Organizational Glue Formula

Émile Durkheim's sociological insights on social solidarity parallel organizational dynamics. As organizations grow, differing norms and values can lead to anomie, creating internal conflict and pathologies. Successful transitions require redefining "organizational glue" beyond regulations to maintain cohesion. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for managing change and ensuring long-term organizational health and performance. #organizationaldynamics, #socialsolidarity, #EmileDurkheim, #anomie, #changeManagement, #organizationalhealth, #cohesion

Episode Transcript

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Welcome to the Colig Experience episode. We're here to explore bold insights, innovative

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experimentation and groundbreaking leadership strategies that are shaping the future.
In today's episode, we'll delve into the concept of anime introduced by Emil Durkheim
and how it affects organizations transitioning from startups to larger entities.
Discover how maintaining organizational cohesion during these pivotal changes

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can prevent internal shocks and foster long-term success. Let's dive in.
They say there's no such thing as a bad child, only a child who feels bad. The idea is that a
child's negative behavior isn't driven by inherent badness, but by environmental conditions
that create a need or tendency toward acting out. But what happens when we move from talking

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about individuals to social groups? In our context, is there such a thing as a bad organization
or just an organization that feels bad? This question shifts us from psychology to sociology,
which brings us to Emil Durkheim, considered the father of sociology. Just over a hundred years ago,

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he became the first person to hold a sociology professorship, a Frenchman, by the way,
from an Orthodox Jewish rabbinical family. Durkheim analyzed social phenomena through the
lens of social solidarity, the bonds that hold people together in a society. A society's level
of solidarity is the key factor influencing how individuals within it behave. As an aside,

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one of his most fascinating studies was on suicide. In his time, European countries already had
detailed suicide statistics, though their reliability was questionable. He examined
suicide rates by ethnic community and showed that the higher a community's solidarity,
the lower its suicide rate. Jewish and Catholic communities had fewer suicides than Protestant

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ones. Durkheim concluded that religious, political, and family solidarity directly affected an
individual's likelihood of suicide. Durkheim coined the term anemone to describe social breakdown
when structures and norms collapse before suitable replacements emerge, an anomic society can suffer

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pathologies like crime, violence, and polarization. Sound familiar? Anemone perfectly describes what
happens when an organization, say a startup, begins maturing and growing. In the initial stage,
solidarity and integration are extremely high. Everyone does almost everything with few rules

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or laws. The glue-binding employees together is shared belief in an idea, vision, or product.
If successful, the organization grows to a size where this model no longer fits. People join
who weren't there at the beginning, bringing new perspectives and approaches. They're hired
precisely because they have knowledge and methods the organization hasn't seen before.

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The problem is these people won't necessarily connect with the organization's founding stories,
they'll feel less enthusiasm for them. The organizational glue that worked for phase one
won't stick for them. In fact, some might be shocked by the chaos and try to change it.
This is where anime can develop. When two or more sets of norms and work rules exist within the

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organization, it can be a brief transitional phase as the organization makes necessary changes,
but it can also become a long, painful process. We've seen this repeatedly in our work. Take a
pharmaceutical biotech startup we worked with that grew from 30 to 150 people. They hired quality and

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regulatory experts to prepare for FDA approval processes, but the founders weren't truly ready
to let go of their fast and loose development style. The new hires felt frustrated and meaningless,
while the founders felt like bureaucrats were invading their creative space. In another case,
we worked with a family-owned manufacturing company that brought in professional managers

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to scale operations. The company changed, new headquarters functions emerged, new roles started
managing the organization, but some founding family members felt left behind, creating tension
between how we've always done things and the new professional standards. This is the organizational

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equivalent of anime. Values become confused, norms unclear, and the rules of the game ambiguous.
The word anime comes from Latin. Inomos, nomos, equals, law, a nomos, equals, no law. This situation
can create organizational pathologies that take root and persist for years. Some organizations

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develop overly elaborate regulatory systems, excessive rules, meticulous planning and control
mechanisms, blame-seeking tendencies, and internal competition that consumes organizational energy.
This leads to low employee engagement and damages performance. Other organizations talk the language

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of big companies but continue behaving like children. They speak about needing order,
invest in processes and mechanisms, but keep shooting from the hip. This creates tension and
frustration, undermining the organization's ability to thrive. These are just two extreme examples.

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There's a wide range of organizational pathologies that stem from splits during phase transitions.
Such transitions happen several times in an organization's life, related to size but not
only. A major strategy shift might require a phase transition with all its implications,
as might acquisitions or mergers. The key point is that such changes create internal shocks that

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can tear the delicate fabric, binding the organization together. Between employees themselves,
between them and management, between them and the organization, between the organization and its
environment. If Durkheim were addressing this issue, he'd probably suggest managing these phase
transitions by focusing on organizational solidarity. Each time an organization undergoes

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significant change, we need to create the glue that will hold all its components together.
The classic mistake many managers make is confusing organizational regulation, job definitions,
processes, procedures, with what actually binds and holds everything together. Not at all.

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Organizational regulation is one component of this glue. But there are others. When leading
significant organizational change, it's crucial to invest time in asking, what's the updated
formula for our organizational glue? Because as the organization grows and develops,
this formula evolves and becomes more complex along with it.

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And that wraps up today's podcast, where we explored how Durkheim's concept of anime
highlights the challenges organizations face when transitioning and the importance of finding new
ways to maintain cohesion. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this episode with your friends

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