The Big Whinge

Corporate treachery with song !

The Sound of Music is one of my favourite films. It has it all - comedy, tragedy, suspense, gorgeous scenery, a journey of self-discovery and a rousing music score...a guaranteed mood lifter.

However, watching it again for the hundredth time I realised that I had missed another important dimension of this film - organisational politics.

Recall the early scene in the abbey when the nuns are speculating about Maria's whereabouts, as she has once again missed mass. Nuns from the She's An Angel and She's a Demon factions lobby for Mother Superior's support on their viewpoints of the Maria bill.

Essentially, Maria is being ridiculed by the She's a Demon camp because she refuses to conform. Her crime? Scraping her knee, climbing trees and curling her hair. H'mm, can’t remember the bible mentioning these sins.

The most intriguing transgression is singing in the abbey. I am curious to find out what the hell those nuns thought they were doing.

Maria won't - or can't - conform. There is a crossroad looming: the abbey needs to weed out interns that don't fit the company culture. Given it is a Christian organisation, it would be bad PR to uncharitably turf out someone so enthusiastic to serve God. However, the bottom line is Maria is not an asset to the abbey.

(Of course there is no logic in organisational culture – it’s all about perception. It does not matter that Maria may have the right stuff to be a nun – it matters more that she toes the line.)

What to do, what to do...

Solution: manage her out by giving her the dreaded Special Projects role (read: better start ringing the recruiters).

Maria is persuaded by Mother Superior that her secondment to seven children of a widowed cold naval caption is God's Will. CEOs often think they are God and their word divine, but in this case, it is hard to argue.

So, problem averted. The abbey returns to its tranquil state of hymns and nuns looking disapprovingly at each other. Maria has a Crystal Shop moment and finds her real passion isn't kissing the floor in anticipation of committing a sin, but Captain Tightpants and seven step-children who can harmonise.

posted by Yarravillean @ 9:06 pm