I've just finished a fascinating book recommended by a Blogher reader: The Addictive Organization by Anne Wilson Schaef and Diane Fassel (Harper & Row, 1988). I found it while doing research on an earlier post about bad bosses, but this book looks at the organization more broadly.
I'm always interested in reading more on the field of what I call organizational pathology (recommendations, anyone?). TAO's subtitle says it all: Why we overwork, cover up, pick up the pieces, please the boss and perpetuate sick organizations.
Why do we, indeed?
Although TAO begins from the iffy "everyone's an addict" premise, it offers a useful lens to begin answering that question. Schaef and Fassel explain four ways in which an organization may be addictive:
- A key person in the organization is an addict;
- Employees who are addicts, adult children of addicts and co-dependents take those behaviors into the organization;
- The organization is the addictive substance; and/or
- The organization is an addict.
In addition to describing the "symptoms" one might see in an addictive organization, TAO is peppered with good examples from Schaef's and Fassel's consulting work with companies, nonprofit organizations and even religious orders. As you read, you'll probably recognize people you've worked with or organizations you've worked for.
Whenever I see a leader go down in flames - Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Kenneth Lay, Dennis Kozlowski or William Aramony - my first thought is about all the people who worked for them and their organizations and made their nefarious deeds possible. These guys couldn't do what they did without a lot of help, and not since Nuremberg has "just following orders" been an acceptable excuse. TAO suggests some reasons why perfectly good, hard-working people might turn a blind eye to malfeasance, or even knowingly participate in it. For example, they might be co-dependents trying to "protect" a boss who's an addict. Perhaps they're addicted to the organization and the benefits it provides.
Schaef and Fassel recommend solutions that are definitely outside the mainstream of organizational consulting, centered around interventions that force the people in the organization to face their addictions and take responsibility for their own "recovery."
My major complaint about this book is one you may have read on this blog before: TAO is aimed at a white collar audience. Even though they provide some examples of pink collar co-dependent workers learning to stand up to addict bosses, most of the recommendations assume workers have more control over their day-to-day activities than many working class people do. Great for professionals, but what about the rest of the workforce?