The age of the ‘soulless’ corporation: how corporations have lost their people-centric orientations

The work from home trend was accelerated by the Covid era. Corporations soon found that work from home saved millions of Dollars in rent and other fixed costs. Initially, employees enjoyed this freedom. However, the work from home trend has broken down team cohesiveness and diluted the bonds of corporate cultures built up over decades in traditional office and other work settings. Corporations now look more like nodes of employees (or contractors) working from off-site locations than a team strongly bonded by a corporate culture that gave meaning to the nature of their work.

Finally, a new generation of employees have been 'dumbed down' by a post-secondary education system which no longer teaches critical thinking. Graduates have lost their abilities to solve complex problems, do mental arithmetic, socialize in work groups, and be intrinsically motivated by the mission of their employers. Graduates have become the fodder of corporations who want employees who don't question things.

Out of the above, totalitarian like corporations have emerged where local managers have no leeway in the decisions they make. This we are seeing in the banking industry, where local managers and whole branches are being removed and replaced with AI. Systems have taken over jobs, discretion, and social connections with customers. Even if a customer can find a bank, mobile phone and internet provider shop, any queries from the public will be met with referral to apps. No human based decisions enter into customer interactions. Education is heading this way, as even medicine is.

This is what the 'soulless' corporation looks like.

The new 'soulless' management

Today's management style bares no resemblance to what is taught at "B" schools. This could best be described as Taylor's scientific management on steroids. Stop-watches have been replaced with AI. Such an example would be Amazon's "Pick-Path 2.0". Progress in management though has reverted back to Douglas McGregor's Theory X, where Theory Z has been thrown out the window. Management now resembles Kurt Lewin's 1939 autocratic leadership, only this time by faceless managers. KPIs rule, don't reach them and your out. The workplace now has a stress that hasn't been seen for generations. The workplace is now a major source of health disorders.

With cameras observing workplaces and disguised social credit systems, 'old school' has been replaced by the 'Orwell-school'. Under such conditions the corporation can be nothing but 'soulless'.

There are some aware of this and fighting back. That's another story.