Structural egoism

Structural egoism describes the pursuit of partial interests of individual subunits in organizations. The term was coined by Christoph Deutschmann (1995) within organizational sociology.

In the context of developments in intrapreneurship , internal competition and structural egoism in the company are deliberately aimed at.

However, structural egoism also appears as part of a politicization dilemma (Kühl 1994), especially when individuals or individual subunits only act at the expense of the overall interest in their own (short-term) favor.

Side effects

In the context of structural egoism, individual organizational units tend, in addition to the increased coloring of results due to intensified internal competition, to (secret) disregard of internal rules - according to Luhmann, Kühl differentiates between informality and illegality . Informal networks are increasingly being sought within the organization, internal dependencies are shifting in such a way that important groups of employees tend to be more susceptible to fluctuation for the company .

Extended context (society)

By Thomas Feltes (2003/08), the term structural egoism used extended to companies and democracies.

See also

• Competitive paradox

Individual evidence

1. ^ Katharina Bluhm: Between Market and Politics. Problems and practice of corporate cooperation in the transition economy. Opladen 1999, p. 87.
2. ↑ Cf. Deutschmann, Faust, Jauch, Notz: Changes in the role of management in the process of reflexive rationalization ( memento of the original from December 29, 2015 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. 10. 
3. ↑ Cf. Claus Reis: "New Public Management" in the context of the production of services. In: Intelligence Service of the German Association for Public and Private Welfare , Volume 77, 1997, No. 10, pp. 318–323.
4. ↑ Stefan Kühl, 2010: Formality, informality and illegality in organizational consulting ( memento of the original dated December 29, 2015 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. 2: “In the case of illegality in organizations, the participating organization members are aware of the deviation from the rules of behavior. In contrast to informality, superiors or supervisory bodies would have to intervene and sanction the responsible member if they were made aware of illegal activities. Otherwise their behavior itself can be regarded as illegal. " 
5. ↑ Olaf Struck: Individual-centered personnel development. Concepts and Empirical Findings. Frankfurt and New York 1998, p. 100 f.
6. ↑ Cf. Thomas Feltes: Strategies and Interests of Criminal Policy Programs. In: criminal policy. Internal Security Studies. (Ed. Hans-Jürgen Lange) Wiesbaden 2008, p. 261 f: “The structural egoism of a fragmented society is a threat to democratic structures ... The retreat into individuality will in the medium term lead to the erosion of even hitherto stable communities and possibly entire democracies. "