Studying business has been an interesting transgression from the vague plans I laid out for myself in childhood. When I first decided to pursue business, I had very particular goals:
- Prove that “business ethics” didn’t have to be an oxymoron.
- Learn what I needed to know to be an effective business writer.
What I didn’t expect was that I would find myself immersed in a sense of normality that I recognized less and less as my classes unfolded.
In business, “normal” is not only dominant, but it’s everywhere—often at the complete exclusion of anything atypical. It’s not just that “normal” is preferred; it’s that anything perceived as abnormal isn’t even acknowledged, or if acknowledge it is not explored.
People who live comfortably in this environment often perceive much of my life as abnormal, atypical, or different. I say often, because some are not aware of the possibility, and therefore do not acknowledge it when they see it. After all, I can “pass,” so I couldn’t really be abnormal, atypical, or all that different. Right?
This is proving more and more of a struggle for me. When I took psychology (early in my studies), I risked my grade (and thus my goals) by questioning the validity of some of the scientific principles we were being taught. Psychology is a field I find troubling, because so much of it is based on the assumption that normality=good and abnormality=bad. At least, much of the psychology I have been taught has held those assumptions dear and close. And, I have to ask, can it really be “science” if such a fundamental assumption is made and not questioned?
After I made it through psychology with my grade intact, by the skin of my teeth as they say (do teeth have skin—I mean, really, what’s that about!), I breathed a great big sigh of relief and figured I was done with that. I’m studying business, not psychology. Now, I just have to laugh at my own naiveté—what a silly girl am I!
A fundamental concept/function of business is to manage; particularly it involves the management of people. To understand how to manage people effectively, one has to understand how people behave and how one can induce the behaviors one would like to see. In walks psychology, bold as brass (again, is brass bold, and how so if it is so?), to educate and inform. Behavioral science, in particular, seems to be a favorite. It’s in marketing, advertising, public relations, human resource management, organizational behavior, team development and management, strategic management, entrepreneurship, decision making, career development, and project management. Basically, “normal” psychology pervades the vast majority of my core classes. And each and everyone seem bent on ignoring the abnormal, atypical, and different.
“Oh, but they don’t, you see—we talk about diversity!” Pah! Yes, they talk about cultural diversity, racial diversity, sexual diversity, and generational diversity. Yes, they do. And, despite having taken a cultural diversity course; despite having discussed how these forms of diversity apply to marketing, advertising, public relations, human resource management, organizational behavior, team development and management, strategic management, entrepreneurship, decision making, career development, and project management; despite all this diversity-sensitive education—not one has prepared me to discuss mutual interests with the many people on the Internet without sounding, well, ignorant. Yes, I know Britain, Canada, Australia, and everywhere else is different from the U.S. Congratulations! Welcome to the obvious. And yet, the U.S. can be so very [insert your preference]-centric, these rather obvious distinctions are so often lost on people.
To butcher Shakespeare (because I can, not because I should):
There are more differences in heaven and earth, America,
Than are dreamt of in your diversity.
The business world assumes a sense of normality and conformity that does not exist, and yet wonders (or fails to wonder) why productivity is so much lower than it could be and competition is flooding in with us so unprepared.
