Respecting the style that characterizes my articles, you will observe in the following paragraphs that I speak of the author of the Anát Syndrome in the third person, even though it is my responsibility, as are also the Chronos Syndromes and the Ganymede Syndrome, as well as other works similar that I will publish soon.
It is interesting and challenging to locate in history or mythology characters and facts that can serve to exemplify managerial behavior and, through them, identify a successful practice in the field of administration, as occurred with the studies of Robert Rosenthal Social Psychologist at Harvard University (1985) and its Pygmaleon and Galatea Effects (based on studies by Robert Kane Merton Sociologist at Columbia University in 1950); or when negative supervisory behavior is described, as in the case of Chronos Syndrome and Ganymede Syndrome, also inspired by Greek mythology, without forgetting that there are many examples in the field of psychology, one of them being the Oedipus Complex proposed by Freud.
But locating in the contemporary event an icon that facilitates establishing parallels between a managerial conduct and its presence, use and age in history, without a doubt it must be much more than a challenge, it is a challenge for those who are inclined to typify those supervisory expressions that little or nothing adds to the work and performance of a task or that its presence, on the contrary, discourages the personnel, making them lose their interest in innovation or the introduction of process improvements.
This is the case of the Anát Syndrome, whose name can hardly be found in world history but for whom it is presented it is sufficiently representative of the behavior to be described and whose characteristics are summarized below.
The story is full of examples where the true authorship is omitted and is given to a third party who presents them as their own, or who, by improving them, is the first to market and disseminate them, thus becoming the main reference, ideas whose origin can be located in other latitudes and / or responsible but that were presented and recognized in different places and by different authors.
For example, and without trying to obviate contrary positions, when you talk about pasta you immediately think of Italy, since such culinary icons have been attributed for centuries to such a distinguished country, however there are indications that its origin is possibly Chinese and that it was the explorer and traveler Marco Polo (1254 - 1324) who made them known in Europe at that time.
Something similar occurs with the printing press, historically attributed to the German Johannes Gutenberg (1400 - 1467) but whose origins can also be traced in eastern lands around the year 1041, and even further back in time in the Babylonian populations.
Although the veracity of the fact cannot be precisely specified, apparently there is a Russian legend whose death of both lovers could have inspired the immortal work of William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) "Romeo and Juliet", but if opinions can be found that indicate that the true author of some of the masterful plays of this magnificent English writer was the philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626).
More recently, the development of spreadsheets like Excel, with great success and acceptance in the modern world, had its origin in VisualCalc devised by Robert Frankston in 1978, which is little known by those who use this type of tool.
These few examples can be corroborated in history books or research archives since they are duly documented, and although they do not present as a main characteristic the deliberate action of a person for appropriating the inventions of others, they do demonstrate how an idea can be thought and developed by one individual and then adjudicated and known through another.
However, there are countless examples that historians do not highlight, those that have occurred in all societies and organizations where the authors are not renowned individuals, nor stars of humanity, but whose spark of ingenuity is extinguished by agility. from a third party who uses his power or condition to appropriate it.
Although in the social field there are legal mechanisms to defend the authorship and patent right of an invention, in the administrative field it is common, and even daily, that the ideas of third parties are plagiarized and exposed as their own in companies where respect for the intellectual property of its personnel does not seem to be a concept present in its values; without this being considered a serious fault, since it is part of the culture and mental model of those who make it up.
It is precisely at this point that Anát Syndrome begins to emerge, which was originally proposed as:
The deliberate and conscious behavior of the supervisor for appropriating the ideas, suggestions or any type of initiative of his subordinates to present them as his own to his superiors.
But who was Anát? Unlike the syndromes mentioned in previous articles, such as those of Cronos and Ganímedes, Anát is not a figure that belongs to ancient mythology or to a personage of universal history, as already noted, since his name and origin respond more to a personal experience of the author than to a parallelism located in the past, without this meaning that there cannot be any that perfectly fits this behavior.
Without wishing to point to the person who inspired the conceptualization of the syndrome, it can be said that it was an individual, with a certain ancestry and closeness to the decision-making levels of an important company, whose reputation for claiming outside ideas and approaches as if they were their own was secretly discussed among colleagues of a similar level, their subordinates and former employees.
Before verifying the fact, since he experiences it personally, the researcher instead of resisting the behavior decides to start a study of the behavior and specify at other levels of the organization this was repeated and later exceeds the company's borders, being able to verify that it was common in other settings.
Although those responsible for appropriating other people's ideas had different names and modus operandi, it became familiar to name the behavior with the abbreviation of the name of the person who motivated the study, resulting in the word Anát.
It is not strange or new that in a company those who hold power, either directly or indirectly, can use it to take over the ideas offered by their supervisees and show themselves to those who report as promoters of innovation; This behavior is usually nurtured when organizations tend to reward the successes achieved through the representatives of the outstanding areas and not in the real person responsible for it, or in all of them according to the case.
But not only the ideas and proposals are the only elements to consider when studying the presence of Anát Syndrome, in some cases it is common to observe how developments, reports or research works, among others, are requested by the bosses to their subordinates to then be presented as their own to their superiors.
Obviously, this type of conduct aimed at gaining prestige, respect and recognition through the use and appropriation of other people's ideas ends up generating resentment, demotivation and disinterest among subordinates for adding value to their performance, since they are aware that their merits will hardly be recognized..
But Anát Syndrome is not an exclusive behavior of managers, it can also be observed in subordinates of equal or higher level of responsibility, usually in companies where there is a marked tendency for competition to move up within them or whose culture promotes differentiation among employees, publicly highlighting those that, apparently, have a better performance.
Therefore Anát Syndrome is also present in employees whose need for recognition and vertical growth is so great that they use their experience and ability to steal the ideas of new or innocent employees of the modeled management style, to present in the first opportunity that arises, some innovative approach that allows you to scale a position, improve or strengthen your image.
The above allows listing certain characteristics, in addition to those already mentioned, that identify Anát Syndrome and that allow us to broaden its conceptualization, these are:
- He is usually present in companies where it is customary to reward individual achievements, usually in the figure of the responsible or formal leader.He was able to relate to companies where the supervisor is the only one to have access to the highest levels of the organization. It is presented by people of any age, sex or condition, but it is more easily observed in those who possess some type of power. It is not necessarily necessary to be a supervisor to show the behavior, although it is usually more common at managerial levels. It seems to be linked people with few ethical values and an opportunistic mindset. It is observed in any type of company, but it is usually more common in organizations where the line of command is vertical.It is usually a behavior modeled by influential people in the company or in the environment of the company. It is present in organizations where the talent of the staff is dismissed and success is attributed only to those who run it.
Therefore, the Anát Syndrome must be understood as:
Once Anát Syndrome has been more widely conceptualized, it is possible to observe how this administrative pathology can influence the organizational environment, affecting, among other things:
- Communication: Produces mistrust and care when generating an idea, which is usually omitted for fear of plagiarism or exposed out loud under pain of being ignored for not having been presented through the "regular channels". This affects the organizational climate and interpersonal relationships. The motivation: It generates apathy and disinterest, dismisses the individual initiative and produces resentments with the person or people who were awarded the initiative, which affects the performance of the employee and his identification with the company. The work exercise: In the presence of the Anát Syndrome, the personnel respond routinely and repetitively to the work, avoid adding value due to the lack of recognition, since the changes occur due to the execution of an order and not on their own initiative. Teamwork: When recognition is given only to the formal representative or leader of a team and the author or authors of an initiative are ignored, interest in the teams is lost and this considerably reduces their performance, the idea of that the effort or contributions offered will simply be added to the merits of a third party that had little or nothing to do with it.
The Anát Syndrome is a behavior that threatens innovation, good job performance, communication, teamwork and recognition of merit, basic elements of the current management of human capital since they, in ideal conditions, facilitate the identification, high quality standards, recognition and therefore self-realization of the individual.
For all the above, it can be said that the behavior aimed at gaining prestige with other people's ideas, in any position or level of knowledge that arises, is an organizational disease that must be identified, fought and eradicated in any area or company where it is found..
