Corporations: Bulwarks Against Change?

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One thing about large for-profit corporations is that they seem to be opposed to change; this is at the level of both the institution and the individual. Institutionally, a large corporation has a successful product and market, so they more or less want to continue with what has led to that success for them in the past. Most of the individuals employed by a corporation are reticent to change in general: They see employment at the corporation as a means of income and life stability needed for raising a family. If there is any change in process or technology, they become uneasy. Most take comfort in the routine of doing more or less the same thing day in and day out. They like the clarity of a hierarchy telling them what to do. For the corporate employee, life should be slow paced, predictable, routine, and conventional. They are not generally creative or innovative, but they will work "hard," following the Protestant work ethic Max Weber described as "The Spirit of Capitalism." That is, they are loathe to come up with some creative means of enhancing their productivity so that they can spend less time on the repetitive, tedious tasks familiar to them. The workers can be thought of as robots that must be given precise instruction and specific, domain-mapped tasks. The concept of right-wing authoritarianism describes them well.

This is no surprise. When an existing system works for you, why would you be open to change?

I asked the question of a guy I work with along these lines. Someone who is the recipient of good things thanks to the status quo doesn't tend to see how unjust the system it. Another who is denied good things because of how the system is set up can more clearly see its flaws and need for reform.