OB - Brownbag- Mats Alvesson, Lund University

The talk addresses people in organizations limiting their mindsets and shrinking their cognitive capacity, refraining from critical and reflective thinking. Often silo-thinking is encouraged: people think - at best - within the box. Fashions, persuasive messages, bureaucracy, hierarchical relations and division of labour constrain thinking. The concept functional stupidity points at the double-edged qualities of this: functional stupidity leads to order, reduction of stress, compliance and sometimes good relations, but also leads to mindlessness, wasteful work and sometimes catastrophes. The presentation addresses the concept of functional stupidity, drivers and outcomes of it and possibilities to reduce it. Here anti-stupidity management is needed.