"With numbing regularity good people were seen to knuckle under the demands of authority and perform actions that were callous and severe. Men who are in everyday life responsible and decent were seduced by the trappings of authority, by the control of their perceptions, and by the uncritical acceptance of the experimenter's definition of the situation, into performing harsh acts. A substantial proportion of people do what they are told to do, irrespective of the content of the act and without limitations of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command comes from a legitimate authority" Stanley Milgram, 1965
The following ‘corporate communication’ – drearily typical of many such missives – was brought to my attention recently:
‘Dear All,
Following the key communication that was sent out to all key communicators ……. this is a reminder that all Fridays will now be dress down starting tomorrow.
This is to ensure cultural alignment with our other offices across the Group.’
Note in particular that use of the word which drove Herr Goering to violence - in his case for quite the wrong reason, while for us the reason would be right but the response should be less explosive.
This handy example of over-officious inanity does, however, give me an excuse to answer a common query, i.e., how should individualists respond to the ‘Dress Down Friday’ corporate phenomenon?
This may be the most important question of our time. The answer, as ever, is with dignity, good manners and a very straight face.
But in order to reach that conclusion we must first ask who caused the phenomena: the answer to which is that your employer demanded it.
And was this demand because of extensive research and ‘feedback’ from you and your workmates?
No, it is far more likely that your boss is slipping away for another long weekend’s drinking with fellow misogynists. Being too lazy to change from his business suit, he prefers to come to the office in his golf-clown outfit. He then needs to be seen to have taken a ‘management decision’ rather than being revealed as a rich, inbred slob.
Having established that, many other things become plain. Because there is - in truth - no sadder sight in the modern world than the boss class or their most devoted lickspittles trying to act cool and casual.
They are the leading contemporary examples of what the late Derek Jarman used to call “drabs” . This was not just his way of marking out homophobes, but in a wider sense dull, beige people who – unfortunately – control far too much of the world.
And the harder they try to be as one with their employees, customers, electorate and ordinary members of the public in general the more revolting their appearance and behaviour.
Such horrible, petty-minded people with their fake camaraderie - as if anyone with a gram of taste would wreck their ears and dull their wits being stuck in a pub or on some frightful corporate jolly with them. Boasting how much their cars are worth, pretending knowledge of or interest in sports or family life, playing incessantly with their techno-toys in a desperate attempt to look simultaneously busy and up-to-the-minute……..
Yuk!!
We cannot go along with this enforced slobbery. Because there is nothing voluntary, life-affirming or even progressive about it.
In addition, a brief perusal of any company’s ‘policy statement’ on ‘acceptable casual wear’ reveals little but an attempt to stamp out the last efforts of employees to retain some humanity and individuality in the most awful daily situation they could find themselves in – the workplace.
Who amongst us would want to be as badly dressed as his or her employer, especially when that employer is mis-dressed to crawl around some ghastly plastic pseudo-pub with other pseudo-people?
So the simplest form of resistance is to ignore it: turn up to work dressed, as usual, in clothes in which you could, if necessary, meet someone deserving of respect – or failing that senior government officials, royalty or international leaders of finance. Then, when you unexpectedly encounter a major foreign potential client or business partner in the car park, enjoy being mistaken for a company director, politely introducing an abomination in badly-fitting polyester as your MD and watching the faces of both parties drop in dismay.
The beauty of such a tactic is that the corporate world is programmed only to deal with insurgency rooted in the real culture of the business world – dishonesty, the avoidance of responsibility, fear of progress, imagination or objective knowledge. The primary fear of any business executive is that a younger, more ruthless clone will lie, cheat and steal his or her way to the MD’s chair. Thus the real business culture within any business culture centres on the attempts of those in power to prevent the young pretenders stealing it. Honest, self-respecting people who seek no power can simply stand aside and watch as these sad and desperate bores attempt to wipe each other out.
‘Management’ has no answer to the mannered rebel who turns up on time, treats colleagues and clients with respect, puts in a full day’s work and then simply goes home and forgets about it.
Resistance, then, rather than being futile is actually quite facile - and fun.
