Management theory 12.1

Does an organisation need a tenth man?

In the terrible movie, World War Z despite inclusion of Brad Pitt, facing the world’s imminent demise at hand of zombies, one of the characters suggests the Israelis had invented the need for a “Tenth Man”. 

The idea is that you might have nine people in an organisation all following the status quo but that is handy to have one person engaged to voice opinion diametrically opposed, officially.

Now some will say that many organisations already have someone not committed to the party line providing undercurrents but here the organisation actually employs someone to test all management activity. 

It’s a bit like hiring someone to try and break into your cyber security but extends to all form of management decisions.

The concept is uncomfortable for many organisations which want everyone touchy-feely with no exception to the idea and platitudes surrounding TEAM. If all goes well and there are no problems in the organisation then presumably everyone is happy, but do you ever know?