What distinguishes a dysfunctional organization/institution from a Kafka-esque one is that the latter is predicated on a theater of hardness (i.e predictable outcomes and certainty of the future). In Metamorphosis, everyone including Gregor Samsa is certain of what needs to happen in the future (he needs to go back to the office, provide for his family etc). There is no reckoning with the situation. In heroes journey terms, a Kafka hero rejects a call to adventure and tries to return back what was “normal” even as things get stranger and stranger. Same can be said of Kafka-esque institutions and protocols - they refuse or dont see the need to change anything, any new information or change in context is an opportunity to redirect back to the same “happy paths”.
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Hmm… interesting way to think of it. Compounding kafkaesque bureaucracy as a case of repeated failure to respond to calls to action. It’s a latent space of hero’s journeys not taken.
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