“No one does anything to their own detriment. This is the paradox of the Russian management model in the stable mode of its existence — the irrational behavior of the system as a whole with the rational behavior of each of its elements.”
Prokhorov A. P.
In Russia, I worked for the state social service system, in a small private firm, in a municipal enterprise for 11,000 people and also as an employee in a medium-sized business. All the while I was intrigued by a question, why does everything work how it does? I realized that only god knows how and by some miracle it still hasn’t fallen apart.
I’m sure there are many interrelated reasons for this, but one can only contemplate one at a time. I chose Alexander Prokhorov’s monograph “Russian management model” to explore this question, or at least one of its possibilities. The main concept of the book is that system of Russian governance comprises two states of being — emergency and stable.
The stable state is equal to a stagnant one. There are no wars and nothing external to stimulate changes. In a word, it’s just life. The emergency state — is when all systems are in motion, during wars, revolutions, or times of crises, i.e. a state of survival that is without limitation.
Prokhorov found evidence of this system and its states during the formation of Russia since the time of its christening in 988. He was interested in the material from an anthropological point of view as well. I was interested to remember and evaluate my behavior and the behavior of my compatriots in different situations in the pendulum paradigm.
The Russian duality is most clearly represented in emigration. People migrate to another country where they have no relatives or connections and they switch to “emergency mode”: “they work like oxen, do not cheat and do not swindle”, they are law-abiding citizens of society and enjoy it. But if immigrants immediately get into the environment of “their own”, they begin to look for modes of dependency, trying to have “just a life” as they used to do in Russia namely be in “stable mode”.
Both states of the control system are characterized by parallel structures and cluster units. Society and the state seem to always exist in two dimensions. Each governing body always has a controlling body. The book gives an example of Stakhanov’s record as an example of parallel structures. Imagine the secretary of the party committee Petrov of the mine, the party committee (no name) of the mine, the head of the mine Zaplavsky, the party group. Petrov was instructed to “organize something wonderful for the International Youth Day”. The party Committee decided that it was necessary to set a record in the development. The head of the mine refused. The party group decided to set the record in secret.
“The choice fell on Stakhanov. Two days before the record, he was dedicated to the idea. Stakhanov, having specified the amount of remuneration, agreed. On the night of August 31 to September 1, 1935, the record was held. Miners who were not related to the record were not allowed to enter the mine. Everything was prepared in advance: the atmospheric pressure was checked, the transport was put in order. Stakhanov was given two assistants so that he would not be distracted by auxiliary work. As a result, the meeting announced a 14-fold over-fulfillment of the norm by Stakhanov. The decision, adopted immediately, marked a world record, which was regarded as “the right way to implement the instructions of the party”. Stakhanov was showered with money, gifts, he received a new apartment.”
The moral of the story is to ignore authority. The fact that the lower organization disobeyed and went against the order and receives rewards for doing so. But in the Russian management model, this is only its feature, and it happens constantly and everywhere. Paradoxical structures operate in parallel even if there are official instructions from above, it’s not necessary to follow them.
Cluster units are groups within a large organization that operate according to their own rules. There is no competition between people in Russia. They act all together, and not alone, not one on one, but wall to wall, but they manifest this essence only in unstable times or situations.
“The battalion commander was ordered to take such and such a height. He broadcasts the order to the company commanders, redistributes replenishment and general resources between the companies (artillery preparation, etc.), explains the penalties in case of non-compliance with the order. And how the company and platoon commanders organize a successful attack, even if they shoot every third soldier for cowardice, the battalion commander does not interfere in this.”
On the road, a cluster unit is all drivers who are against the authorities. Therefore, drivers signal to each other that an auto inspection is on duty ahead. People deliberately do not comply with the law, encourage violators, and then resent the lack of institutional order.
After reading it, I will still say that this is only a single interpretation, and not the truth. It is unlikely that Russia is the only country with switching states. I think it’s just a part of life. The peculiarity of Russia is that somehow everything is more desperate. If there is a regime change — then we need to destroy everything old to the ground, and we are destroying it desperately. If there is stability, then we must bring ourselves to a state of extreme doing nothing and pushing responsibility away. All this is done by the same people. How to get out of these states is still not clear. Prokhorov also does not give an answer, except for “further development”.
