FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION – THE TRANSFORMED COMPLIANCE OFFICER
In 1919, Henry van de Velde and Walter Gropius founded the art school and collective ‘Bauhaus’. The school was not a completely new thinktank, rather it was a continuation of earlier schools of thought. The basic idea behind the movement included fostering art in the age of industrialisation. In many ways, it was a recollection of craftsmanship of years gone by. Famous masters of the Bauhaus include Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Gertud Grunow. Its basic philosophy can be summed up as ‘form follows function’. This mindset can also be applied to many modern management concepts, like the understanding of an organisation as a holistic system, as defined later by W. Edwards Deming. Today, it should serve as inspiration for the ideal compliance department.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn has required many organisations to reduce their workforce, and compliance has not been immune to that process. In many companies, the compliance department ceased being an independent function, as it was subsumed under an employee’s additional duty. Compliance can be successfully combined with several different functions, most notably legal or internal auditing teams. Going forward, the adoption of ‘Industry 4.0’ and digital transformation practices will require a holistic corporate culture and require companies to adopt governance, risk and compliance (GRC), as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies. It is important that these functions are interlinked, as such combinations can help overcome any potential silo mentality inside organisations.
Jul-Sep 2021 Issue
Patrick Henz