Corporate Cults: The Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming Org

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David McCarthy
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Corporate Cults: The Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming Org

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Corporate Cults: The Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming Organization: Dr. Dave Arnott
Editorial Reviews From Library Journal
What's the similarity between the Branch Davidians and Southwest Airlines? According to business columnist Arnott (management, Dallas Baptist Univ.), both organizations are cults, one religious, the other corporate. In this unique, fascinating look at organizational dynamics, Arnott shows that the many controlling tactics corporations use are similar to those used by well-known religious cults, e.g., charismatic leadership, separation from community, and a demand for unwavering devotion to the cult. The author's personal experiences with some of these organizations enrich this disturbing analysis of how "culted companies" require employees to pledge unconditional obedience to leaders, subsume their identities, invest all their "free" time and energy in the corporation, and consider family and community expendable. In addition, personal insights into those who find meaning in what they do instead of who they are and practical strategies for restoring a more normal balance among work, family, and community make this an important book. Highly recommended for business collections and all university libraries.ADale F. Farris, Groves, TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
In the latest backlash against corporate America, the American Management Association has chimed in with an alarmingly titled book that features a tattooed, suited skinhead on the cover.

It's main point: Corporations can steal your soul. In the 230-page book, Dallas Baptist University professor of management Dave Arnott contends that in the rush to make companies friendlier places to work, they've been turned into a replacement for family and community. "It starts with a refrigerator in the lunchroom and ends in a full-blown corporate cult," writes Arnott.


A "corporate cult," says Arnott, has all the characteristics of any other cultlike group: It subordinates the individual to an organization; it uses terms like "family" to describe the organization; it rewards behavior, not tasks. Arnott says employees contribute to the problem by turning to their employers for their emotional needs and adopting a loyalty to the company that exceeds devotion to one's family and personal needs.


Arnott describes a corporate cult as one that requires devotion from its employees, has charismatic leadership and causes a separation from the rest of the community by supplying enough of those needs itself. Sounds a little like some Net companies.


Corporations create cults, not culture, by giving too much to employees, he says. The author warns that employees are short-sighted to hope for emotional fulfillment from companies - prisons are better providers than employers, he charges. Prisons, for example, give inmates their own toilets, permit visits from friends and family, and allow inmates to watch TV and play games.


Companies, by comparison, make people share toilets, often punish employees for socializing with friends and family in the workplace, and wouldn't dream of letting employees watch TV or play games on company time (OK, here's where Internet companies might be an exception).


The situation isn't entirely the fault of the company. Arnott says that when employees allow themselves to be hired for who they are instead of what they can do, they perpetuate the idea that identity and self-worth should come from the boss man.


Arnott takes pains to illustrate how companies' cultlike behavior evolved. In a strong economy, one would not bother to argue about emotional bondage, because economic bondage would be strong enough. The current economic boom, plus the emphasis on intellectual capital rather than industrial strength, makes the market ripe for cultish behavior. So does the geographical breakup of families, who are now too far removed to provide all of a person's support.


So does this mean that workers should disregard all that warm and fuzzy "team building" stuff they learn? No, says Arnott. It's OK to like what you do and want to work with others, but employees are at risk of becoming corporate-cult members when work gets in the way of reason.


- Laura Rich -- From The Industry Standard

Corporate Cults: The Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming Organization: Dr. Dave Arnott: Amazon.com: Books
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0814404936
But he has nothing on at all, cried at last the whole people....
joe sz
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Re: Corporate Cults: The Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming

Unread post by joe sz »

Thanks, David.
the article does not mention names, but i recall an insurance company, R L Williams in the 1970s that ran like a cult. I imagine the author would list Amway and most MLM businesses that emphasize team and intensive workshops as part of the "culture" and the way to get rich. There is one ten miles from me, never written about, that rehabs alternators..all employees are expected to be at rallies and meetings around twice a week. Ex-employees have complained about the bizarre, required extra-curricular activity to keep a job [not to me], but no one in the local press is listening.
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