FANTASY BASEBALL & THE MEANINGFUL OUTSIDE

Edgar Schein’s insights reminded me again of the all-consuming fire of group dynamics and how they waylay us. Schein’s classic work captures all the tacit activity that rumbles around in the background of both newly-forming and even well-established “groups”. This can mean anything from corporations to fantasy baseballaficionados. Peter Drucker’s meaningful Outside postulates that all internal activity equals costs. Only external activity aimed at the meaningful Outside creates real results. But at the same time, without Schein’s “marker events”, “joint sensing of relief” and “shared emotional reactions” groups get nowhere. We have to slog through all that annoying stuff with other human beings to get at results. Until a group, team, start-up or corporation gets it together internally, nothing happens.

So here’s a conundrum like the chicken and the egg. How do we get external results if our internal organization doesn’t work? Alternatively, how do we stay in business if we’re focused on our internal organization and not giving the appropriate effort to external results?

There’s some kind of compromise involved that every organization must figure out and manage.

I honestly don’t know anything about fantasy baseball but my guess is that there are organizational dynamics in common across the full spectrum of human beings connected to do stuff, whether putting a fantasy team together with a group of friends or kick-starting General Motors.

If you can find Schein’s book, buy it.

tags:

In Business, Management Tags Edgar Schein, external results, meaningful outside,organizational culture, Peter Drucker