Institutions certainly have optimization targets, which are what we normally call values. Just because you don’t share them doesn’t mean they’re not there.
I don’t know what you’d call an “optimization target”, but if you treat the official written goals as the values of the organization, that will mark you as a useful idiot. You will lose your job whenever it suits the personal interests of the people making decisions.
Let’s consider political parties in the US sense of the term, since corporate examples might be too easy. A party theoretically ‘wants’ to get votes. They could achieve this by (for example) swaying new voters or people who previously voted against them to their side. But this might weaken the power of party leaders within the party. And perhaps those leaders hold office in gerrymandered districts, expecting to retire before the scheme falls apart. Or maybe they don’t hold elected office at all, and get paid regardless of the long-term demographic forecast for their party. Or maybe they simply fear the consequences to themselves if they happen to offend their local base while swaying voters in future national elections.
Institutions certainly have optimization targets, which are what we normally call values. Just because you don’t share them doesn’t mean they’re not there.
I don’t know what you’d call an “optimization target”, but if you treat the official written goals as the values of the organization, that will mark you as a useful idiot. You will lose your job whenever it suits the personal interests of the people making decisions.
Let’s consider political parties in the US sense of the term, since corporate examples might be too easy. A party theoretically ‘wants’ to get votes. They could achieve this by (for example) swaying new voters or people who previously voted against them to their side. But this might weaken the power of party leaders within the party. And perhaps those leaders hold office in gerrymandered districts, expecting to retire before the scheme falls apart. Or maybe they don’t hold elected office at all, and get paid regardless of the long-term demographic forecast for their party. Or maybe they simply fear the consequences to themselves if they happen to offend their local base while swaying voters in future national elections.