Langmaid Practice

yes it’s true – but the rigidity, or burocracy or whatever you want to call it, becomes necessary once the company reaches a certain size. Otherwise there it will be impossible to control, who is doing what, and the amount of “double up” will surely cost the company much more?

Boris, of course structure is important – and large groups quickly become chaotic or paralysed without some. But at British Airways it was often that people said to us, “They’re doing this project in two other parts of the airline that I know of!” The thing about structure is that it tends to breed replication – something that seems a good idea in Dept X, must be cool for Depts Y and Z. Just like fashion or music, structure is infectious and spreads.

Most of the big organisations I have worked for have too much structure and everyone who works there knows it. The secondary gain for the workforce is that once you know the structure you can find your way around it – or blame it for your problems!