Cargo Cult Culture: The Art of Doing Without Ever Questioning Why
People have their own lucky rituals that they believe deliver desired outcomes. How do you handle this behavior in the workplace though?
You’re a few weeks into your new job and things are going well. The new colleagues are a pleasure to work with and everyone is aligned in reaching a mutual goal. However, the more you settle into the day-to-day goings-on, you realise a few things just aren’t making sense. Certain processes and actions that are being conducted that are either riddled with workarounds or seemingly defy all logic. Upon asking a few of your team why the processes stipulates that they must carry out their work in such a way, they shrug their shoulders and retort with, “I’m not sure… That’s just the way it’s always been done”.
The company is showing the symptoms of having a cargo cult culture.
cargo cult: a belief system in a relatively undeveloped society in which adherents practice superstitious rituals hoping to bring modern goods supplied by a more technologically advanced society
Origin of the term
The term “cargo cult” originates from as far back as the late 1800s. The most commonly referred to occurrence stems…
