MAGAZINE FOR EXECUTIVES & DECISION MAKERS
SALES & MARKETING
How Flat Organizations Align Without Bosses — by Joost Minnaar
WHAT IS MUSHROOM MANAGEMENT? In most firms with managerial hierarchies, the higher you are up in the pyramid the more information you can access. And because information is power, this can be unhealthy.
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nformation is power. Information is a potential source of power if it is under exclusive control and also needed by others to reach their goals. On the other hand, if you lose control of information, and the information becomes known to others, you can quickly loose your source of power. In quite some traditional organizations, managers are afraid of this. It can manifest in mushroom management, described in the Urban Dictionary as: “A management philosophy prescribing to the theory that to best motivate your employees, you must at all times: 1. Keep them in the dark. 2. Feed them full of shit. This form of management applies to every situation where management is involved. Be it passing on critical information to employees, or informing people of policy change and company announcements. The entire purpose is to be as vague and unresponsive as possible. The ultimate culmination and success of this
SUMMER ISSUE 2021
management style can be found when people draw comparisons to management and a black hole. Where resources and information go in and nothing comes out.” They give a telling example of this in action: • “Employee 1: So you talked to management on our companies re-bid for the contract? • Employee 2: Yea, but didn’t get much. Management said there’s nothing to report. • Employee 3: How can that be? Our fucking contract is up next month, how can they not now anything? • Employee 1: Don’t ask me dude. Man I feel like I’m constantly in the dark and fed full of shit. Kind of like a mushroom.” Mushroom Management: A management philosophy prescribing to the theory that to best motivate your employees, you must at all times: (1) Keep them in the dark, and (2) Feed them full of shit.
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