December truly is a wonderful time of the year. It must be due to the performance review processes carefully designed to foster warm camaraderie; or the discussions about year-end compensation that keep managers humble about their team members’ performance.
Then, there is the joyous pursuit of financial targets, now in clear sight, with the sole remaining concern being revenues slipping into next year (gleefully ignoring that the same delays twelve months ago benefited the current year); and the longstanding tradition of using all available resources in productive ways to exhaust budgets before the clock strikes twelve.
Add the soothing tune of ‘Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer’ on repeat at every street corner and the delightful spectacle of mass travel bringing out humanity’s finest qualities, and it is evident that the end of every year has been masterfully crafted to ensure everyone badly needs some recovery time.
But before the break, per a longstanding tradition (see below), what has 2024 been about? Without much of a doubt, global anti-institutionalism.
In a 2024 paper published in the ‘Political Science Reviewer,’ the author observes that ‘we are a society that seems to no longer understand what is an institution, nor can we articulate what is an institution’s function and value. Ironically, the sheer ubiquity of institutions renders them obscure to us—hidden in plain sight. The one thing we know as a society is that we distrust them. Here, an ‘institution’ is defined as any ‘social form […] that gives structure, shape, and purpose to a group of individuals.’
Supported by academic references, the author attributes this distrust to several factors, including the unethical actions of leading institutional representatives, the exploitation of institutions as a platform for pure personal achievement, and their increasing politicization. But the ‘coup de grâce’ lies in the accusation that today’s institutions place unbearable limits on individualism. Institutions were meant to serve people. The reverse seems to have become true.
It would be unreasonable to assume that this defiance is limited to political institutions.
In the financial marketplace, shareholders have become more assertive against inert institutions in which stakeholders do not recognize themselves. This trend has been deepening.
Anti-institutionalism also resonates with employees navigating impersonal, Kafkaesque administrative processes that hinder the execution of professional duties and create systems where, despite the best of intentions, good ideas go to die. Bureaucracies lead to fear, chaos, disengagement, and even anger, mirroring the broader societal discontent with institutional bodies.
To build competitive advantages, whether at a country or corporate level, a total reformation of organizational models and processes is required.
And perhaps the 2025 corporate year-end rituals will already be refreshingly different.
Comments