Stupidity paradox -- why smart people don't think too much at work

One problem is that some bosses feel threatened by intelligent employees.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/lu-sp-070816.php

Public Release: 12-Jul-2016
Stupidity paradox -- why smart people don't think too much at work
Lund University

Intelligent people don't often think critically at work, as this is often uncomfortable. When a culture of "functional stupidity" prevails, it leads to a huge waste of resources, says Professor of Business Administration Mats Alvesson at Lund University, Sweden, who has written a book on the phenomenon of functional stupidity.

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"Organisations suffer from a reflection deficit. Questions that are critical are seen as uncomfortable and therefore we assume flexible positions, making an effort to ensure that nobody can criticise us. We then end up in a situation where everyone does the right thing, everyone is positive, and all things seem to be in order when in fact they are not", says Mats Alvesson.

Together with André Spicer from Cass Business School in London, Mats Alvesson shows a variety of examples of what happens when symbolic activities and what we display become more important than what we actually do - and the room for individual thought and responsibility is decreased.

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