Vignette: Toxic Organization

Vignette: Toxic Organization

 

The Case of TikTok's 'Toxic Work Culture'

 

Chloe Shih, a former TikTok product manager in the USA (Silicon Valley, San Francisco), told that she quit the job for the 'Toxic Work Culture' at the company (reference #1). 

 

She described several specific toxic management examples that drove her to leave the job. 

 

1. No support in her career growth from management side. 

2. The HQ (ByteDance in Beijing) applied 996 (9am-9pm, 6 days a week) work culture.  

3. Bizarre Meeting culture

   - Managers were late

   - Meeting would be rescheduled last minute

   - Meetings would runway overtime

   - Impromptu meetings held at night

4. Workplace PUA (Pick Up Artist), (see reference #3, #4)

   - Gossiping behind the door

   - Blaming in front of people

   - Gaslighting

   - Micromanagement 

5. Lack of respect to the Diversity

   - Systematic gender discrimination

 6. Organization's ignoring Physical, Mental, and Emotional Health Issue

 

In consequence, she reflected that she lost herself at the job. Then, she walked away from the company. 

 

 

 

Jamie Lim Yin Yin at TikTok Singapore 

 

I left TikTok in 4 Months - Here's Why? (by Jamie Lim Yin Yin)

 

https://youtu.be/qILMixQYSy4

A Former google employee Jamie Lim Yijnyin joined TikTok for new growith chance. But the individual left the job after four months. 

 

1. The scope of work was not alignted wit personal passion and drive. 

2. Lark (Slack like collaborative work tool at TikTok) was jut not for her. 

3. The organiztaion was difficult to navigate

4. Culture (ByteDance style does not resonate her values). 

 

 

 

 

Toxic organization is universal all around the world! 

 

Terra West (NYU Professor) wrote a book of "Jersk at Work: Toxic Cowoekrs and What to Do about Them"

She proposed five "Jerk" types in organization, and she proposed strategies how to deal with them. 

 

1. The Kiss-up / Kick-down
2. The Credit Stealer
3. The Bulldozer
4. The Micromanager
5. The Gaslighter

 

Case Questions: 

 

1. What is the nature of 'Toxic' organization? 

2. Who does create the toxic culture in an organization?

3. Why and How does the toxic culture thrive in an organization?

4. Who does get benefits and disadvantages in the toxic organization? 

5. What are consequences of the toxic organization? 

6. How to avoid the toxic management without quitting a job?

7. How to transform the toxic organization into a healthy and healing organization?

 

 

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Reference  #1: Why I quit my Product Manager job at TikTok (Oct. 11, 2021): 

https://youtu.be/pkDXV2g_i7Y?t=279 

 

Reference 1.2 : I left TikTok in 4 Months - Here's Why? (by Jamie Lim Yin Yin)

 

https://youtu.be/qILMixQYSy4

 

 

Reference #2: '996' Is China's Version of Hustle Culture. Tech Workers Are Sick of It. Chinese programmers once embraced working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. But online, discontent is brewing. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/technology/china-996-jack-ma.html

‘996’ Is China’s Version of Hustle Culture. Tech Workers Are Sick of It. (Published 2019)

 

Reference #3: Chinese Rapper's Viral Post Sheds Light on 'Workplace PUA': After Yamy called out the head of her agency for constantly manipulating and belittling her, thousands have come forward with stories about their own horrible bosses. (Wang Lianzhang and Wu Ziyi, July 23, 2020, Sixth Tone).

 

Excerpted from the article: 'Workplace PUA destroys people's self-esteem and self-worth, making them solely reliant upon the employer's appraisal by Yu Tianyi, Psychologist.'

 

'According to Zack, one of the woman’s co-workers, she quit because of their department director’s domineering and borderline abusive behavior: assigning them busywork, giving contradictory orders, pushing them to work overtime, and losing his temper with little or no provocation.

 

“She told me she finally realized our manager was actually mentally manipulating us the whole time,” the 28-year-old told Sixth Tone. “It only took the director a few months to push a newcomer from confident to self-loathing.” '

Even more than full-fledged staff, interns, too, face huge pressure and unreasonable conduct from their supervisors.

 

A 21-year-old college student in Shanghai told Sixth Tone that during his internship at a state-owned company last year — where his duties included applying for reimbursement, booking meeting rooms, and picking up coffee — his department leader verbally abused him on several occasions.

 

“One time, the leader lost his temper at me in a meeting room with the door open. I was sure everyone in the office could hear him evaluating my work as ‘bullshit,’” he said. “It felt like being naked in public.” Though the student had planned to do a six-month internship, he decided to leave halfway through — but removing himself from the uncomfortable situation may have hurt his future prospects, as he wasn’t able to find another internship during the summer holiday.

 

 

 

https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005961/chinese-rappers-viral-post-sheds-light-on-workplace-pua

Chinese Rapper’s Viral Post Sheds Light on ‘Workplace PUA’

 

 

Reference #4: Say 'No!' to PUA in the workplace (Global Times, July 24, 2020)

 

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1195552.shtml

Say ‘NO!’ to PUA in the workplace - Global Times

Excerpted from the article: "PUA in the workplace" has come into public eye and sparked controversy lately in China. Why? Because a Chinese singer and dancer posted the misery she suffered from her boss' insults.

 

At an internal meeting, her boss purportedly said she was "extremely ugly" and "not fashionable at all." About her voice, "she doesn't know how to sing." PUA is abbreviation for "Pick-up Artist." In this context, it a euphemism for mind control, brainwashing and suppression that occurs between superiors and subordinates.

 

PUA in the workplace is easy to be seen as an act of "criticizing you for your own good." This makes it difficult to be detected. But any form of PUA should be resisted. When an employer criticizes an employee, they should only focus on the case itself. They should judge the act instead of the person.

 

Every employee has the right to be respected and equally treated as a person by employers. Saying "No!" to PUA in the workplace is not dodging one's responsibilities. It is instead a brave move to protect one's dignity and rights.

 

 

Referece #5: TikTok staff in London are leaving in droves over the 'toxic' Chinese work culture (James Farrell, June, 08, 2022). 

 

https://siliconangle.com/2022/06/08/tiktok-staff-london-leaving-droves-toxic-chinese-work-culture/

TikTok staff in London are leaving in droves over the ‘toxic’ Chinese work culture - SiliconANGLE

 

 

Reference #6:  Jerks at Work and How to Deal with Them: Use these strategies to manage toxic cowkers. By Tessa West  (HBR, Sept. 01, 2022).

 

https://hbr.org/2022/09/5-jerks-at-work-and-how-to-deal-with-them

5 Jerks at Work and How to Deal with Them

 

 

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2023. 01. 11: Initially Archived.