Governance. In a landmark work, the American economist Harvey Leibenstein (1922-1994) showed that if efficiency depends on the amount of capital and labor invested, it does not result from the simple addition of these factors: more than massive accumulation of means of production, the ability of workers to mobilize in a meaningful project determines the results. This is what he calls “X-efficiency” (General X-Efficiency Theory and Economic Development, 1976).
He borrowed this idea from the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) who, in his masterpiece War and peace (1867), develops penetrating reflections on the mechanisms of history and on what motivates fundamental movements in human societies. Analyzing the failure of the invasion of Russia by the French in 1812, he wonders why such a concentration of material and human resources could not prevent Napoleon’s great army from being led to disaster.
He identifies two decisive errors whose scope goes beyond this tragedy: the first is to believe that the will of the military leader and his orders are sufficient to move the masses he commands; in reality, it is the wills of thousands of humans involved in the organization of operations who make thousands of decisions at different levels and, by aligning themselves more or less consciously on the idea of a common project, which ensure his sucess.
The second error is to neglect the role played by the moral sense of these humans, that is to say the feeling that they are acting collectively for a cause worth committing to, taking initiatives and supporting. a long-term effort.
Leader blinded by his inspiration
Lacking this lucidity, Napoleon believed that giving orders was enough to be obeyed, without considering that, in practice, their translation at the different levels was not consistent; and that this lack of coherence was due to the incomprehension by the officers as well as by the troops, of the reason for the warlike adventure in which they were embarked, in the face of enemies who, themselves, knew that they were fighting for their survival.
Napoleon believed that giving orders was enough to be obeyed, without considering that, in practice, their translation at the different levels was not consistent
Drawing inspiration from Tolstoy, Leibenstein reminded us that business life can also suffer from these two errors. On the one hand, when the leader, blinded by his inspiration, acts as if the organization were only a machine driven by his decrees and is surprised that things do not go as planned, incriminating incompetence of his collaborators rather than his naivety.
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