Align Ideology Rather Than Binding with Rules
Many companies pour their energy into creating rules.
However, I do not recommend that.
Often, managers think, "We must create a rule!" when a problem occurs. They create a rule to prevent the problem from recurring and think to bind the team members' actions with that rule. And the more they do that (and the larger the organization grows), the more the rules become a patchwork.
I believe it is important to align ideology before creating rules (or rather, before building an organization).
What is ideology?
Ideology is a system of specific thoughts and values shared by individuals or groups, and it is the underlying way of thinking for how society and things are perceived, as well as the principles of action. It influences various areas such as social systems, economic structures, moral views, and culture, and exists as organizational philosophy or individual beliefs.
Main characteristics of ideology
System of thought:
It is a collection of thoughts and beliefs, or an aggregate thereof, in various fields such as philosophy, religion, politics, morality, and art.
Principles of action:
It refers to a system of fundamental values and beliefs that fundamentally direct how people and organizations act and live.
Social and collective nature:
It is a system of ideas shared not only by individuals but also by social groups such as nations, classes, political parties, companies, and ethnic groups.
Worldview:
It can also refer to the worldview itself, such as how one views actual society and what kind of ideal society one envisions.
Within an organization, various pieces of information (thoughts, values, principles of action, etc.) are often scattered about.
Managers must first organize and classify that information based on certain laws or frameworks. Then, they should proceed to build it into a consistent overall picture that everyone in the organization can logically understand and operate efficiently.
It is meaningless to paste patchwork rules onto an organization that lacks a systematic ideology. This is because members of such a patchwork organization will immediately start looking for loopholes in the rules.