Oomphalism is a mode of perception characterised by fixation on near-term goals, implicitly mandatory optimism, and the erasure of individual variation in service of the team. It arises naturally and simultaneously at all levels of hierarchy, in consequence of the relation between those in supervisory roles and their direct reports.
In the dry, clinical description that follows, it is important to remember that Oomphalism is not “bad”; indeed, it may be a best-case cultural outcome for a high-coordination, achievement-oriented society. But it is also necessarily silly, because its actors are in absurd positions. The felt unseriousness of Oomphalism is one of its most distinctive features.
Dynamic
Oomphalism appears wherever managers must continually motivate their teams to work towards achievements from which they will not directly benefit. The better managers know that it’s easier to motivate when morale is high than when it is low; but they cannot offer meaningful carrots, because, at the highest levels of leadership, doing so is understood to conflict with the very goals towards which all must drive. Lacking any other method, managers naturally reach for the only implement available to them: the assumption and projection of morale itself. It is everywhere implied that the mission, the strategy, tactics and tasks are themselves a sufficient reward for any right-thinking person.
The power imbalance between the manager and the individual generally suffices to prevent any dissent from this idea. Workers understand that they must remain outwardly positive in order to be hireable. Oomphalism does not demand belief from the individual, only accord.
Devices
The language of Oomphalism is entirely task oriented — KPIs, bottlenecks, deadlines back-solved from arbitrary milestones — and has no register for any experience that isn’t transactional.
Oomphatic tactical devices include the compensatory pizza party; the keynote speech at a corporate event; the order to go over the top at sunrise, and the rallying speech that precedes such an action.
Oomphalism does not imply incompetence or mismanagement: an organization can be both well-run and highly Oomphatic. But the instinct to address operational failures primarily with messaging, token rewards and cultural exercises is absolutely an Oomphatic one.
Antithesis
Oomphalism has an antithetical mode of perception which it has no words to describe. When this antithesis is encountered within an Oomphatic culture, it is ignored or repackaged as motivational material.