Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
It’s no secret that I am not a fan of archetypes and that I am not convinced of their utility in business. In my original post on this subject – “Archetypes Don't Matter!” – I said:
“Patrick [Lambe] has one set of archetypes and Katie Altham has some 100 archetypes which are quite different. Her archetypes use names from mythology, like Apollo, Zeus, Dionysus, Hermes and Aphrodite. Now this is all well and good as an attention grabbing exercise and even as a bit of fun, but does it have a grounded evidence base? Both Patrick and Katie claim it does however before I am convinced I would like to see the underlying data. It all seems too simplistic to me. Further it appears to me to be at best an extension and simplification of Carl Jung’s work, and at worst little better than pop psychology or even horoscopy”.
My position hasn’t changed, particularly when I discover on the actKM Knowledge-Base these two gems – “Star Types ” by Professor Han van Loon, and “'I' is for Insect ” by Arthur Shelley. Now it seems we can have insects, bumble bees and lions if we don’t like Greek gods. If Greek gods, animals, or Patrick Lambe’s habits like lust and avarice don’t appeal, then we can substitute blue stars, orange stars, red giants, and even brown dwarfs! But wait, there’s more.
A cursory poke around the World Wide Web with the key word archetype provides 3,140,000 hits. If none of the above archetypes satisfy us we can Dumbledore, Harry Potter, and Snape; or Sleeping Beauty and the Wicked Fairy; or even Darth Vader, Chewbacca and Yoda! Now we are getting somewhere. I can just see my clients reaching into their very deep pockets to part with a few thousand dollars so the consultancy I recommend, which won't be HolisTech® Pty Ltd , can categorise everyone in the organisation, and seek to change negative behaviours (archetypes?) into positive ones!
What am I missing? I don’t want to be absolutist in my position, and I’m trying to have an open mind, but I just don’t get it! 30 plus years ago in my undergraduate degree I remember studying the works of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. I remember Freud’s “Totem and Taboo” and Jung’s “The Psychology of Individuation” as being interesting, and even influential in some circles. Today of course both publications are of little more than historical interest. Why do these moderen archetypes have credibility and how do they help us? Why are they any better than Jung’s original archetypes? Where are they best used and what problems do they solve? Until these questions, and some others, are answered I remain unconvinced of their utility. For me archetypes still do not matter!
Regards Graham
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Comments
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Hi Patrick.
Thank you for taking the time to provide a considered response – I appreciate it! Actually I have had archetypes shoved down my throat several times in the past few months in the social, work and research domains. I’ve also had the suggestion that unless I am autistic my research will inevitably be biased because of the methods I employ, but that’s another story. As a result of these engagements I have taken the time to look a bit deeper into archetypes, and refresh my memory of them, which as I say is 30 plus years old.
I think your language is interesting, as no doubt mine is, and this language is key to some of my angst. You say “The organisational archetypes we work with are produced by employees of that organisation out of stories they have told about their experiences in the organisation …”. I say this automatically introduces a bias. Why don’t you collect stories from the managers as well? (Perhaps you do, and didn’t mention it in this response?) Surely if you are trying to understand an organisation the totality of the organisation must be considered. I’m a manager and have been for most of my adult life. I am very sure I would introduce an archetype or two if I was asked, and these would differ from the archetypes I see in the “literature” such that it is. These may or may not be “validated” by other managers from the stories/narratives they tell.
The second point of your language relates to a specific example. I of course cannot argue against a specific case because I do not have the context or the facts. Indeed I can even see how, where, and why archetypes might be useful in a specific context. My objection is to archetypes as presented by Arthur Shelley, Professor Han van Loon, Katie Altham, and others, as being both authoritative and general. Based on your presentation to actKM on the 14th of August 2007 I would level the same criticism to your work, but this may be unfair – you at least haven’t published a book or journal article (to the best of my knowledge) that purports to be generalisable and authoritative!
The third point of your language relates to the assertion that: “Archetypes are simply sensemaking filters. They compress a lot of information into ways that audiences can work with. In the same way that personas are built by marketeers or website designers, they are a useful way of packaging up lots of information into useful and actionable patterns”. I say this entirely depends on the worldview of the person interpreting the archetype. As an extreme example I remember teddy bears being sent by the Australian public to Rwanda in 1994 following the genocide. When we gave the teddy bears to the children it elicited a very negative reaction - some children were just plain terrified! To extend the metaphor if the archetypes were say characters from the Harry Potter movies how can we be sure managers understand and recognize the intended meaning? (I for one empathise with Snape – my son and wife don’t! I also know managers who have never read a Harry Potter book or seen a Harry Potter movie!)
So in summary my major objection relates to presenting archetypes derived in a specific organisation at a precise time and place, as being generalisable and authoritative. My second objection relates to drawing conclusions from what appears to me to be a selective population. My final objection relates to the interpretation of the archetypes.
Best Regards, Graham
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Hi Patrick - another considered response!
Comment on Answer to Objection 1:
a. We have some common ground for an informed discourse.
b. It’s a while since I looked at Campbell’s work, but I will re-look at it this weekend. My study of Jung’s work was mainly concerned with mental illness and the symbolism of language. Archetypes were peripheral to this study, but Jung is generally credited with the development of archetypes, so it was inevitable that archetypes were part of this study. I find it interesting that Jung’s work has been largely discredited in many circles, but in Knowledge Management cliques archetypes survive!
c. As you know I attended one of your Vices and Virtues presentations, and I presented some of my objections then. I agree on the whole that you did not present your work as absolutely authoritative, and I agree your presentation opened up a rich dialogue within the time constraints. I think this was your intent so your presentation succeeded. Unfortunately some people took “Guru Patrick’s” message to be authoritative – no malice implied or intended on my behalf.
Comment on Answer to Objection 2:
a. Well your answer makes my objection go away! I find it interesting you are using focus groups, which bring their own set of research problems. I note these problems are not insurmountable, although some would claim you need multiple “facilitators, recorders and coders”. I think coding can be problematic, but any method has its problems! Understanding the method problems and limitations is as important as the results.
Comment on Answer to Objection 3:
a. I like the concept of emergence and shared context, but we all have our own world views. In my experience as the size of an organisation grows shared experience increasingly becomes subject to personal interpretation. Few if any people have the complete picture. I am fond of Leo Tolstoy’s quote in this regard:
Maybe my objection is related to the size of the organisations we work in? Most of my clients are organisations that have 100s or 1,000s of employees and tens or hundreds of managers.
b. I do agree that despite size there will be some cultural similarities that allow some, but not all, context to be shared. I am reminded of an Admiral who found it difficult to understand the significance of a bridging project for Army, but had no trouble understanding the general requirement for Battlespace management, something bridging contributes to. I have encountered similar difficulties outside of Defence.
c. I also agree that without context the interpretation of the caricatures can and will vary widely. This is clearly a component of my Objection 1.
Comment on Point 4:
a. Just to clarify my post I did not mean social in the sense of Social Network Analysis, rather I meant it in the context of a gathering of friends and acquaintances.
b. I think your point that an archetype method is useful when combined with other methods, and they are never used in isolation, is the crux of the matter. I am more accepting of this, but unfortunately this is not how they are presented in the literature, blog-posts, and presentations I have attended!
c. I think one need to be careful how, when and where an archetype method is used. I can think of a number of organisations here in Australia where the members are unlikely to respond positively to them. Like all methods I suggest an archetype method needs to be matched to the requirement and the population.
My Point 5:
a. You’ve almost convinced me Patrick that archetypes might be useful in some business contexts, but I remain unconvinced there are universal archetypes.
Regards Graham
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Patrick, Mark Gould has a slightly different take which I agree with. He says:
I find his argument to be powerful. What do you think?
Regards, Graham
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Hi Patrick. The quote comes from Tolstoy's 1868 essay with the English translation title "Some Words About War and Peace". Sometimes it is translated to "A Few Words in Connection with the Book, War and Peace". It was published before all of the books of War and Peace were completed, although as I recall at least the first three or four books had been completed and published. The quote is an insightful observation that stands the test of time, and can be applied to any organisation.
Organisation size is an interesting area. Do you see any correlation with the homogeneity of stories and archetypes and Dunbar's numbers? (As you no doubt know Dunbar has showed we have circles of 5, 15, 35, 80 and 150 people, which correspond to our family, our close friends, our colleagues and acquaintances, our club and business affiliations, and finally our village or neighbourhood). Intuitively I think you might.
I always find it interesting that "consultants" find it necessary to give warnings about Social Network Analysis, yet most often do not see the need to do so for other methods. Researchers on the other hand are bound by the requirements of ethics committees and almost invariably provide consent forms and descriptions of all the methods they use, including their pros and cons. It's a practice I think should be adopted more widely. I think Professor Steve Borgatti's paper "Towards ethical guidelines for network research in organisations " has much wider applicability and could easily be extended to narrative and archetype work. I think the problems he addresses in the paper apply equally to other social methods.
One of the problems I think archetypes have is the potential to be used as labels in the workplace - "Crosby exhibits Darth Vader behaviours. Stills is an Insect. Nash is a Brown Dwarf. Young fits the Avarice archetype". Where this occurs it is just an opinion, but it could have a negative effect in the workplace. Coming back to the Tolstoy quote few, if any, people are in possession of all the facts. Hypothetically a Squirrel archetype might be created in a organisation, with the suggestion/implication that Squirrels are information hoarders. Someone could exhibit Squirrel behaviours, but this may be perfectly legitimate for confidentiality and security reasons (I have been in this exact position). Publicly, or even semi-privately labelling them as a Squirrel may send the wrong message.
Another problem I see is the "science by popular vote" otherwise known as the "if everyone thinks it is true, then it must be true" phenomena. The trouble is usually not everyone can be included in the sample, and important counter-views may not be captured. I also worry about interpretation by people who only have partial context.
This brings me to a point you have alluded to. Archetypes are a group diagnostic method, unless of course I have interpreted your comments incorrectly. They are not an individual performance evaluation tool, and I would worry if they are used that way, but the potential for their use this way exists. My point is who decides that someone is Darth Vader, Zeus, or a Squirrel, and why is their opinion right? I have difficulties with ascribing these sorts of labels to individuals. To use some Australian Army terms (archetypes?) I might be seen as a jet in some quarters and a slug in others. The boss might think I am a jet because his highest priority job was done on time, within budget, and the quality was above standard. A peer in a parallel sister team might think I am a slug because I did not attend to their agenda in a timely way. Who's right? Archetypal work is positioned in time, space and particular group - which makes generalisations to other situations even in the same organisation potentially worthless.
As an aside have you tried attributing your network data with your archetypes? Noting my concerns above, and the ethical issues involved, this might be an interesting exercise. It might reveal otherwise unseen patterns. For example are all the Squirrels in one organisation?
I must say despite writing about a Squirrel archetype I am still uncomfortable with archetypes generally and only see them having limited utility as a diagnostic metaphor in conjunction with other methods. But then again in the right organisation, with the right sort of people, and the right facilitator they could work. I'd love to see the response to an archetype exercise by some underground coal-miners or the workers in a ship building organisation. I might be wrong but the I suspect the marketing exercise would be significant. I can also think of knowledge intensive industries where it would be equally as hard to market - accounting and legal firms come to mind.
Regards, Graham
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Patrick I reckon this has been a most useful discussion. I said in my original post that I did not want to be absolutist, and you have given me some reasons why I should not reject archetypes outright – thankyou! That said I do not accept the generalised archetypes, which most of the 3,140,000 hits on Google are. I reject outright the Han van Loon, Shelley and Altham generalised archetypes. I do accept there is a place for archetypes in specific circumstances, using the Lambe approach, and they may provide a useful diagnostic metaphor to address organisational dysfunction.
I would love to collaborate with you if the opportunity arises to bring together archetypes and network analysis. I think it would be a very interesting exercise in revealing organisational dynamics, noting the coding and ethical dilemmas – none of which are insurmountable. Maybe this approach will provide you with multiple lines of evidence for your conclusions – maybe it won’t! I do caution that network analysis approaches are also diagnostic techniques, and serve to reveal questions that may not otherwise be asked. I think this is a good thing.
I note your answer on Dunbar’s numbers. My bias is inclined towards quantitative analysis and “scientific methods”, which is probably why I like Dunbar’s numbers and dislike archetypes! (At least I am aware of my bias, which does not suggest you aren’t.)
I am pleased you find the “health warnings” useful. Can I assume you will include a few next time you use an archetype approach just as you do with social network analysis? I hope so – it will increase the credibility of our discipline, which I think suffers from a huge crisis of identity and authority.
I look forward to the next time we meet in person – we have an outstanding dinner conversation pending.
Regards, Graham
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
My contribution to this debate is at Archetypes, Foolishness and False Categorisation .
One other note the method Patrick uses is open source and can be downloaded from our web site (although knowing Pattick he will have developed it)
You might also want to note that we have already combined archetypes with network analysis - using it as a means to reveal different network perceptions.
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your contribution to this debate. I have taken the liberty to insert the title of your response into your text and provide an active hyperlink. I hope you don’t mind.
First I would agree there is the potential to mix archetype with stereotype, and that I have been guilty of that. I note however the respective definitions below (taken from the Macquarie Dictionary).
I suggest that point 3 of the stereotype definition allows archetypes to be incorporated in stereotypes, and this is the very danger I am rallying against (as you are). I note in your document Archetype Creation (page 3) you create archetypes from stereotypes, which suggests archetypes are “meta-stereotypes”! It certainly leaves it open for archetypes to be misused as stereotypes.
I also note you specifically say that:
This means we are in complete agreement for my major objection.
I would be interested in finding about a bit more about your combined network analysis/archetype method mix. Does it, for example, show clusters of archetypes? Do some archetypes exhibit Tertius Gaudens or Tertius Iungens behaviours, or is the level of abstraction too high?
Regards Graham
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
The fact that we derive archetypes from the attributes of steriotypes does not make them a subset - it simiply says let us take the surface filters and look below that. However I think we are generally agreed on this.
As to the use of archetypes with SNA - once we have created them then we can use a normal SNA process with different communities asking them questions about how the archetypes relate. This allows us to create mutiple SNA models for each community.
Re: Archetypes Still Don’t Matter!
Hi Dave,
How about providing a social network analysis diagram or two that makes use of archetypes with some interpretation? The use of archetypes should make the data and organisation anonymous; alternatively take the labels off and provide some "veiled commentary". I'll provide you with full access on this site if you want to do it here. Alternatively just provide a link to your site. I know my network analysis readers would be interested.
Regards Graham