A zugzwang is “a position in which one player can move only with loss or severe disadvantage.” In some businesses, there are times when an individual is helplessly caught in the grips of an authority figure's desire to rule by the Zugzwang Imperative.
In chess,
there is something called a zugzwang, a noun which means “a position in which one player can move only with loss or severe disadvantage.” An example of such a position would be the moment of checkmate, when the player would need to sacrifice a major piece in order to save the King. Zugzwang usually determines the critical turning point in the game.
A zugzwang is also used in reference to games other than chess, and figuratively describes moments of social disadvantage, such as in conversations, law, or politics. This maneuver can occur as a spectacular win in anything ranging from a chess game, justice served in a court case, or a successful military battle.
However, when zugzwang is parted to an ally rather than to an opponent, the damage can be great.
In terms of work management, there are times when an individual can become helplessly caught in a zugzwang, usually deployed upon them by an authority figure. This can happen to anyone, and anyone can be subject to placing it upon others. There are some leaders that force their team members to take on “Do-or-Die” assignments at whatever cost to the team.
Such leaders are infected with what I like to call the Zugzwang Imperative. Below, I would like to examine three major levels of work management in which I consider to be susceptible to the Zugzwang Imperative:
1. Task management.
Many super-hierarchical companies are most successful at zugzwang at the task level - mostly because tasks seem so small in one’s overall efforts. As an example, a team member may be given a task which is difficult, uncomfortable, and / or not part of his or her expertise / job description. But, because the task is carefully measured as to not break the employee’s gumption completely, he or she does it and continues to be taken advantage of. When disagreement or refusal to do the work arises, the company simply threatens to take away the employee’s job.
2. Project management.
This is subject to zugzwang in a way similar to task management, but the effects are much more detrimental. For instance, a project may be assigned to a team that is not sufficiently equipped, placing them at a disadvantage which consequently affects other projects and tasks. This most often happens with projects that have deadlines. An executive might want a new website, for example, requiring that the web-development team have a faultless site within an impossible time frame. Threatened with their jobs or promised an onslaught of more work upon non-conformity, the team stays up late, works extra hard, and completely sacrifices their other work for the sake of an uninformed executive urge.
3. Project portfolio management.
This is the area that, if managed by the Zugzwang Imperative, is most damaging to the business. When project portfolio decisions are made by forcing the PPM manager, a company must realize that there are huge implications. A portfolio involves a large percentage of the overall work of the business, containing both projects and tasks. When project portfolios are manipulated to a business objective not congruent with the original plan, it can greatly disrupt the rest of the portfolios and projects, sometimes putting millions of dollars are at stake. Good companies understand that by placing the responsibility on the PPM manager, they have entrusted him to do the job right.
Some leaders inflicted with the Zugzwang Imperative are most likely unaware that they even have a problem. After all, to them, their practices have been proven to be effective - or, rather, they have been proven to be momentarily profitable. So, time and time again, zugzwang continues.
However, I think the Zugzwang Imperative can be easily combated today. Because it is only possible to have these negative politics when a major hierarchy exists within a company, the way to remove zugzwang is to remove the hierarchy (while retaining leadership, of course). This can be done through the best practices of work management. Instead of giving authority figures the possibility to force projects on others from a distance, work management neutralizes company polarity and gives people the chance to communicate and collaborate on their work in a healthy, productive environment. In a sense, it’s like chess, as if there is a connection between each chess piece and the player’s mind, giving him or her a full picture of the tactics that can be used to initiate the quickest, most efficient defeat of the opponent.
