Why Do Corporate Malaysia Persist With Flogging A Dead Horse When The Outcome Is Obvious

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ACCORDING to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “to flog a dead horse” means “to waste time and effort in trying to do something impossible”.
So why do so many organisations persist in doing so? This seems to be the question posed by Facebooker Toong Boon on the social media platform’s Entrepreneurs and Startups in Malaysia forum.

The poster claimed that the dead horse theory highlights how many people and organisations prefer to deny reality, wasting time, resources and effort on ineffective solutions instead of acknowledging the problem from the start and making smarter, more effective decisions.
Those employed in the corporate sector will be familiar with the endless rounds of meetings and countless hours of wasted human resources in trying to revive a dead horse.
The query put forth by Toong Boon obviously resonated with many as it has generated 39K likes. 2,1K comments and 21k shares at the time of writing.
One netizen pointed out that it is often difficult to see the woods from the trees, especially when one has spent a lot of time and effort on a particular project.

Another commented that so long as the salaries are being paid, employees will continue to indulge the management’s whims and fancies which includes the flogging of aforementioned dead horse.

Speaking from experience, one forum member shared that he advises property investors to get rid of loss-making entities but they will still continue to try revitalise the dead horse.
This underlines the difficulty in getting people to part ways with something, especially if it is going to cost them financially.

One forum member did imply that this theory was an over-simplification but the retort was that an unbiased external opinion would usually show that a problem was precisely that – a dead horse.

It was also argued that such measures are taken not to revive a “dead horse” but rather a sick and tired one. To jettison the only horse one has left is to acknowledge that the race is run.

Some highlighted that it is a question of definition. How does one truly define a horse as dead? One pointed out that different stakeholders will have different perspectives.

The poster also did warn that holding on can give a person a warped and misleading view that things are about to turn around for the better. It is better to clearly identify the problem and ascertain realistically whether a business can be salvaged.

The discussion threw up some interesting views. But one netizen possibly summed up the situation rather neatly – people are just unable to face up to reality.

- Focus Malaysia

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