Why Iranians do not know the number 3? / Recognizing organizational syndromes for collective movements’ sustainability
Foruzan Asef Nakhai: China, regardless of the numerous criticisms leveled against its development model, is one of the countries in the world that has correctly learned the way to build through organization. This country is now the world’s factory and one of the most important countries for attracting creativity and innovation. Have we learned the scientific methods of collective work and organization? In traditional thought, wisdom is divided into two types: theoretical and practical. Although learning in both areas is very valuable, understanding theoretical wisdom is one thing, and understanding wisdom, especially in practice, is another. Of course, I wanted to put it simply, I didn’t want to oversimplify the gap between theory and practice.
In Iran, especially since the discussion of development emerged, it has brought methods of action with it. Development inherently entails the optimal, comprehensive allocation of resources in terms of capital expenditure and its result, which is the provision of national interests through institutions. In development, the principle is the continuity of stability and dynamism of institutions by realizing reinvestment over time based on the profit from economic activity. North emphasizes that institutional changes are key to understanding historical changes. North believes that institutions and organizations reduce uncertainty by establishing a stable structure for human interactions.
It is within this stable institutional framework that society becomes resilient against great storms. But how is the stabilization of institutions and organizations possible? A lack of correct understanding of collective cooperation, institution building, and organization in its modern sense, for achieving goals, can perhaps be said to be as old as the beginning of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran. From this perspective, Iran’s main problem is collective organization, as traditional institutions have not been able to respond to Iran’s current issues and still cannot. The lack of theory regarding organization caused the role of the individual agent to always be more decisive than the role of the institution and its structures. In other words, a lack of attention to the negative consequences of collective work has always led the Iranian psyche towards avoiding institutions, to the point where the spirit of non-cooperation is now recognized as a prominent independent variable in Iranian society, politics, culture, and economy. This issue, the denial of collective work and partnership, has even entered people’s proverbs, emphasizing that “If partnership was good, God would choose one for Himself.”
This has led experts in institutional and organizational development, including Dr. Parviz Dargi, to focus on “Recognizing Business Diseases and Treatment Strategies.” This is because our social, economic, and political institutions always have short lifespans, which results from a lack of proper understanding of the relationships between singular, dual, and plural (collective). The theoretical literature on individual duties and two people’s duties towards each other is very extensive in traditional and jurisprudential areas. However, in the collective sphere, meaning the number 3 and above, we lack institutional theory. This is why, instead of the number 13, it is the number 3 that is considered unlucky in Iran. Here is an old example: when two people gather, they form an organization; when the third person joins, one branches off. But in new organizations, what knowledge can save them from the heavy cost of organizational collapse?
Dr. Parviz Dargi
According to Dr. Parviz Dargi, recognizing syndromes can play a very significant role in finding solutions for organizational and institutional dysfunctions. “A syndrome in medicine and psychology is a combination of signs and symptoms indicating a specific disorder. A syndrome means a set of clinically recognizable characteristics, including disease symptoms reported by the patient, medical signs received by the physician, and phenomena and characteristics that usually occur together. Therefore, the presence of one of these characteristics warns the physician about the rest of the features. In recent years, this term has been used outside the medical field to connect several related phenomena.” (p. 23)
In his book “Recognizing Business Diseases and Treatment Strategies,” Dargi has identified 101 organizational syndromes, which are effective for understanding internal organizational and institutional problems and finding solutions. He believes that “the syndrome in the business world is a metaphor borrowed from medical science to accurately assess an organization and business.” (p. 23) For example, in syndrome number twenty, “Sindrome of the Grand Sage or the Trap of Pride,” Dargi addresses one of the most important syndromes in managers. This syndrome is very common in Iran. In other words, perhaps one of the reasons for the occurrence of the Grand Sage syndrome or the trap of pride is the organizational seat of power, which can make an organizational manager inefficient. Dargi writes about this syndrome: “This syndrome is very prominent in managers… The Grand Sage is someone who says ‘I know about sales, I know human resources, I know finance, and so on.’ These people manage their organizations poorly, because all parts consider themselves dependent on this sage, whereas if a CEO’s skill is greater than the technician’s skill in that company or organization, this indicates the CEO’s weakness. For example, if my work (as manager) in the editing department is stronger than the editor’s, this is my weakness. Instead of spending my time improving visionary, communication, and sensory skills, I am still stuck in my technical skills… Today, if someone says ‘I am a specialist in agriculture,’ we ask ‘Are you a specialist in summer crops, forage crops, or industrial crops?’ This means specialization has become so detailed.” Therefore, “If we consider human traps, the greatest trap hindering human growth is the trap of pride. In reality, a person should fill their flaws with the water of knowledge, like a sponge.” (pp. 83-84)
Another example relates to the syndrome of commitment to stupidity. Dargi writes about syndrome number forty-five: “One of the important principles of influence is the principle of commitment and consistency. This principle states that people perform a behavior and commit themselves to that behavior, and that behavior turns into a mold for them. If this behavior is correct, we have no problem, but if the behavior is wrong, a problem arises, and it becomes a stupid trench for the individual to hide behind.”
In syndrome number forty-five, Dargi points to an important point in the field of communication. “There is a big difference in verbal skills between dialogue and debate (mobahese). Dialogue means I am talking to you, and we have disagreements, but the assumption is that I might be right, and I might not be right; so let’s negotiate to see what is correct. However, if people debate with the initial goal of ‘I am right, and no one else is,’ if the individual realizes they were wrong, here, due to the syndrome of commitment to stupidity and unnecessary pride, they will not backtrack on their word and harm both themselves and their organization. In the syndrome of commitment to stupidity, the individual reacts in a way that justifies their previous decision. We all sometimes deceive ourselves to keep our thoughts and beliefs aligned with what we have done or decided before.” (pp. 147-148)
Foreword by university professors
However, one of the characteristics of the book “Recognizing Business Diseases and Treatment Strategies” is the perspective presented in the foreword by Dr. Behzad Abolalaee, human resources instructor, Dr. Mohammad Ali Haghighi, faculty member at Shahid Beheshti University, Dr. Ali Akbar Farhangi, professor at Tehran University, Dr. Mohammad Ebrahim Mahjoub, faculty member at Amir Kabir University, and Dr. Mohammad Ali Mohammadi, chairman of the board of the Iranian Management Consultants Association.
Based on the text, Dr. Abolalaee makes two recommendations: first, “to make training effective, make it problem-based… We must recognize our problems, prioritize them based on their importance, and focus our learning and studies on issues that target and solve our important and serious problems of today and tomorrow. The other recommendation is that in the process of learning and growth, despite firsthand experience being one of the most effective methods of learning, we should not experience everything directly and personally, but rather use the sweet and bitter experiences of others so that mistakes are not repeated, and learning occurs with minimal cost, risk, and negative consequences.” (pp. 13 and 14)
According to Dr. Haghighi, “Dargi has courageously entered the dialectical field.” He has “sensed the two areas of theory and practice well and has written this collection from a cognitive perspective, starting the entry into the 21st century for managers and thinkers in the field of management in our country.” “If the current world of management began a new management turning point two decades ago, I can say that our dear Iran is now beginning a great management turning point that needs brave men and thinkers who dare to take a new look at the role of man and organization.” (p. 16)
Dr. Farhangi compares Dargi’s book with Charles Austin’s book and subsequent books. From Farhangi’s point of view, the difference between Dargi’s book and Austin’s is that Dargi “presents organizational management diseases and examines their aspects with eloquent and popular writing.” According to Farhangi, the great advantage of Dargi’s book is that “in addition to stating the problem and explaining it, he points to its rational solution and gives the reader the choice to use it.” He believes that by studying the 101 organizational syndromes, “the reader will not only enjoy reading the informative content of the book but also benefit from the experiences of successful and unsuccessful managers – in line with the proverb ‘From whom did you learn manners? From the unmannered’.” (pp. 17 and 18)
Dr. Mahjoub considers Dargi’s book a study that proactively discusses various crises affecting businesses. From the perspective of pathology and damage assessment, he believes that “just as a living creature’s illness prevents its normal functioning, a business crisis results in weakness and poor business performance. Now, if a researcher has proactively thought about the various crises that may afflict small and large businesses for various reasons, … his work deserves to be valued both in practice and in theory. This book is the result of such an effort… The major difference between this book and similar books, which are generally presented in the country through translations of works by non-Iranian thinkers in the field of management, is that the author has tried to balance global experiences with his personal experiences, which are the result of years of intellectual and practical activity within Iran’s native culture. As a result, the reader can benefit from it with greater confidence in the applicability of the content.” (pp. 19 and 20)
Finally, Dr. Mohammadi considers accepting “the existence of symptoms and pain” as “the starting point for any improvement process” and conditions its understanding on critical thinking. According to Mohammadi, without critical thinking, positive points also tend to become negative: “The important point, according to Mr. Jim Collins in his book ‘Good to Great,’ is that past successes can be the enemy of future successes, and being good can be a big obstacle to becoming excellent. And the success syndrome makes us suffer from false pride stemming from past good achievements.” He emphasizes that one of the important features of cybernetic organizations and systems is the ability to analyze phenomena and understand the underlying layer of the iceberg of organizational issues and problems by feeling and observing symptoms and signs, and this is a characteristic of outstanding managers.” According to Mohammadi, Dargi’s book is responsible for correctly identifying and introducing these symptoms to managers in order to move to the next stage, which is finding appropriate solutions before crisis and collapse.
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