Triumph of Emptiness

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Last condition to discuss is illusionary arrangements, also called window dressing. We do agree and see it as a natural development of the society. We think that in the economy we live in today, it is all about convincing your counterpart. Today there are so many options to choose from that companies has to do everything it can to stand out from the crowd. Alvesson was critical in a way telling us that illusionary arrangements can cost a lot of money. We think that the following phrase describes it well: Out of sight, out of mind! Which means that organizations have to make themselves heard and seen to such an extent that they are at our top of mind to be effective competitors. To accomplish this can be very expensive and therefore it is crucial to stand out from the crowd and make an impression when dealing with illusionary arrangements.

3. What is your own opinion – do we live in a time of “The Triumph of Emptiness”?

Yes, we do believe that we live in a time that is heavily characterized by grandiosity, illusionary arrangements, and zero-sum games. Grandiosity is something that we believe all have encountered in various ways and situations throughout their lives, whether they have noticed it or not. We also believe that grandiosity is a consequence from today’s focus on selling, whether it is selling your CV, your product or your company.

As we live in a competitive society where the organization or individual that present the best offer, in most cases, gets to make the sell. This can naturally lead to offers that are described with exaggerations and dishonesty. Whether it is a perfume that “makes angels fall”, or a politician with the promise of an unemployment-rate of zero, there are many cases of grandiosity/illusionary arrangements.

We do believe that there could be situations where grandiosity might not be that bad after all. Regarding Alvesson’s thesis on the inflation of job titles, we wonder if these, in some ways, exaggerated titles could bring positive effects within the less coveted jobs. For example, as previously mentioned; instead of having the job title of a cleaner, you would have “strategic real estate janitor” which perhaps symbolizes more responsibility and pride unlike what the more basic job title of a “cleaner” would represent. Even though the tasks within the job would remain unchanged, we believe that this could result in change of attitude in a positive direction, which perchance could have a positive impact on the employee’s efficiency.

To conclude we believe that much of the grandiosity and illusionary arrangements in our society comes down to playing with words and what information the individual/organization choose to share. The sum-zero games however are an universal truth in our eyes. Much like the laws of physic, you can’t create something from nothing and you always have to take from something.