Empire Building

Will noticed rapid movement across the empty cafeteria, and looked up from his coffee. Marian always walked fast, but now she was walking fast even for her, so Will knew something was up. She slid onto the bench opposite him in the booth, and said, "They're spinning off Metronome as its own company."

Will was a little stunned, but more than that, impressed. Metronome had begun as a skunk works, and gradually morphed into a division and then to an operating company. "Lamson did it," he said finally, referring to Metronome's founder, then general manager and now Chairman and CEO. "He got so big that they couldn't hold onto him. Amazing."

Lamson had built an empire. Empires come in several varieties:

Trusts

Trusts are empires built around critical capabilities upon which much of the rest of the organization depends. An example is the IT director who uses the IT function as a power base, doling out favors to allies and punishment to the rest.

Blobs

Empires can be
costly to
the organization

Blobs gradually consume ever-larger segments of the organization. At first the consumed segments "make sense" but as the empire grows, it becomes more heterogeneous. Blobs tend to grow when there is a shortage of able leaders.

Federations

Federations are alliances of peers. Usually one of them is dominant, and the others follow his or her lead. Although they retain formal independence, the reality is more like the structure of the former Soviet Union — a dominant central power surrounded by dependent clients.

Colonies

Colonies begin life as outposts isolated from the parent organization. They gradually grow in importance, until the tail wags the dog. Lamson's empire was a colony.

Empires can be costly to the organization. Their rulers can shade decisions in favor of their empires, which can subordinate organizational interests to the interests of the empires. To maintain control, empire builders often duplicate functions that already exist elsewhere. And talented employees who happen to be attached to business units that suffer under the empire might be more likely to voluntarily exit the organization.

Empires present both opportunities and risks to the people in and around them. For the people of Metronome, the financial rewards and career opportunities can be significant. And shareholders can benefit too. But this is the brighter side of empire.

Empires can make the organization less competitive, and less able to offer opportunity to its employees. If the problems become obvious enough, interventions can include reorganization, replacement of management, or even disciplinary action. If you're working in an empire now, prepare for that future day. Refresh your network, and search for alternatives. Be ready to move much sooner than you think you need to. If you wait too long, you might become part of a stampede. And then you'll have to walk even faster than Marian.  Top    Next Issue

Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Workplace Politics:

Ethical Influence: I

Influencing others can be difficult. Even more difficult is defining a set of approaches to influencing that almost all of us consider ethical. Here's a framework that makes a good starting point.

On Being the Canary

Nobody else seems to be concerned about what's going on. You are. Should you raise the issue? What are the risks? What are the risks of not raising the issue?

Influence and Belief Perseverance

Belief perseverance is the pattern that causes us to cling more tightly to our beliefs when contradictory information arrives. Those who understand belief perseverance can use it to manipulate others.

Exploiting Functional Fixedness: II

A cognitive bias called functional fixedness causes difficulty in recognizing new uses for familiar things. It also makes for difficulty in recognizing devious uses of everyday behaviors. Here's Part II of a catalog of deviousness based on functional fixedness.

Way Over Their Heads

For organizations in crisis, some but not all their people understand the situation. Toxic conflict can erupt between those who grasp the problem's severity and those who don't. Trying to resolve the conflict by educating one's opponents rarely works. There are alternatives.

See also Workplace Politics for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming June 25: Meandering Monologues in Meetings: Engagement

In a meeting, a meandering monologue has taken over when someone speaks at length with no sign of coming to a clear point, and little of evident value. This behavior reduces engagement on the part of other attendees, thereby limiting the meeting's value to the organization. Available here and by RSS on June 25.

And on July 2: The True Costs of Contractors

Among the more commonly cited reasons for hiring contractors instead of direct employees is cost savings. But are these savings real? Direct compensation, including perks and benefits, might favor the contractor arrangement, but indirect costs tell another story. Available here and by RSS on July 2.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenaXXxGCwVgbgLZDuRner@ChacDjdMAATPdDNJnrSwoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info