According to French sociologist Robert Michels, even well-intentioned, democratically elected leaders have a tendency to become part of an oligarchic elite furthering and, in some cases, fanatically defending, their own interests . Michels referred to this phenomenon as the "iron law of oligarchy". Democratic movements degenerate into dominating structures.
The following myth explores the premise that organizations, pictured by Narcissus, can become ego-centric, self-serving, and, at times, pre-occupied with their own ‘image’ irrespective of the people who, like Echo, remain psychologically committed to them.
2. Groups of two or three assemble to review and revise answers to ‘Questions for Dialogue’.
3. Entire group engages in dialogue with a view to transforming their organizational world.
Echo could no longer use her voice, except in foolish repetition of another’s; a punishment for having kept Hera entertained with long stories while Zeus’s concubines had made good their escape. One day when Narcissus went out to net stags, Echo stealthily followed him, longing to address him, but unable to speak first. At last Narcissus, finding that he had strayed from his companions, shouted: “Is anyone here?” “Here”, Echo answered, which surprised Narcissus, since no one was in sight.
“Come!” “Come!” “Why do you avoid me?” “Why do you avoid me?” “Let us come together here!” “Let us come together here!” repeated Echo, and joyfully rushed from her hiding place to embrace Narcissus. Yet he shook her off roughly, and ran away. “I will die before I give you power over me!” he cried. “Power over me!” Echo pleaded. But Narcissus had gone, and she spent the rest of her life pining away for love and mortification, until only her voice remained (Hamilton, pp.87-88) (Graves, 80-81)
2. Are there times when organizations limit your ability to “speak first”, to merely “repeat”? When?
3. Why do you suppose that Narcissus could never know himself? Do organizations limit their ability to know themselves? How? When? Why were Echo’s sisters so unsympathetic to her plight?
4. How might the relationship between Echo and Narcissus have been different had Echo not been condemned by Hera to utter “foolish repetition”? Can status impinge on our ability to communicate with one another? How?
5. If you had the ability to do so, what advice would you give Echo? What advice would you give those who spend their life pining away for “love and mortification” in loveless organizations[2]?
6. If you had the ability to do so, what advice would you give Narcissus? Was Narcissus determined to hang onto his power at all costs? Why or why not?
7. Both Echo and Narcissus were the recipients of a curse; Echo, to repeat, and Narcissus, to experience unrequited love. Correspondingly, are there larger societal forces that dictate the relationship between organizations and their members? Explain.
8. Do we at times hide our blushes in lonely caves of solitude like Echo? How?
9. The curse upon Narcissus was, “May he who loves not others love himself”. At the end of his life, when he saw his own reflection, Narcissus exclaimed, “Now I know what others have suffered from me, for I burn with love of my own self—and yet how can I reach that loveliness I see mirrored in the water?” (Hamilton, 1989, p.88). How might organizations be helped to “see themselves,” their own reflection?
10. Narcissus was told that he would live to a ripe old age provided that he did not "know himself". What might "not knowing himself" have meant in practical terms? Are there times when organizations simultaneously find yet lose themselves? When? How?