The blaming culture-root causes and what can be done

A Story

When the “Ogen” software release hit the market, the shit hit the fan. 550 clients had to close down their electrical grid as software bugs caused many “early warning” systems to alert that a disaster was impending.

The CEO, inundated with angry calls, convened a management meeting and ripped his entire team over the coals. The Head of Sales complained that “Engineering will ruin my reputation”. The Head of Software Engineering blamed the “Deployment Unit” for not understanding how to install the software. The Deployment Unit claimed the software was a piece of horse shit. Finance blamed Sales for the fact that “we will face a huge revenue shortage next year.”

Definition-a blaming culture is characterized by shirking of responsibility by shifting it down to the next level, up to the next level, over to a peer, or on to a different unit..

The blaming culture is a mega epidemic, especially since 2008 when jobs become very scarce. Root causes for the blaming culture include-

  1. Parking the blame for unrealistic goals
  2. Maximization of the goals of each sub-unit
  3. Fear of being dismissed
  4. Email mail/chatting technology
  5. Lack of personal contact between staff
  6. Overdose of matrices
  7. Compromising seen as not worthwhile
  8. Overdose of “yes-we-can ism” coupled with lack of resources
  9. Leadership  Machiavellian-ism
  10. “Dumbing” of the workforce due to IT systems replacing common sense

The ONLY way to go about eliminating the culture of blaming is to deal with manifestation of blaming at the top of the organization. Nothing else works. Once the blaming issue is solved at the top, it trickles down to the rank and file within a few years.

In the case above, the CEO knew that the software release was faulty, but gave a “go ahead” because”we can always fix things on fly. None of clients will throw us out because  their CTO’s career is dependant on our success”.

For those who are interested on how blame is managed, click here.

 

 

 

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4 thoughts on “The blaming culture-root causes and what can be done

  1. I agree with you on how to deal with such a culture where constant attempts are made at finding a guilty one (any guilty one) while refusing to explore potential causes. Actually, one of the symptoms of such a culture is the absence of causal analysis and an abuse of ungrounded assessments.

  2. Greetings Allon! Blame is one of the five characteristics of a chronically anxious system as identified by Edwin Friedman, and has been one of the work culture characteristics my father has focused on changing since he began his work back in the 1950s. I concur change must start at the top but systemic change can reliably happen within months and with lasting results.

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