Shakespeare And Management

Anwar Jebali 0776335

Docent: A.M. Kistemaker-Hartog

The managerial archetypes in Shakespeare

Introduction If one looks at boardroom battles and takeovers, the power plays, the intrigue, the triumph and tragedy of executives, it often feels more like theatre than business. It could be a comedy, but its a tragedy. If we look at the financial crisis for instance, it felt more like the script of an author with a wild imagination than the real world. We had the fall and demise of several banks, nations almost going bankrupt, debt that was being supplemented with even more debt. In the end it all felt like a climax in a Shakespearean play. William Shakespeare, the greatest play writer of all time, but he might also have been the greatest psychologist of time. He definitely wouldve looked at the financial crisis with great interest. He wouldnt have been surprised though. Because all things that made the crisis as it is, the power plays and the intrigue, was all the work of men. Managers and executives, who even though they dont dress like the kings and dukes out of a Shakespearean play anymore, still seem identical to the heroes from the plays, we see laggards like Hamlet, that are afraid to take action until its too late, manipulators like Iago, who do anything to get ahead and careerists like Macbeth who just want power. Shakespeare created archetypes of characters that are immortal because they have always existed and they always will. In this essay I wont go into archetypes like the hero or the villain but I will go into the six archetypes managers from Shakespearean plays. The philosopher The philosopher suffers from analysis paralysis, he wants to understand every small detail about whatever he is working on and he can spend hours analyzing data and more data. The philosopher is scared of what managers are actually supposed to do; make decisions, especially if he has to take them alone. A philosopher is quick to involve a team in decisions to spread the responsibility. For instance Shakespeares Hamlet is a philosopher. He knows that his uncle Claudius killed his father. However he does nothing about it. Instead he wastes his time on philosophical questions like to be or not to be when he should be thinking about what he should do. Even the ghost of his father calling him to action still doesnt make Hamlet do anything. Because he doesnt take action, he ends up getting depressed and dragging the people around him with him. This shows that the philosopher archetype can easily turn into a laggard. It doesnt matter really matter how much he knows about the subject. He is so quick to postpone a decision because he can always find more problems with the decision he has to take.

The manipulator The manipulator could be seen as the contrary to the diehard. Where the diehard is only devoted to his work and leaves the other stuff like intrigue and power play to others, the manipulator focuses on the manipulation of others, via ways of intrigue and persuasion. One of the best manipulators found in literature is Shakespeares Marc Antony. After the conspirators Brutus and Cassius have killed off Julius Caesar, Brutus gives a speech defending the murder for the sake of the republic. Marc Antony is also allowed to give a speech after Brutus speech and on the surface he also defends the murder of Caesar, but the subtext of the speech was actually saying the contrary and it enrages the Roman people against the murder. With his speech, without actually speaking out against the murder he brilliantly still turned everything around, making Brutus and Cassius out to be the bad guys. This is of course the power of the manipulator, the manipulator is a wonderful partner in a negotiation, if hes on your side that is. He senses the energy of the crowd and uses this to exploit the weaknesses of the other partys argument. He has the ability to explain complex things in a simple but elegant manner. The manipulator also has his weaknesses of course; he is a man of words and not of action. This could be dangerous as the manipulator can distract attention away from his inability to act with his words and he could end up entangling everyone in his manipulation.

The careerist The careerist is a person who works for himself, his career comes first and the business comes second to that or third whatever suits him. He doesnt really care about damage he does to the company as long as he gets ahead. In Shakespeare, Macbeth is a careerist. At first hes a loyal follower of the King of Scotland. But he is encouraged by his wife and a couple of witches to become the king himself. Since there already is a king, he decides to murder him. He invites the king over to his house, his wife Lady Macbeth drugged the guards and after the murder they put the knives used in the hands of the guards, to make everyone think the guards did it. Macbeth kills the guards the next morning, saying it was revenge for the king, but actually he was getting rid of the witnesses. Eventually though, more and more people however start to question if it was really the guards who killed the king, and he has too kill more people to keep the truth hidden, including old friends. This is too much even for a careerist like Macbeth and he is haunted by ghosts of the people hes killed and he comes close too insanity. When Macbeth finally gets the position of king he doesnt really know how to reign as a king, he just wanted to power when he had it he didnt really know what to do with it. In the end a rebel army is founded to overthrow Macbeth and he gets killed in battle. This is typical for a careerist, he dug his own grave.

The patriarch Julius Caesar is archetype of the patriarch in Shakespeare. Despite his power, he thought he was all powerful. He feared nothing, because he thought he was the most dangerous himself. He couldnt imagine anything could happen without his approval. He just couldnt see that the tides were turning against him and in the end he was killed by the conspirators Brutus and Cassius. Over the course of the play another trait of the patriarch comes to light: they are hard to kill. Caesars spirit lives on even as hes dead. In the play Caesars friend Marc Antony, with his speech, manages to awaken the rage of the people of Rome and forces Brutus and Cassius to leave Rome. In the end of the play Caesars ghost appears in Brutus tent, driving Brutus to jump into his sword, the same sword he killed Caesar with. The patriarch is a person who knows the entire company. He might have set up the company himself, he is very close to the business. The patriarch is such a key figure in the company that the company could not exist without him. This could be seen as a pro as well as a con. Another downside of the patriarch is his stubbornness, he knows everything better, because hes such a big part of the company, and he doesnt leave room for others grow. New ways of management like open door policies dont fly with the patriarch. And they can also fall prey to brownnosers who only tell them what they want to hear.

The diehard The diehard would die for the company. He identifies with the company, and does whatever is necessary for it. He would work weekends, holidays and would always be there when needed. You could also see this as a little nave; the diehard doesnt see that other things besides performance, like network and intrigue, are factors in a persons career. The diehard always puts the company before himself; however in doing this he is also prone to lose both. When he sees someone get promoted instead of him, despite his hard work, he could turn into a time bomb thats just waiting to explode. Shakespeares Titus Andronicus is such a diehard, he is a devout servant of the Roman Empire. He lost 21 sons in battle and defeated the Goths and brought back prisoners. One of the major prisoners was Tamora, the queen of Goths, and her sons. When Tamora gets presented to the Roman Emperor Saturinus he immediately falls in love with her, she uses this to her advantage. Titus, preoccupied with his work, at first doesnt notice Tamora is plotting against him (and all of the Romans). However when one of his sons is wrongly accused of murder, Titus has to have his left hand cut off to save him, of course his son still gets executed. It takes some time but the time bomb explodes when Tamoras two sons rape Titus daughter and cut off her tongue and her hands. Titus goes beserk and he kills Tamoras sons and feeds them to her during a festivity. After that the queen also gets killed by Titus, Titus is then killed by the emperor who in turn is killed by Titus last remaining son.

The diehard is a valuable asset to any company, as long as you make them feel respected and valuable. When they dont, they could turn into a time bomb just waiting to go off.

The bulldozer The careerist thinks first and then acts, the manipulator thinks first and then manipulates. The bulldozer however just acts on his gut feeling. He is not inclined to think further, if his gut tells him something. The black general Othello from Shakespeares play is such a bulldozer. He is a great and respected general from Venice, who had married the lady Desdemona. Iago, who works for Othello and got bypassed for a promotion when he thought that he should have been the one getting promoted, tries to damage Othellos relationship with the lady. Iago, who is also a classic example of a manipulator, does this by placing the handkerchief of Desdemona in the room of another man, making Othello think she left it there. Othello, who is crazy jealous, is furious and in his rage he kills Desdemona without thinking. Acting from your gut is not necessarily a bad thing, even though Othello is a great example of how it could go wrong. A bulldozer can be a very powerful manager in a market where speed and time are everything. And if a bulldozer is right a couple of times people start believing that he can tell the future. On the other hand bulldozers often act too fast, they look at the world in black and white and their actions are often easy to predict. Bulldozers have strong personalities and are often convinced theyre right, and if you criticize them they might take it as an insult, this doesnt make them easy to work with.

Conclusion In conclusion we can say that Shakespeare was indeed a great psychologist. He managed to portray people exactly how they are, though of course his examples may be a little extreme. He still managed to portray archetypes that will live on today and forever. Many managers today would be able to learn from the mistakes the leaders in Shakespeare made. Looking at the faults of another person helps managers discover his or her own faults and weaknesses. Also discussing the fault of others is always easier than your own. If one looks at todays world and management specifically, managers all over the world are still making the same mistakes that the heroes from the Shakespearean plays also made. By analyzing their mistakes and reflecting on their own way of managing, managers should be able to spot their own faults more easily and maybe change their ways. Thats why I think it would be wise for all managers to study Shakespeare.