From a “family culture” to a “friendship culture”

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, the founders of the PC manufacturer Hewlett-Packard, were the precursors of a progressive style of management. They invented the “HP Way” during the late 1950s, a corporate culture based on openness, respect, informal communication and a shared vision.

Most organizations started to adopt this style of management in the 1980s. They no longer promoted stability, security and protection. Instead, they created an organizational culture based on informality, egalitarianism and individualism. Hence, the “tech culture” in Silicon Valley is a good representation of this new organizational culture. 

A typical “tech worker” is laid-back, young, well educated and more importantly willing to work around 60 hours a week. In tech companies particularly, there is a “cult of cool”: the perfect tech employee is both a productive worker and a fashionable individual. However, while tech companies have an undeniable “party atmosphere”, which makes them very attractive to young skilled workers, normative control still prevails. As Joscelin Cooper puts it:

The truth is that the sexism, hierarchy, and entrenched social mores prevail here, as they do everywhere else. They're just dressed in T-shirts and expensive sneakers, momentarily drowned out by playing Guitar Hero in a break room. (Forbes, 2013)

We observe a shift from a “family structure” to a “friendship culture” in organizations. On the one hand, traditional companies with a family structure are characterised by a paternalistic management: the boss can be associated with the dad metaphor while the employees are his “kids”. Traditional companies promoted security and unity. On the other hand, liberated companies are based on openness, intimacy and individualism (Costas, 2012).

In organizations where the “friendship culture” prevails, even the most boring and repetitive work is counterbalanced by the creation of a fun environment. Thus, in 2004, Fleming and Spicer conducted interviews at an American call center. In order to compensate for the monotonous and repetitive tasks, workers were invited to participate in team-building activities often involving heavy drinking. The slogan consisted in the “3 F”: Focus, Fun, Fulfilment. Workers were given a relative freedom regarding the way they dressed, they could personalize their desk as they wanted, etc.

A truly infantilizing corporate management had been established. Moreover, the researchers found that workers were encouraged to confess their personal problems to their managers, who “had the role of confidant and counselor more than supervisor”. The line between work and non-work has become blurry, boring tasks are disguised as “fun” and liberated workplaces have a “party atmosphere”. 

Likewise, the shopping experience has evolved. Hence, Disneyland is the prime example of a disguised supermarket. Everything has been meticulously thought in order to make customers forget about the “real world” and just experience a world of fantasy with fictional characters. The “Disneyzation of society” is defined as:

The process by which the principles of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. (Bryman, 2004)

As a consequence, as  Fleming and Spicer (2004) put it: “One is simultaneously always a producer, always a family member and always a consumer”.