No One is Safe on the Plantation
September 22, 2024
On September 20, 2024, we concluded the masterclass "Governance 5.0 in Caribbean SIDS." One of the fundamental assertions was that organizations on these islands have the DNA of a colonial slave plantation. These organizations are marked by hierarchy, with a small elite or top class, management, owner, or boss controlling the rest below them and maintaining control through fear. This assertion has been generally accepted as valid by the participants and the faculty.
Apparently, I am the only one searching for empirical falsification or verification. And now, I have data once again to validate the theoretical ideal-type model of an organization. The source is the Antilli-aans Dagblad (AD) from September 20, 2024, whose headline reads: "Onveiligheid op de werkvloer; Rapport: 80% heeft ervaring met ongewenst gedrag" (Workplace Insecurity; Report: 80% have experi-enced unwanted behavior) (AD, 2024).
The plantation model fully explains this insecurity. The SER (Social and Economic Council) indirectly confirms this in a press release responding to the report, referring to the cultural context and hierarchy. The report also notes the drop in productivity, which indirectly points to (self-)sabotage, another characteristic of such systems.
In short, we are dealing with plantage software (plantation software) that must be reprogrammed.
Miguel Goede
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