones of uncertainty , a kind of power vacuum. 'The liquefied structures favor internal competition and are sometimes breeding grounds for violent power struggles.' (Kühl 1994, 104). "
2. ↑ Jürgen Deeg, Wendelin Küpers, Jürgen Weibler: Integral control of organizations. Munich 2010, p. 88.
3. ↑ Klaus Grochowiak, 2004: Ordnungs der Macht II ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF), p. 4: “In organizations we always encounter forms of official as well as unofficial, ie informal, power. The dynamics in organizations are, among other things, always in this tense relationship. " 
4. ↑ Egbert Steiner, Ludwig Reiter: On the relationship between the individual and the social system (PDF), p. 3.
5. ↑ Stefan Kühl: When the monkeys rule the zoo. The pitfalls of flat hierarchies. Frankfurt and New York 1998, p. 106 f.
6. ↑ Stefan Kühl: When the monkeys rule the zoo. The pitfalls of flat hierarchies. Frankfurt and New York 1998, pp. 118 ff.
7. ↑ Stefan Kühl: When the monkeys rule the zoo. The pitfalls of flat hierarchies. Frankfurt and New York 1998, p. 82 ff.
8. ↑ See Reinhard Bahnmüller, Christiane Fisecker, 2003: Decentralization, Marketing and Shareholder Orientation in Human Resources (PDF), p. 25.
9. ↑ Ibid, especially p. 67.
10. ↑ Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, Rolf-Dieter Reineke: Sieben-S-Modell : “The effectiveness of an organization lies in the interaction of the various factors - that is the central idea of ​​the model, which is also known as McKinsey-7-S . "
11. ^ Rainer König: Tour de Kultur II - How did and does it continue?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF), p. 12.