Flies, Bees and Project Context

  Innovation   ProjectsAtWork  

The prevailing project management paradigm still emphasizes context-free processes and practices, rather than tailoring them to the unique context of each project. Alas, clinging to “one best way” is often counterproductive, as intelligent bees and systematic teams often discover at their own peril.

This article originally appeared on the Living Order blog: http://living-order.blogspot.com.

Peter Drucker argued that since the study of management began in the 1930s, several assumptions regarding the realities of management must be unlearned. One of these assumptions is that: “there is (or there must be) one right way to manage people.” Drucker further noted: “In no other area are the basic traditional assumptions held as firmly — though mostly subconsciously — as in respect to people and their management.” More importantly, “In no other area are they so totally at odds with reality and so totally counterproductive.”^[i]

The following experiment demonstrates one possible “counterproductive” consequence of clinging to the “one best way” when at odds with reality:    

If you place in a bottle half a dozen bees and the same number of flies, and lay the bottle horizontally, with its base (the closed end) to the window, you will find that the bees will persist, till they die of …

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