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The Stupidity Paradox: The Power and Pitfalls of Functional Stupidity at Work

Mats Alvesson,

André Spicer

3.71 · Rating details · 231 ratings · 36 reviews

Functional stupidity can be catastrophic. It can cause organisational collapse, financial meltdown and technical disaster. And there are countless, more everyday examples of organisations accepting the dubious, the absurd and the downright idiotic, from unsustainable management fads to the cult of leadership or an over-reliance on brand and image. And yet a dose of ...more

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Published June 2nd 2016 by Profile Books(GB)

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Oct 03, 2016 Maru Kun rated it really liked it

Shelves: larkins-toad

Quite often at work I've pretended to be more stupid than I am. I don't like to do this as it's intellectually dishonest, but from time to time the alternative - looking clever - was clearly the worse choice.

The most obvious reason for pretending to be stupid at work is to make the boss look good and I'm sure anyone who has been in a job for more than a few months has done this.

A less obvious but almost equally common reason for strategic stupidity is to keep a low profile. Some people, early in Quite often at work I've pretended to be more stupid than I am. I don't like to do this as it's intellectually dishonest, but from time to time the alternative - looking clever - was clearly the worse choice.

The most obvious reason for pretending to be stupid at work is to make the boss look good and I'm sure anyone who has been in a job for more than a few months has done this.

A less obvious but almost equally common reason for strategic stupidity is to keep a low profile. Some people, early in their career, naively believe that looking clever and being competent will get them promoted. Very often it will do no more than get them riffed in the next round of layoffs, as what boss wants a smart young rival at his heels?

(If your mind is unpolluted by corporate jargon, being riffed means being fired, coming from the Human Resources Dictionary of Platitudes - “Reduction In Force" - your friends who aren't there one morning so we can build a bright future together).

Another reason for not wanting to look as clever as you are is that you will be given more work for no additional reward. You are so clever you will be the one in the office until midnight while everyone else has gone home. That's how clever you are. After a few years of this you will be promoted and get paid more, but then you'll be riffed as being more expensive than anyone else.

At first glance the modern workplace looks a complicated place. Look too clever, get riffed for embarrassing the boss. Act too clever, get riffed for being a smartass. Use your intelligence and competence to advance up the career ladder, get riffed as being too expensive or too old. Don't be clever at all, get riffed for being stupid.

But is it really complicated? Not if you use this simple recipe for career success which I have seen adopted by many top executives. This mnemonic is all you need to know. Corporate success needs BALLS: Bullshit. Arselick. Lie effectively. Lay the blame. Sod off home early.

I haven't read this book as I don't have to. I've lived it for years.

PS:

The article on the above book which I have linked here - "Stupefied: How organisations enshrine collective stupidity and employees are rewarded for checking their brains at the office door" - is undoubtedly the most truthful article on the modern business organisation I have ever read. ...more

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Aug 19, 2016 Peter Geyer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: culture, education, organisations, owned, society, economics, consciousness, the-self

I'm not a big fan of books on organisations, and there are several reasons for this. Perhaps the most pertinent is that I'd been in workplaces and/or organisations for nearly 20 years before I read one and a number of thoise years were spent wandering in and out of them as a customs officer where I observed a fair amount of incompetence, hubris and success, sometimes all three in the same visit. So when I studied (and later taught) organisations, my experience (as well as other studies) made me ...more

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Mar 02, 2017 Nguyen Santiago rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: business

Though the title implies that there are both benefits and drawbacks to Functional Stupidity (otherwise known as doing what someone tells you to, or obviously wants from you), the book deals almost exclusively with the latter, enumerating the many aggravating, depressing forms of kool-aid foisting and drinking occasioned by a world of interacting with other people, mostly at work.

If you are someone for whom swallowing guff about 'core values' or whatever the current passive-aggressive management ...more

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Aug 25, 2018 Kristian Norling rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a good book, it also aligns well with my grumpy side. I recognise and have experienced a lot of the functional stupidity explained in this book. My favourite quote from the book:

"When specialism rules, we get the problem of people who only have a hammer in their toolbox, and as a result are inclined to treat everything as if it were a nail.

As a consequence, organisations are full of specialists who work on problems as they know them. However, most problems are not isolated. Having many ...more

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Aug 20, 2018 InvestingByTheBooks.com rated it really liked it

How is it possible that organizations filled with the best and brightest so often end up doing stupid things? Professors and organizational theorists Mats Alvesson’s and André Spicer’s explanation is that there are actually short-term benefits to stupidity both to organizations and to employees – although in the longer term the folly will often prove to be detrimental. Absolutely everyone that has been engaged in the inner life of large organizations will – with a sardonic smile – recognize How is it possible that organizations filled with the best and brightest so often end up doing stupid things? Professors and organizational theorists Mats Alvesson’s and André Spicer’s explanation is that there are actually short-term benefits to stupidity both to organizations and to employees – although in the longer term the folly will often prove to be detrimental. Absolutely everyone that has been engaged in the inner life of large organizations will – with a sardonic smile – recognize numerous of situations from this book.

The key concept presented by the authors is what they call functional stupidity, by which they refer to the inability and unwillingness of organizations to let the staff utilize their cognitive and reflective capacity, apart from in relation to very narrow, technical and often repetitive tasks. But it also refers to the, presumably smart, employees’ willingness to self-stupidify. This results in a lack of reflection on the assumptions behind what is being done, in not asking why things are done to start with and not seeing the wider consequences of actions.

It might sound inconceivable that this inanity would be tolerated yet alone often encouraged by companies and public organizations and likewise sought after by the employees. Still, organizations benefit from employees’ stupidity since constant questioning creates doubt, uncertainty and conflict and by this is in the way of productivity. The authors even launch the concept of stupidity management as an organizational process of managing the balance between questioning and efficiency. In my meaning the expression probably gives an illusion of an explicit managerial control that doesn’t really exist. The employees benefit from their stupidity as they by not challenging social norms free up time and energy, they show loyalty and fit in. So stupidity comes with pros and cons. Still over time the process creates alienated and cynical staff with numbed cognitive abilities, it creates loads of non-productive work and worst case sets the company up for disaster.

The book has some structural issues. Although functional stupidity is described as also having positive aspects there is an apparent underlying axiom throughout the book that organizations that utilize the cognitive abilities of their staff will yield superior results. Still, with some exception it isn’t until the last chapter this is explicitly stated. The folly has gone too far and has to be combated! I think it would have been better to come clean with this up front. Similarly, the most comprehensive definition of the concept functional stupidity comes in the conclusion of the last chapter.

The start of the book is quite repetitive as the authors introduce the key thoughts in the preface, repeat them in the introduction and then again with a few examples throughout part one. Part two of the book, covering different types of stupidities, is more varied but also contains a fairly odd chapter on consumerism. The authors are clearly entitled to their opinions but the subject belongs to a different book and Naomi Klein has already written it. All in all there are 8,5 chapters of description and only 0,5 chapter of prescription – some more practical advice on what to do about the problem wouldn’t have hurt.

These issues are however easily forgiven. The authors are in my opinion dead right in their key insights and it isn’t often you bump in to new concepts that frames and explains a lot of what you intuitively know but additionally stimulates and provokes new thoughts. The book also has the extra attraction of making the reader feeling smart, of being one of those select few that have seen through the charade. Not least an intellectual snob like myself is easily seduced by this angle – I did buy the book. There are many texts on the biases of individuals or the madness of crowds in manias but fewer that explain the more mundane day-to-day irrationality of organizational processes.

This is an important and thought provoking book that deserves a wide audience among corporate managers and knowledge-workers alike. ...more

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Sep 28, 2017 Richard Schwindt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-favorites

Every now and again a book comes along that makes you sit up and say: “This explains a lot.” As one of the few people to serve on the management team of a Children’s Aid Society, public hospital and a Children’s Mental Health Centre, I feel that way about the Stupidity Paradox. So much in this book rang true. Alvesson and Spicer bring a rare glee and accessible prose to their discussion of how functional stupidity pervades our public and private sector organizations. They note how organizations Every now and again a book comes along that makes you sit up and say: “This explains a lot.” As one of the few people to serve on the management team of a Children’s Aid Society, public hospital and a Children’s Mental Health Centre, I feel that way about the Stupidity Paradox. So much in this book rang true. Alvesson and Spicer bring a rare glee and accessible prose to their discussion of how functional stupidity pervades our public and private sector organizations. They note how organizations promote the idea of knowledge workers, hire the best and the brightest – then shut down criticism and original thinking. They note how branding and rigid group norms can stifle discussion of problems that put profits or safety at risk. They also skewer trend followers and management gurus. As much fun as this is book is for anyone who has winced through an organizational failure, the authors also note occasions where functional stupidity is necessary. Employees need to bond, projects must be executed, and working as a unit may be necessary to ensure a company goes forward rather than being immobilized by self-examination. In the end companies may need to achieve both things – functional stupidity and a capacity for critical self-examination. If nothing else this should give pause to any reader who works for an organization that stifles dissent, critical discussion or diversity at the expense of the larger mission. As a writer on emotional recovery from workplace mobbing, and an EAFP counsellor, I couldn’t help wonder about when the control of diversity of thought and manner becomes workplace mobbing; the price employees paid outside of the workplace for functional stupidity inside; and how people trained to functional stupidity behaved in the political arena (that question may have been answered this week.) This is an important book for managers and employers; CEO’s and stockholders who want to look deeper into the secrets of organizational success and failure. ...more

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Nov 26, 2016 Josep rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I will start recommending it as a good book to start a debate about good and not so good company practices. It has value for been able to create debate, as it has some really interesting insights. "One of us studied manager who claimed to do leadership. They said that having coffee with their subordinates, listening to them or engaging them in small talk had a significant impact on them. They saw this as an exercise of leadership. If another person - say their secretary - had done the small ...more

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Jan 04, 2018 Allys Dierker rated it really liked it

Liked the analyses of why “functional stupidity” works and thrives in some cases. Alvesson and Spicer do a good job articulating some issues I’ve had a hard time articulating: higher-Education inflation, why “knowledge-intensive” firms are often a confidence game, why economies of persuasion feel so empty, why transformational leadership is often neither. They identify some “tricks of the trade” in “stupidity management” and also some suggestions for resisting stupidification. Wisely, though, ...more

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Nov 27, 2016 Sam Ladner rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I'm an old fann of Mats Alvesson, so I was excited to read this book. As usual, he did not disappoint. This book tells you why there's such a thing as corporate stupidity, even though corporations consistently hire people with advanced degrees and high IQs. How and in what ways does this happen? Alvesson describes the social processes whereby we end up making the same mistakes over and over again. It's well read alongside anything by Chris Argyris, who also provides insight into how individuals ...more

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Jun 30, 2017 Srikanth rated it it was ok

Loved the title of the book, more importantly the contents of the book. The moment is started reading it, felt like it was a ghost written auto-biography of my work life. The best part is, i could see the same pattern being followed in both military as well as civilian organizations that i have worked in. I felt, that these guys heard us and were talking to me. Started the book with lot of happiness at being felt empathetic. Then it ended from the second chapter. What started off as beautiful ...more

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Dec 15, 2018 Kim rated it it was amazing

This book is not going to give you solutions to your functional stupidity. They show you all the ways in which we actively participate in the stupidity and then they're asking you to think and reflect upon it. Sometimes the stupidity is necessary, but often, it is not. It's up to you to decide in your own unique situation what is appropriate.
I loved it because I'm self proclaimed cynic/realist and I was still buying into stupidity. This book really caused me to think hard about so many things ...more

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Jul 29, 2017 Andrew Doohan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a fun - and at times funny - book to read. Drawing upon their own academic expertise and the studies of companies undertaken by themselves and others, Alvesson and Spicer draw into the stark light of public awareness the phenomenon they name as 'functional stupidity', that propensity for otherwise smart and intelligent people to not "use cognitive and reflective capacities in anything other than narrow and circumspect ways".

This functional stupidity that Alvesson and Spicer describe ...more

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Sep 03, 2018 Mikael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is one of those books you wished you read when you left university but didn't. You then realize that you probably wouldn't have got the message anyway and made all those mistakes that formed you as a manager, leader and human. Now when reading it is painful to watch all that stupidity in retrospective.

I'm grateful for all my experience in all my areas of expertise but I'm also sad that we have created a society that is so stupid that we hinder our internal drive for excellence due to our ...more

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Mar 16, 2018 Dustin Dye rated it it was amazing

Alvesson and Spicer do an amazing job expounding on all the ways stupidity is enabled and flourishes in the working world. They articulate well why stupid people get ahead, and critical thinkers are frustrated. A smart person might read this and do well to learn to pick their battles and go with the flow to avoid shooting themselves in the foot career-wise, while stupid people--let's face it, those mostly in middle and upper-management--should learn to allow thoughtful people to express their ...more

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Jul 26, 2017 Chuming Ye rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 20, 2018 Petter Wolff rated it really liked it

While quite rant-y, this book still provides a good guide on how to "learn to see" functional stupidity, and thereby becoming able to decide on to which degree it's actually functional or not. And, I agree with the authors, it is way more prevalent in today's organizations than it should be (the degree to which people report themselves 'actively disconnected' from their work is a solid indicator).
So, I'm going to keep fighting against it, and this book will be part of my field guide library.

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Oct 28, 2017 Jesper Döpping rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A wake-up call to all of us who have ever worked!

This book is well argued provocative, enlightening and constructive. The concept of stupidity management as a double edged sword is well balanced and provide a way of thinking about how we as managers, teachers, employees develop a constructive stance and approach to what we do.

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Oct 19, 2018 Tomoko Shida rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, 2018

Interesting and worthwhile argument, but felt like they could have conveyed it in much fewer words. Would have been worth the read if it was the length of an article, but instead they stretched it out into a whole book.

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Aug 14, 2017 Joanna rated it it was amazing

I wanted to highlight the entire book. So many things jumped off the page about how things are done in corporations and schools. Guaranteed to make you feel vindicated if you've ever endured corporate nonsense.

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Dec 30, 2019 Hana Bira rated it really liked it

A great part of the book is spent on describing different systematic stupidities in the corporate setting. I found the last chapter offering good advice on how to circumvent these malaises. However, it seems to end on a rather cautionary tone than positive.

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Apr 03, 2018 Bookwormthings rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Oh how true what is described. One star deducted for being slightly repetitious and not providing solutions. But then that would be an act of rational stupidity, we have to work it out for ourselves!

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May 12, 2018 Wendell Wong rated it it was amazing

This book offers an interesting perspective on how the world currently functions and how it works to hinder creativity while promoting uniformity.

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Dec 25, 2019 Ramesh Naidu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A deeply disturbing book. Easily the hardest and one of the most interesting book read this year , need to re read every couple of years

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Mar 14, 2017 Jordiburgos rated it really liked it

Offers a view of common situations that happen in the companies that are just stupid. I could identify some on my career.

Some parts are interesting but others just repeating itself.

Fun to read.

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Mar 04, 2018 Sarah Jean rated it liked it

Feels sadly familiar.

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Feb 19, 2017 Ellen rated it liked it

Interesting but a bit predictable and ranty. Tells you a lot about the problem without offering many solutions. Yes, employers want employees to produce predictable, high-quality work so they put in restraints that mean their employees don't have to think too much. Which makes work boring. But it produces the work they're looking for. It's easy to nod and agree with what's being said but harder to see what to do about it.

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Nov 27, 2016 Heiko rated it it was amazing

What a great book. If you ever wondered if you are in the right place at work and why a lot of what is going on around you does not make much sense....read the book.
I can only recommend it to get a sanity check on what is going on and if you are stupid for thinking there is something strange going on

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Jan 10, 2017 Sanne Marije Visser rated it liked it

Shelves: work-nonfiction

The article - "Stupefied: How organisations enshrine collective stupidity and employees are rewarded for checking their brains at the office door" - on the above book actually summarizes the whole book rather well. Which is undoubtedly why I didn't enjoy the book as much as the article.

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Feb 27, 2018 Chris rated it it was amazing

Loved this book it is spot on about the Corporation, the end of the book e.g. Solutions was a bit thin.

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Aug 29, 2017 dv rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: management-impresa

As very often happens with management books, a very good idea - functional stupidity as the core competence of contemporary business organizations - reiterated for 200 pages and used to re-frame more common organizational problems. Anyway, still a good idea.

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