Toxic Organizational Culture

In today's market where the opinion of shareholders, customers, and other stakeholders is especially important to organizations, a solid corporate culture is crucial for its image and reputation. Not only that, but a winning culture improves employee engagement, leading to better retention and higher rates of productivity.

The organizational culture can either be an organization’s greatest strength or its most harmful weakness. The trick is to be vigilant against the signs of bad organizational culture and work to improve it. It takes leadership, commitment, accountability, and decisiveness to change the organizational culture.

Think of a plant in a toxic environment; the plant will fail to thrive and will ultimately die. That is basically the metaphor for a toxic organizational culture. It prevents employees from thriving and while it (probably) will not kill them literally, it will not bring out their best and will eventually drive them to look for a job elsewhere.

Toxic work culture on one level is institutional-centric; policies and procedures are designed with the organization, not its workforce, in mind. It means outdated work policies, for example, a requirement to work from the office, which is mistakenly thought to squeeze the most productivity from an employee. It means benefits and perks that are easy on the company budget, but tough on employees’ lives. It means regarding employees as objects that fulfill the organization’s needs, not as people who have their own lives and families.

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A toxic work culture results in workplace “illnesses,” such as lack of cohesion among teams, increased absences and tardiness, lower productivity, high turnover, and sexually transgressive behavior. It is one where the workplace is dominated by undesirable behavior, ranging from physical violence sexual harassment, and assault, to verbal aggression (intimidation, racism, exclusion, bullying, humiliation) and psychological aggression (not letting others speak, mocking, passive aggressive treatment). A toxic culture is therefore characterized by physical, social, and psychological insecurity. It is one where the workplace is plagued by fighting, drama, and unhappy employees to the point that output, productivity and the well-being of the people in the office are affected. In many cases, one usually speaks of a 'culture of fear'. But that puts too much emphasis on the feelings of the victims and not on the undesirable behavior of the aggressors. In addition, the emotional effects on victims go beyond just fear. Feelings of sadness, shame, disgust, and anger are also prominent. To complete the story: victims do not only have to deal with negative feelings. Experiences of oppression, exclusion, and stress are constantly lurking.

 

Numerous studies have shown that toxic cultures and thereby playing feelings of physical, social, and psychological insecurity appear to occur much more often than one could tell from the often-heard reactions. These are usually tender for a relativization of the severity of the observed phenomena. It would be 'incidents' and 'some rotten apples', it is said. But that is not true at all!

A.o., British research shows that 40% (some studies even speak of 50%) of all workers have had to deal with a toxic culture. In 67% of the cases, resulted in anxiety and stress. More than four out of ten affected people left the company because of negative experiences.

But how does such a toxic culture actually work? By studying dozens of cases, the following three toxic mechanisms can be distinguished: power and dominance, exclusivity and distrust, short-term thinking, and selfishness.

 

Power and dominance:

Power and dominance are expressed, among other things, in a preoccupation with status, sex, and money. Delusions of grandeur, arrogance, and a humiliating attitude towards 'inferiors' are always visible. Just like a strong tendency to micromanagement. Power and dominance ensure that people's boldness is suppressed. Keeping it small by barking, tearing off, anger outbursts, and horrific behavior is the order of the day.

 

Exclusivity and distrust:

Exclusivity and distrust take the place of inclusion and connection. Aggressors tend to isolate themselves in small groups, in which the superiority of one's own right prevails. Loyalty and conformity are expected of the members of their own group. Others are treated with suspicion or sometimes outright malicious treatment. Destructive gossip, throwing around false accusations, making up stories, as well as lying and cheating - it is all part of the aggressors' repertoire of actions. This also applies to nepotism and the selective distribution of rewards.

 

Short-termism and selfishness:

Short-termism and selfishness reign supreme in toxic cultures. The targets set are often unreasonably high or downright illegal. Winning and defeating opponents is paramount. Resulting effects of overload, stress, and burnout are ignored or laughed off. Taking credit for other people's work is considered normal. Investing in the growth and development of people is considered unnecessary.

 

How do you ensure that the mechanisms just mentioned and associated behaviors do not stand a chance? And when that does happen, how can you ensure that you realize a rapid and effective transformation from a toxic to a healthy culture? In a general sense, there are two types of approach: a cold and a warm one.

 

The cold approach consists of planned and top-down interventions. The emphasis is usually on systems, rules, and protocols that are intended to prevent undesirable behavior. Structural measures such as the opening of 'counters' where potential victims can report, the appointment of confidential advisers, and the tightening of codes of conduct are also part of this. Training on behavioral change that is being rolled out, complements the cold approach.

 

The warm approach begins and ends with human behavior. An appeal is made to personal leadership and the self-cleaning capacity of the culture. Giving meaning to undesirable and desired behavior through conversations, but especially working in and between teams on a new culture is central to the warm approach.

 

A strong organizational culture is important for the organization’s longevity and business success. To build an exciting culture that will entice job seekers and retain employees, organizations need to be thoughtful with the type of organizational culture they aim to create. Be vigilant against a.o. the following organizational culture ‘red flags’ to allow a positive work environment to flourish.

 

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​How is your organization performing against the 'red flags' mentioned above? In other words, how 'toxic' is your organization, and more importantly as the leader, what are you going to do about it?

 

Source: 16 Signs of a Toxic Work Culture and How to Fix Them., by K. Heinz, 2021. The Bad Features of a Toxic Culture, Management Impact,

H. van der Loo (Book: Psychological safety, H. van der Loo and J. Beks)