The Psycho-Pathology of Organisations

By Fr. Alfred Darmanin SJ

Profile

Fr Alfred Darmanin SJ obtained his licentiate in clinical psychology from the University of Louvain, Belgium, and his Ph.D. from Berkeley, California with a specialisation in the psychology of leadership. He also holds degrees in mathematics, philosophy and theology. He was Head of the Psychology Department at the University of Malta from 1988 to 1994 where he teaches as a senior lecturer. Dr Darmanin has conducted several training courses for leaders and executives in various countries and is the author of four books and several articles and papers.

In terms of mental health, how would you characterize the organization you are leading, or of which you are a member? As psychologically mature, as functioning normally, as passing through a crisis, as dysfunctional, neurotic, depressive, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, schizophrenic?

This article intends to study possible psycho-pathological symptoms manifested in certain organizations – be they business companies, educational institutions, or religious groups. Once diagnosed, these organizations can trace the causes and apply proper remedial treatment.


Organizational Pathologies Like individuals, organizations have different personalities. Just as individuals have different characters, temperaments, styles, internal dynamics and developmental paths, so do all organizations. This hold true not only for normal, healthy organizations, but also for psycho-pathological ones which demonstrate varying types and degrees of pathology. And just as normal individual psychology has been applied to the branch of industrial or organizational psychology, so one can apply individual “abnormal” psychology to organisational psycho-pathology. Clinical psycho-pathology can be helpful in investigating the transferring of certain psychological disorders to an organizational setting. The diagnostic shift, as it were, moves from the organization of psycho-pathology to the psycho-pathology of organizations! This application does not mean that we can simply adopt the same paradigms of individual psycho-pathology into organizational ones because certain modifications need to be made due to changes in the context. This caveat is similarly applicable to the simplistic transfer of personality models in psychology to group and to organizational models.

Negative Effects

Space does not allow me to elaborate on all types of psycho-pathologies and to show how these can be applied to organizations. I shall, instead, limit myself to only a few of these. But first I would like to indicate in a general way the negative effects of such psychological disorders on organizations.

As in personality disorders, we expect that a psycho-pathological organization would have a serious negative impact on the whole organization, especially on its members. Such an organization:
• Lowers members’ morale and motivation
• Decreases performance in terms of efficiency and productivity
• Distorts communication and weakens relations among members and with their superiors
• Contributes towards mediocrity and renders irrelevant efforts at improving quality
• Gives the whole organization a negative image and reputation
• Makes leadership effectiveness quite difficult
• Discourages team-work and team-building in groups
• The vision, goals and values of the organization remain become blurred
• The organization becomes more vulnerable to conflicts and stress among its members
• Various psycho-somatic illnesses begin to develop
Let me now briefly mention some specific types of organizational psycho-pathologies:


Depressive Organizations

Typical symptoms of depression include lack of energy, apathy, lack of initiative, no more meaning and purpose in life, etc. In the case of a depressed organization, one witnesses an atmosphere of helplessness and hopelessness, diminished abilities to mobilize employees and resources towards a common goal, and no sense of a clear vision. As a result, productivity suffers, and every task is perceived as demanding an enormous effort.

Some suggest that the intervention required in dealing with a depressed organization is first to distract the organization from its depression by getting it to focus on something else, i.e. casting a vision; then to give it something to feel good about, by achieving successes in small objectives; and finally by building the organization’s confidence in achieving real successes in large objectives.

Organizational leaders should be warned that they can easily be sucked into depression themselves in such an organizational climate. Hence, they need to protect and care for themselves, especially for their own mental health.


Obsessive-Compulsive Organizations

Obsessive-compulsive behaviour in individuals is characterized by performing compulsive rituals. The person is enslaved to repeat certain habitual actions even if these do not make sense, like compulsive hand-washing and continuously checking that everything is closed. Often, it becomes a relentless pursuit of perfection and a reaction to guilt complex.

In organizations, this behaviour shows itself in a strong need for perfectionism in one’s work. The quantity and quality of production are never good enough and tasks must be constantly checked and re-checked. There is also a tendency to avoid or postpone decisions as well as an exaggerated pre-occupation with minor details. If the leader or manager happens to be an obsessive-compulsive type, there is the danger of immobilizing the organization through lack of creativity, initiative and risk, besides failing in developing a pro-active stance in decision-making.

Members of obsessive-compulsive organizations have to realize that often “the best is the enemy of the good” and that limits have to be put to obsessive rituals and behaviours. Without feeling guilty unnecessarily, such an organization has to accept its limitations of resources and establish realistic, not idealistic, objectives. Too much anxiety and stress among members might deprive them of deserved relaxation from work and of enjoying life in the here-and-now.


Paranoid Organizations

A paranoid personality is characterized by a persecution complex, false beliefs or delusions, suspicion, lack of trust, insecurity and significant fear of outside intentions. At an organizational level, the primary problem with such organizations is that “they not only have enemies, they create them”. Even within the same organization itself, rivalry and discord between members and leaders are quite prevalent, precisely because of the distrust.

In dealing with a paranoid organization one should therefore address the issue of suspicion and trust and find ways to rebuild a sense of trust among the members. This could be done by getting them away from the company’s workplace for a residential week-end in a hotel or retreat house so that they can relate and interact informally. Such an off-site event, preferably under the guidance of an outside professional facilitator, helps them get to know each other better and eventually accept and trust each other.

“Reality confrontation” both at individual and organizational level, can be effective in facing paranoid behaviour if one can create a non-anxious environment. On the part of management, transparency of information and of decisions taken may be conducive in preventing an organization from developing paranoid behaviours.

We can also discuss many other types of psycho-pathologies or disorders and apply them to organizational settings. To name just a few: schizophrenic, manic-depressive, post-traumatic stress disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, etc. What is more relevant for our purpose is to apply the appropriate intervention most beneficial for the organization and its members.


Interventions

• Just like with individual therapy, the healing of an organization is often a slow process and relapses can occur. But intervention must continue and ought to be reinforced by long-term strategies to maintain and support organizational health.
• Like any healing process – physical, psychological or spiritual – an intervention can be painful and costly. But it’s worth paying that price as organizational leaders would agree.
• In working with organizations, it is not enough to help employees on a personal level. At times, the real problem is the system itself and hence leaders might have to change that.
• Making strategic interventions in organizations brings about a transformation – in the individuals, the system, or both. There may be strong resistance to change on the part of employees or management.
• Certain situations warrant more lasting interventions which can only occur through changes in leadership personnel or in company members. • In individual therapy, the purpose of treatment is not simply to diagnose the problem, much less to label the person but to provide effective means to the client to regain mental health and to function well. The same is true with organizational interventions. The final result should be a psychologically healthy organization.

In dealing with individuals in psychotherapy or counselling, the professional concerned should not focus solely on what’s wrong with the patient, on the illness or the problem. Rather, the effective psychotherapist or counsellor would also help bring out the client’s psychic resources, potentialities, skills, gifts and talents. Similarly with an organization, interventions need to tap the existing positive qualities within the organization and facilitate their development.

So, to conclude on a positive note, leaders and managers have to focus not mainly on the dysfunctional aspects of the company, but on long-term goals and vision based on what employees can contribute in order to energize organizational transformation. This pro-active, positive and preventive style would guarantee greater success for the organization’s goals and for the employees’ well-being.


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