Demand Chains
A new concept just came to me as I read an e-mail from one person requesting that I respond to a request from another person, likely in response to the same request from a different person. This pattern, I realized, must occur often in dysfunctional organizations, and would easily be dismissed as passing the buck if not for the regularity and sameness of the actions illuminated by the chain of forwarded-within-forwarded e-mail messages. This is more than an individual phenomenon, I thought. It's an anti-synergistic group activity, joining individuals together in a chain of mutually reinforced non-participation.
That sure sounds like some jargon.
The term 'Demand Chain' came to mind. Obviously a mirror of the 'supply chain' idea wherein fulfillment of a succession of needs takes place, that sort of demand chain would be simply an aspect of a supply chain. The more apt name might be corresponding reference to the newer 'value chain' idea--a non-value chain.
In any case I thought it was a cute euphemism.
What is the point of such a pointless activity, I wonder rhetorically. There is the obvious individual motive of avoiding responsibility and work, but in a social context there are additional functions. Passing on a task to someone else implicitly subordinates that person to you. It's not the same thing as asking a superior for help with something. Accepting the task subordinates you to the person delegating it, but also reinforces a trust relationship that offers value in exchange for accepting your subordinate position. Dumping the task on somebody else demands subordination, and threatens non-performance with negative accountability from several rungs up the ladder: the relationship appears from the end of the chain not as simply one-to-one but as the unified power of the entire chain threatening the person at the end with personal accountability for the failure everyone in the chain to get the task done, something that person never had any power to negotiate in the first place. Refusal is not a good choice--the person being refused will claim that the entire organization is counting on the person to get it done, and the person passing the obligation down is certainly not responsible for the act being delegated (nor, it is implied, for the act of delegation). Performing the task is an unfulfilling choice, as no recognition is likely to be offered at the low end of the chain. The best choices for someone roped into a demand chain are either to ignore the request by pretending not to have seen the e-mail, or other such evasion, or to pass the request on to someone else.
Is there any way to use a demand chain to one's advantage? Any tactics for subverting the hierarchy, or attacking the dysfunctional moves of other players?
