Part II – 27 Symptoms of a Dysfunctional Culture
By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose
No business or organization is perfect. Even those deemed “great” by Jim Collins in his bestseller Good to Great are vulnerable to dysfunction, mistakes, and failure, and there are some people who are impossible to please (employees or otherwise). In Part I of our series, we examined culture and how it impacts relationships between employees, leaders, vendors, community, and profit. In this column, we will define the symptoms of poisonous environments, beginning with a true story of a toxic culture.
In 1972, shortly after graduating from college, Mike applied for a job as a counselor (or headhunter) with a North Carolina employment agency. Its stated purpose was to link prospective applicants with available jobs. Mike was impressed by the modern office and sharp executives he met during the interviews, and helping others find employment seemed like a rewarding job. Upon accepting the position, he was sent off for two weeks of what he thought would be in-depth training in helping others. However, while at the training school, he was expected to learn how to “break” applicants into accepting any job offered, however low the salary, and was also instructed to send them out to jobs he knew would not materialize. It was essentially a “bait and switch” operation. He and others were later summoned by management to lively group discussions on fictitious job openings to advertise in the classified section of the newspaper. He was told to tell applicants that the (nonexistent) advertised positions had been filled but other jobs were available, continuing the “bait and switch” philosophy. The work culture was also filled with shady characters. Lying was ingrained into their personalities, and everyone was out for their own interests. Gossip and bickering were their way of life, and management used open meetings to praise those who excelled in unethical practices. The business’ purpose and mission were to profit, regardless of how it was done. Stunned and dismayed, Mike quit the job after two weeks.
Does this scenario remind you of anything? What about the housing and banking industries’ recent collapse? Lehman Brothers, the 4th largest bank in the US, experienced the largest bankruptcy in history. The greedy culture that made it a profitable business also drove it to fail. Likewise, some banks and housing organizations were so focused on short-term profit that they lent 110% of the value of a home to applicants who they knew could not afford the payments. Many homeowners lost their jobs and could not pay their mortgages, so the banks foreclosed but then could not sell the houses. The bubble burst, and now we are all suffering through The Great Recession! Some experts say that it may take ten years before all the foreclosed homes are cleared from the system.
We know that no two cultures are the same, but experience and research have identified symptoms of organizational dysfunction that can lead to business failure. The more of the following 27 items your company experiences, the greater the chances of it becoming a toxic workplace. (Sadly, one manager we recently hired came from a company where most of these factors existed.)
Keep your business in mind as you read over these symptoms:
- Employees chase any and every way to make a dollar. If you were to ask them for the mission or purpose of the business, they would say, “To make money.”
- There is a high employee turnover rate. Many high achievers leave; the people who stay are often troublemakers or average to incompetent workers.
- Employees take excessive leave time, are frequently late to work, take long lunch hours, and maximize their break times. If you value your life, you’d better not be near the exit at 5:00 PM as they stampede out the door!
- Management creates unhealthy competition, making “winners” and “losers” where there should be team unity. Bickering, disagreements, back-stabbing, temper flare-ups, and turf guarding are common.
- Large numbers of customers complain about the service and products, but there is a “who cares” philosophy towards helping them resolve complaints. Employees hide behind policies to avoid taking ownership customer problems or issues. Quality is not job # 1.
- Managers and employees alike blame and point fingers when something goes wrong. The more people who know about an employee’s failure, the better, causing staff to hide or cover up mistakes to avoid humiliation by managers. But although weaknesses are emphasized, strengths are overlooked.
- People rush to take credit for their ideas (or even others’ ideas.) “I’ is used much more frequently than “we.”
- Staff members work in silos and separate themselves from their teams.
- Promotions are based on seniority and relationships, not competency. Rewards are spread amongst all employees regardless of merit.
- Management turns a blind eye on top producers, allowing them to blatantly break the rules although policies are rigidly enforced on others. They have big egos and reward those who “kiss up” and agree with them.
- Leaders squash new ideas and suggestions on how to do things better. They have a “my way or the highway!” outlook and are often in denial of problems in the business.
- Employees are disengaged and confined to narrow job descriptions by micromanagers who do not trust staff to branch out of their roles or operate on their own. Managers require frequent updates, feel they know more than their employees, and have low tolerance for mistakes.
- Professional development and training opportunities are non-existent or a very low priority.
- All decisions must go through a lengthy, time-consuming bureaucracy with rigid hierarchy and rules; this means projects often stall or are not completed on a timely basis.
- Employees live in fear of verbal intimidation. Foul language, bullying, harassment, and racist or sexist comments are all allowed.
- Staff members dislike and often gossip about each other. They do not participate in planned or informal company social events.
- No one volunteers to “go the extra mile” to help others. They often say, “It is not in my job description.”
- Leaders set unrealistic goals or quotas. If salespeople meet the goals, greedy managers raise them again and again until superstars leave out of exasperation. The more you produce, the more you are expected to do. Impatient leaders want instant results and overnight miracles.
- People are treated like machines. They can never give enough, work long enough, or produce enough. Leaders expect employees to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of the harmful effects on their families or personal lives.
- Unethical, immoral, and illegal behaviors are allowed. Management says one thing and does another.
- The company frequently reorganizes the business structure in a misguided attempt to find that “magic bullet.”
- Leaders talk negatively about each other and other employees, inappropriately sharing sensitive and confidential information.
- The overriding philosophy is to “trust no one!”
- Staff members are fearful for their jobs. When layoffs occur, they come in waves and foster distrust and fear.
- People don’t smile or have fun. There are few celebrations and managers grab all the attention and credit for any successes.
- Incompetent, negative employees are allowed to hang around and further pollute the culture.
- The business owners do not share profit with employees. They take most of the extra money for themselves instead of reinvesting profits into resources staff members need to succeed, become more effective, or increase efficiency.
So…how does your business stack up? Have you seen any of these 27 toxic behaviors in your workplace?
Our next article will discuss how to recognize these symptoms and assess whether they are in the early stages or have progressed to major problems. The bottom line: You must be aware of what these symptoms are before you can determine their causes and develop strategies to address them.
You can find the other parts of this article series on our website, www.duboseweb.com.
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Blake DuBose graduated from Newberry College School of Business and is president of DuBose Web Group. You can view our published articles at www.duboseweb.com.
Mike DuBose has been in business since 1981 and is the author of The Art of Building a Great Business. He is the servant owner of three debt-free corporations, including Columbia Conference Center, Research Associates, and The Evaluation Group. For more articles, visit his nonprofit website www.mikedubose.com.
Katie Beck serves as senior technical writer to the DuBose family of companies. She is a graduate of the USC School of Journalism and Honors College.
© Copyright 2008-2011 by Mike DuBose. All Rights Reserved. You have permission to forward this article to a friend or colleague and to distribute it as part of personal or professional use during the year 2008 in its full content with all credits to the author. However, no part of this article may be altered or published in any other manner without the written consent of the author. If you would like written approval to post this information on an appropriate web site or to publish this information, please contact Katie Beck at Katie@grantexperts.com and explain how the article will be used. We appreciate you honoring our hard work and we try to accommodate any requests in a timely fashion. Shorter versions of some articles are available upon request.
