There are certain elements of working life that feel as though they have been around forever, and will be around long after we have shuffled off. Research from the University of Alberta suggests these time-honored traditions may be more fragile than we think, however.
“In some ways, institutions are incredibly precarious because all it takes is to meet somebody else who also says, “It doesn’t have to be like that,” and suddenly you can start thinking about how it could be otherwise,” the researcher explains. “Sometimes it doesn’t even take that much.”
For instance, when we purchase something, we scarcely stop to think about the capitalist market system that underpins our transactions, much less what money is. Instead, these are typically things that function in the background that we largely take for granted.
Making sense of things
Indeed, the author argues that we can generally only make sense of many of the things we experience in everyday life because of the institutions that are continuously erected.
“If nobody can work out what you’re doing, given prevailing ways of making sense of things, you’re incompetent,” they explain. “Competence requires that you produce a world where other people can take things for granted, and you do it all the time without thinking about it.”
The paper suggests that while many of these things we take for granted seem incredibly robust and durable, they are continuously being nibbled away at. As such, the author believes that the framework outlined in the paper can help regardless of whether you’re trying to enact change or stop it.
Factors of change
For instance, the various custodians charged with keeping institutions in place, the material environment, the personal accountability for ensuring people understand each other, and the complexity of the institutions themselves all contribute.
“Often you can be a bit enigmatic, but if you have to be really clear and well understood, you’re going to have to work to make sure everything can be easily interpreted by other people,” the author explains.
The author believes that making things less easy to take for granted can be a powerful tool in the process of organizational change.
“Organizations are all about interpretation, they’re all about how you make sense of things, and how you influence the sense that other people make of things. Taken-for-grantedness gives us building blocks for organizational strategy, and organizational cultures,” they say.
“I think change is easier if you can get a little bit of dissatisfaction to bubble where all these little oddities keep coming up, or things don’t quite seem to be working as they should.”
If organizations can spot areas within the organization and its material environment that are problematic or is subverting some of the custodians in some way that ensures they’re not able to successfully clamp down on any deviations from the norm.
“This is a framework for understanding, and for bringing things to your attention,” the author concludes. “What you see with it depends where you’re looking and what you want to do.”
