White, W. (1997). The Incestuous Workplace (2nd ed.). Center City, MN: Hazelden

Overview:

When analyzing the relationship of organizations to their individual members and to external forces, systems can be described as closed, porous, or flexible (White, 1997). Closed systems include a vision incapable of adaptation, little external support or movement of ideas in or out of the organization, with members coming to depend on the organization for their entire professional, social, and even sexual needs (White, pp. 36-127). Although the camaraderie of a shared mission and team effort may bring a sense of euphoria at first, if the structure remains closed there is a gradual progression of increased suffering (White, pp. 52-81). Happiness of this nature, which “appears like nectar at first but poison at the end, is said to be of the nature of passion” (Bhagavad-gita, 18.38).

In contrast are porous systems which occur when leadership changes often, the leader is overwhelmed, many conflicting mandates are imposed from outside sources, or the organization undergoes a major alteration in size (White, 1997, p. 137). A distinguishing feature is that the great diversity of members has no shared interests partly because the values and mission are vague. Leaders are ineffective, ignoring members who want change, while the movement of people and ideas from the organization to society at large is completely unregulated (White, pp. 134-154). Characterized by inertia and poor motivation, this system produces workers in the mode of ignorance who are “lazy, always morose and procrastinating” (Bhagavad-gita, 18.28).

Flexible systems, where leaders consciously control the amount of closure and porosity according to need, have visions both defined and dynamic (White, 1997, pp 36-49 and 223-296). Members have steady enthusiasm. In the mode of goodness, one will have “determination which is unbreakable, which is sustained with steadfastness” (Bhagavad-gita 18.33).

Details:

When there are problems in an organization, the individual members will show distress in their health, behavior, emotions, relationships, attitudes, and values.

Generally, managers and leaders try to fix the difficulty by either adjusting the individuals or making changes to the system. These changes are related to how the manager or leader perceives the problem:

Moral-authoritative: Perceives the problem as individual’s bad attitudes and poor character. The solutions are punishments. Problems with this approach are high staff turnover, and the dissolution of the organization. This solution individualizes interactional problems

Cognitive: Perceives the problem as individuals too-high or unrealistic expectations. The solution is to train individuals with values and beliefs that fit the real world. Problems with this approach are that it stops people from trying to improve things and individualizes interactional problems

Clinical: Perceives the problem as emotional or physical difficulties in the individuals. The solutions are therapy and medication. The problems with this approach are that it increases personal stress and feelings that one is crazy, as well as individualizing interactional problems

Training: Perceives the problem as individuals lacking the skills to deal with stress. The solution is training which is part of any good program but must not mask genuine problems in the environment. This also individualizes interactional problems

Environmental:Perceives problem as how roles, policies, and procedures are understood in the organization. The solution is to change these. The problems are that this fails to deal with individuals who have been hurt; frequent change is also a stressor and any change in one area will affect other areas and other persons.

Systems:Perceives the problem as the interrelationship between individual and organization and perhaps organization and outside environment. The solution is to increase system flexibility with porosity and closure. The problems are that managers and leaders need much knowledge and skill to implement such a change, it can ignore the individual, and managers can feel overwhelmed.

There are three general types of systems: Closed, Porous, and Flexible

A healthy, flexible system

  • A flexible system is one in which the managers and leaders intentionally control the amount of closure and porosity according to need and circumstance, generally maintaining a balance.
  • Such a system best serves the purpose and needs of both the organization and its individual members.
  • This type of organization has a vision that is alive and dynamically refined and redefined.
  • The dominant mode is goodness.
  • There is steady enthusiasm

A porous system

  • There is completely unregulated movement of people and ideas across the boundary between the organization and the rest of society
  • There’s a minimal definition of values, membership, and expected behavior
  • Members have little or no intimacy among themselves.
  • There’s no sense of mission
  • The dominant mode is that of ignorance
  • The organization gets overwhelmed and assimilated into the greater environments
  • “Invisible” or ineffective leaders
  • There’s great diversity of memberships with no shared interests
  • There’s little or no support for members either professionally or socially
  • There’s often great leader turnover and staff discontent
  • Internal change agents are ignored
  • Porous organizations often want consultants to help define the mission, core values, goals and ethical standards and define these through a participatory process that enhances interpersonal relationships.
  • There’s often interpersonal dissension, deteriorating staff morale, poor motivation and productivity, and high turnover of the best and brightest.

What often causes an organization to become porous:

  • Organizations can become porous because there’s so many members geographically dispersed and it becomes difficult to have a mission that applies to each of them. Also, there may be many and conflicting mandates imposed from other sources.
  • The leader is overwhelmed because the scope of what he/she must accomplish is too broad.
  • Frequent change in: leadership, internal organization structure, merger of two or more organizations
  • Major changes such as downsizing or mergers(Most organizations have an optimum size for accomplishing their mission)

A closed system

  • The vision is “stuck” and cannot be understood or applied according to time, place, and circumstances
  • There’s more concern with dogma than with effectiveness.
  • Is in the mode of passion—much euphoria in the beginning and misery in the end
  • Closed system has little or no support outside the system
  • Internal change agents are scape-goated and kicked out.
  • In a closed system, success is measured more by whether the “client” accepts the belief system than by whether the services are of benefit to the client. When clients get better in such a system, it is due to the truth of the organizational belief system. When clients don’t get better, it’s the fault of the client.
  • There’s little movement of people or ideas in or out of the organization
  • Leaders act as tight gate keepers on everything going in or out
  • Members come to depend on the organization for all their professional, social, and sexual needs
  • Spouses are sacrificed so that the ideology and values of the organizational family will not be challenged.
  • Status and rewards in the organization become based on one’s social relationship with organizational members rather than by one’s professional contribution.
  • With enmeshed social and professional roles, decision making becomes complicated and corrupted due to a conflict of interest.
  • Excessive time and emotional demands
  • Stress spillover into personal lives may put a large strain on marriages
  • Lack of outside replenishment leaves members physically and emotionally depleted and reaching out to other members for support, including sexual support
  • There’s a breakdown of intimacy barriers
  • In a closed system, sexual relationships may not be about gross lust per se, but about power, violence, risk taking, nurturing, a way of achieving money and position, or as part of conspiring against others in the organization.
  • There are forces in a closed system that will support members terminating outside marital relations, particularly when the outside partner remains aloof and unsupportive of the organization.
  • If a marriage occurs during the time the couple worked together in the closed system, one or both partners leaving may provoke a crises in the marriage.
  • The closer the functional relationship between married couples in a closed system, the greater the marriage strain as they cannot separate work and private life.
  • Participation in closed organizations creates a broad spectrum of unmet needs and increases the incidence of exploitation of the helper-client relationship.

Why does a system become closed?

  • Closure brings affirmation and commitment to organization’s goals and values, increased bonding and intimacy, and maximizes internal resources
  • Closure may be essential when starting a new organization, reorganization, or internal or external crisis.

What causes extended closure?

  • Geographical isolation
  • Certain personality types of leaders (can be held in check with checks and balances built into the system)
  • Stigma—where outsiders do not understand and will make members feel uncomfortable
  • High role expectations—one may want to be out of the public eye, with like-minded people.

Extended, toxic closure happens in stages common to all such organizations. These stages are:

First stage, dogma and faith: The way the organization responds to needs at a fixed point in time becomes the Truth. The organization becomes a bureaucratic system that is based on tradition and inertia instead of present needs and realities

Symptoms: belief and passion; this stage is very useful at the beginning of an organization

Second stage: leaders take on the role of a charismatic priest or priestess who have the ability to bestow on each of us a sense of power and shared destiny tied to collective action. There are times when an organization needs this type of leader. The problem is when the role becomes fixed.There usually also develops an inner circle that protects the high priest(s) and members from feedback that would bring doubt. This inner circle has many perks and often much more money than others. The rest of the members are only in the position of disciples or followers.

Third stage: The progressive isolation of the organization and its members from the outside professional world—members are often not aware of outside sources of help. Leaders may learn outside, filter the information, and then train the members. Professional development is more like indoctrination and pep rallies. Needed support from outside the institution is seen as gullible or hostile. People and institutions outside are to be used, manipulated, or attacked. Leaders develop such manipulative relationships with key outsiders for help needed.

Fourth stage: The homogenization of the workforce by age, race, sex, religion, or values—people develop their own internal way of speaking and a limited ability to communicate with those outside.

Fifth stage: Euphoria as one feels needed, with a wonderful purpose. All organizations need such times of coming together. The problem is extended closure.

Sixth stage: Addiction to crisis as a means of adrenaline and endorphin experience and emotional intensity. Crises validate the organization and demonstrate and affirm the power of the high priest(s) and inner circle. The perpetual state of emergency always has the promise that soon things will calm down.

Seventh stage: Progressive escalation of demands placed on the time and emotional energy of workers. This begins with commitment and loyalty valued more than competency and any criticism viewed as disloyal and a betrayal of leaders. The sense of euphoria leads to spending all time on work, neglecting the rest of life. There’s an overextension of people and resources. Organizational interests and ideologies take precedence over human needs and workers are used in an expendable manner. Members then only and fully identifies as a member of the organization. The organization demands so much time and energy that marriages and other relationships can be harmed or destroyed.

Eighth stage: A loss of learning and a growing sense of professional stagnation in the organization. Outside information and its sources are attacked. If a member or one who benefits from the organization’s services has a suggestion, the person’s character or motives are attacked. The organization feels it knows more about the needs of its customers and members than they do.

Ninth stage:Members become in competition for “strokes”. If people have a variety of outside support systems, they have the capacity to encourage others in the organization. However, people in a closed organization are depleted, and thus they then get into competition for the small amount of support in the organization. This fosters envy so that if one person is supported, the rest feel left out, rather than everyone supporting each other.

Tenth stage: mirroring, boredom, and lack of faith. Members start to sound alike, and the euphoria that came from passion now brings boredom and misery. The members therefore lose faith. At this point the organization can re-vitalize itself or go downward. This is a turning point. When a highly social work life coincides with a loss of faith stage, much interaction will go from work issues to relationships as if the purpose of the organization is to meet the personal and social needs of the staff. The mission of the organization is stifled.

Eleventh stage: People feel trapped; they want to leave but feel they will have no position outside the organization. At this stage, staff turnover can be very low, though it will be outrageously high later.

Twelfth stage: The identification of outside enemies as the source of organizational problems and/or the scape-goating and extrusion of organizational members. When members lose faith, attention is given to some common “enemy” who is the source of all problems. When this “enemy” is a member, that person is thrown out. Of course, the problems remain. The organization has to then find one scapegoat or outside enemy after another. The loss of the scapegoats makes the organization even more homogeneous and closed.

The throwing out of scapegoats leads to fear and breaks the trust in the organization. Members start to spend time and energy covering themselves.

Thirteenth stage: The escalation of interpersonal and inter-group conflict to include staff conspiracies and coups against organizational leadership. This can take many forms including persons forming competitive organizations out of envy and aggression, making the high priest(s) into scapegoats, public defaming of the organization and leaders, and so on.

Fourteenth stage: fragmentation into subcultures; conflict between disciples and heretics; constant battle over loyalty. There are then purges and loyalty tests. In business, this takes the form of asking employees to relocate, take cuts in pay or benefits, or take sides in a conflict. There are shifting groups of loyalty and patterns of relationship become more stable.

Fifteenth stage: The emergence of a punitive, abusive organizational culture. The last act of a dying organization is a thicker rule book. The need for rules to control staff marks a change from the earlier stages of mutual respect, loyalty and esprit de corps.

Sixteenth stage: A critical turning point. Previously the closed system had met the needs of most members but now few members’ needs are being met. The high priest(s) may physically and emotionally distance himself from the rest of the organization, and has doubts about the organization.

Seventeenth stage: an obsession with secrecy. The leaders love manipulated media, but otherwise distrust it. Many conversations begin with a contract for secrecy—which is assumed to be morally and politically relative. The credibility of formal informational channels declines. The organization puts on more and more of a front while internally it is going through more and more problems.

Eighteenth stage: The rise of breaches in ethical and legal codes of conduct. Leaders will espouse rules and principles for others, or in general, but break them themselves. This will usually start with small disregard of zoning and licensing regulations or such. Those who engage in and encourage this will promote themselves as passionately concerned for a higher good. Gradually the visionary goal is sacrificed for a desire for money, and leaders will use the cover of the organization to give themselves expensive perks. Discontented members or ex-members will reveal the situation.

Nineteenth stage: Physical closing of buildings, the appearance of spies, and aggression against enemies, outside or internal, in the name of the good cause. In extreme cases there will be stockpiling of weapons. There can be battles between various closed systems.

Turning point: At this point, maturation, positive near-death experience, crisis containment, or dissolution. (or becoming excessively porous)

Maturation: Organization realizes that closure was needed in the beginning and matures to become more open.