A classic example is “BAU” vs. “strategic initiative.” The line seems arbitrary. How “usual” does it need to be to be BAU? How strategic to be strategic? But when someone in finance treats “strategic initiatives” as the only real value drivers and disregards the value of BAU work, we have a problem.

No joke, this behavior and math have led to layoffs in some organizations

There are very real implications here!

Why does it happen?

The best description of this risk I’ve found of reification in action is in James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State. In the book, Scott describes how organizations try to simplify complex, lived, and emergent realities to make them legible, comparable, and governable from a distance. These simplifications aren’t malicious and, in many cases, are necessary. The problems arise when the model designed to support administration and control is mistaken for reality itself.