Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 5, 2015 8 NEWS When corporate culture becomes more of a cult ere's a spectrum – and some employers go too far BY LIZ BERNIER THEY SPEND most of their time confi ned to a compound, with dif- ferent areas for working and eat- ing, perhaps even sleeping. ey spend every day with the same companions, all of them work- ing toward the same overarch- ing cause and following the same leader. There's a good chance they all dress in a similar fashion and have a peculiar shared language of terms, acronyms or slang that would make little sense to an out- sider. ey can probably all list the shared values or tenets of the group — maybe these are even plastered on the walls, just to drill the message home. Put that way, it all sounds a little disconcerting, but that brief snapshot can describe a number of highly admired workplaces. Building a pervasive work cul- ture, with shared values and com- mon expectations of behaviour, is an ideal of the modern workplace — and generally speaking, that's a good thing. But there are some situations where an organization takes the concept of "culture" a little too far. And the troublesome part is de- termining when the line has been crossed. "It's not a black line, it's a grey area," said Dave Arnott, author of Corporate Cults: e Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming Orga- nization and a professor at Dallas Baptist University. There's no doubt "cult" is a loaded word, but the concept doesn't always have to involve un- derground bunkers, odd religious tenets, alien overlords or dooms- day theories. " ere are not cults and non- cults; all organizations have cul- ture and, of course, the word 'cult' is a sub-part of that word. So, to some degree, all organizations are 'cult-ish' — it's a question of how far along the spectrum (they are)," said Arnott. Fair or not, recent headlines about the all-consuming work culture at Amazon raised ques- tions once again about where the line should be between work and life — and determining when the workplace has encroached too far into the personal lives of its employees. Too cult-y for comfort ere are a few common denomi- nators groups with cult-like quali- ties often share, said Arnott. "A cult has three things: devo- tion, charismatic leadership and separation from community," he said. Devotion to one's workplace is generally seen as a desirable trait, but it can certainly be taken too far, he said. "Often, people will start out with devotion for a cause, which is good, but then that devotion will get transferred to the organization — and that's where it becomes dangerous," he said. "Organizations are an instru- ment for getting things done for people. So if you keep the people in mind, then organizations re- ally exist only as a means to some greater end. But some people have devotion to the organization instead of to the purpose or the people they're serving." Second, there is the whole issue of the charismatic leader. "Usually, we see charismatic leaders as good and eff ective — and they are, when they direct people's care and concern to the purpose — but (sometimes), they direct it at themselves," said Arnott. In some cases, a charismatic leader is followed so blindly that he can lead an organization off a cliff, said Chris Cancialosi, founder and managing partner at gothamCulture in Bainbridge Island, Wash. "You get young entrepreneurs who come up with a great idea, and they grow so fast… the as- sumption is those CEOs made all that happen. ey're not perfect but as employees and stakehold- ers see this success, the assump- tion becomes that this person is a genius and everything they say has to be right — so why would you even question them?" said Cancialosi. " at charismatic leader (facet) is a dangerous aspect." e third factor is separation from the broader community, said Arnott. "All of us are (separated) to some degree. I drove to my uni- versity today, you went to your workplace, you separated yourself from your community. But the de- gree to which organizations off er 'extracurricular' activities (can be) when they move from a culture to a cult," he said. "Even well-meaning things — like maybe they've convinced their bank or their credit union to open a location there in the building — that's good, it saves (employees) having to leave. But it's separated them from their community. And some workplaces have exercise clubs and book studies and even daycare… all those things separate the person from their community. And the more you separate, the further you move along that line from culture to cult." Unintended consequences Some companies off er so many well-intended benefi ts and ame- nities, employees hardly have to leave the workplace at all, said Cancialosi. But there are unin- tended consequences to that. " ey're trying to provide for their people — their work lives are demanding… but the unintended consequence is that it slowly be- comes very insular. If you never have to go into town to do any- thing — go buy groceries or get your dry-cleaning done — and you don't interact with anyone but the people within that organiza- tion, I think that lack of diversity can start to rear its ugly head," he said. No matter how well-meaning an organization was when it de- signed the culture or amenities for employees, having a culture that is all-consuming has some truly negative impacts for employees, said Arnott. "Burnout is one, because they don't have diversity in life. ey have only their work and that's the only organization they belong to," he said. "When work becomes the family and work becomes the community, then you've crossed the line." It bleeds into the whole ques- tion of work-life balance versus work-life integration, he said. " ere's even more danger (to- day) because now an electronic umbilical cord we carry in our pocket or purse will allow us to seem as if we're separated from the workplace — but we're still attached." In addition to the negative out- comes for individuals, there are also negative outcomes for the collective and the business itself, said Cancialosi. "You're going to start to see a lack of diversity in terms of thought because if we believe that this one way is the only way to do it, the opposite side of that is other ideas are devalued," he said. "In our dynamics, we begin to marginalize people who have We don't need no thought control If anyone can identify the common tools, patterns and behaviours employed by cult-like organizations, it's Steven Hassan. A former member of the Unifi cation Church, sometimes called the "Moonie Cult," Hassan underwent deprogramming in the mid-1970s and went on to become an expert on cults — even consulting as an expert for the CIA. "I've seen a great series of changes occur over the decades where what was kind of out-of-the-mainstream information about brainwashing has become part of corporate culture and knowledge, in particular through their fi eld of social psychology," said Hassan, who is founder of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center in Newton, Mass. "In the last century, things have really ramped up in terms of understanding how to manipulate, how to hypnotize, how to indoctrinate, how to create businesses that extract the largest amount of money out of people." When people are exerting ethical infl uence, the hallmarks are honesty, transparency, respect for the individual, checks and balances, free will and accountability, he said. Not so with unethical infl uence, which often involves lying, holding back necessary information, distorting information, using guilt or fear and wanting to "clone" people. "In other words, instead of respecting people's individuality and their free will, the leadership has this point of view of 'I know what's best for them so I'm going to tell them what they need to do,'" he said, adding this can even extend to what they should read or wear. These kinds of control can involve behavioural control, information control, thought control or emotional control, said Hassan. So how can you tell when an organization has crossed the line? "It's usually a number of factors but, for example, (when it comes to) emotional control, there is a technique that I call phobia indoctrination, which is the deliberate implantation of irrational fears — that is you leave the group, terrible things will happen to you," he said. 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