Why stupidity gets rewarded at work

Have you ever seen the movie Office Space?

It's the story of three low level engineers at a faceless tech company, and how they respond when consultants come in to downsize.

Just about anyone who has worked for a large organization or a big chain can relate to one phrase in that movie: "TPS Report"

It's easy to see the boss as the enemy, but really aren't we all just stuck in this system together?

Like we're in this giant Rube Goldberg machine, ticking the box, saying yes when we really think the answer is no.

Like a cog in a wheel acting out our roles over and over.

From the minor frustration of TPS report protocol, to the Global Financial Crisis.

Sure there's been bureaucracy and blind rule-following for a long time.

Still, something about our complex, technologized world seems to make it worse!

The modern workplace is rife with functional stupidity, or as André Spicer explains it: "Smart people doing stupid things."

He's the co-author, with Mats Alvesson, of The Stupidity Paradox: The Power and Pitfalls of Functional Stupidity at Work, a book all about why stupidity can be good for business in the short term, but disastrous overall.