Organisational Cancer
There are six cancers that affect the health of organisations. They are Change Paralysis, Score Politics, Havoc, Mission Drift, Stampede and Nepotism.
Organisational cancers are caused by the attitudinal and behavioural responses of business managers and their teams to the priority declarations, strategies, decisions, policies, regulations, value systems and practices originating from owners, chief executives, boards of directors, functional custodians (such as accountants and engineers) and strong individual leaders. The policies, actions, utterances and attitudes of the top management of a business are closely monitored by subordinates and accepted as cues for appropriate behaviour. When change paralysis, score politics, havoc, mission drift, stampede and nepotism are evident at top management level or in documents and statements emanating from that level, subordinates will invariably adopt the same behaviour at lower levels. As behaviour diffuses in the organisation, the level of trust declines. As a result every worker experiences the environment as a threat and starts to act in a self-defensive mode by betraying and attacking others, creating a devastating downward spiral in trust, morale and self-confidence.
The occurrence of organisational cancers can be traced back to human instincts. Congregations of people, such as those found in companies, religious groups and political parties, are driven together by their instincts for affiliation, learning, safety, security, spiritual reinforcement and so forth. Though very few people will readily admit to this, everybody joins an organisation out of self-interest. When individuals join groups, they instinctively assume that all groups are honestly intent on acquiring new value, more benefits and instinct gratification for individual members. People join groups because they assume that groups perform better than individuals when pursuing complex and wide-ranging goals. They believe that groups create the space and opportunity for individuals to gratify many of their instincts, such as those for affiliation, safety, learning, fun, reward, and so forth. People believe that groups provide sanctuary.
Organisational cancers set in when the instinctive belief and trust of the individual in the sanctuary and value of the group is harmed and the -individual indulges in instinctive behaviour to protect himself or herself against the threats that are active in the group. An assessment of the devastating threat of outside political interference, tolerance of poor performance, nepotism, affirmative action or retrenchment to the trust of the individual worker and the individual’s belief in the sanctuary of the group has not yet been done by management consultants and business leaders.
Organisations give very little attention to educating workers on the threats of joining groups. Normally only the benefits of joining a company are expounded and articulated. No recruitment officer will tell a talented candidate that he or she may face retrenchment or affirmative displacement within a few years, because the candidate will just walk away. People must be made aware of the treats they will face in organisations so that their instinctive belief in the sanctuary of the group can be moderated and they can face up to the challenges of survival in a group.
Organisational Viruses
The four viruses that cause premature organisational death are Product Innovation, Market Erosion, Technological Innovation and Government Intrusion. Evidence of these diseases can be found in all sick or dying organisations.
Organisational viruses are caused by the dynamics of the environment in which the organisation operates. International investment and trade, communication, competition, product innovation, technological innovation, customer lifestyle preferences, changing market demographics, and government regulation and legislation are all factors that have a powerful impact on organisations. These influences cause product obsolescence, market erosion, technological obsolescence and government intrusion. They generally lead to the erosion of revenue and profitability in the absence of dynamic repositioning. When these influences are allowed to impact on the core business architecture of the organisation without appropriate strategic appraisal and response, the convergent impact of the influences normally destroys the soul of the organisation.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Organisational Sickness, Diseases that Erode the Competitiveness of Global Firms continue…
- Organisational Sickness, Diseases that Erode the Competitiveness of Global Firms
- Investment Borrowing
- Marketing and Serving the Global Customer part 3
- A Division Manager's Survival Guide
- The Art of Motivating Employees
- The Employee Who Goes Over Your Head
- Making Money at the Bank
- Project Collaboration Monitoring, Control and Information
- Persistence pays
- Career Role, Creative Acts of Revolt
