Introduction of Healing The Toxic Organization

Introduction of Healing the Toxic Organization

Preface:

Hello.
This is Dr. Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi.

Currently, I am working on “Transforming Toxic organization to Healthy organization” to make people work better for innovation.

HR/OB Scholars and experts propose that we will have new challenges and transitions in the field.

New Behavior of employee;
Technologies change at the workplace
New generations come
Economic, social, and geographic mobility;
Globalization and/or deglobalization;
Finally, the health security issue we have been experiencing due to Covid-19 for the last three years is fundamentally changing the landscape of people development and management.

Among the many changes, one emerging aspect that has received more attention after the pandemic has caught my interest.

That is “Toxic Organization” kills the best talent.

Toxic Organization Cases (Why do people quit the TikTok?)

Here are two cases who recently quit “TikTok” – one of the most popular and quickly growing social network service companies.

First, Chloe Shih quit her Product Manager job at TikTok in Silicon Valley, California, for several reasons.

According to her,

The company did not support her professional Growth
The company had a “Toxic” culture
The company disregarded ‘Diversity’.
She lost her physical, social, and mental health at the toxic organization.

She reflected that she lost herself at the job and quit the TikTok job.

Second, Jamie Lim - a former TikTok software engineer in Singapore, quit the TikTok job in 4 months.

She worked at Google for more than seven years and was one of the best software engineers at the company.
She looked for “Growth Opportunities” at the quickly growing TikTok.
However, she quit the Job because of the toxic management of the company.

She described that

The company gave her unclear scope of work
The company used ‘Lark’ as a working tool that did not fit with her
The company had totally ‘unclear’ job descriptions and decision authorities
The company has Bizarre culture that did not resonate with her value.

Jamie – as a minority in the company, experienced a ‘Toxic organizational culture’ at TikTok, and she walked away from the company in 4 months.

Like this, Toxic Organization is an emerging issue in the HR field.

Toxic People and Toxic Organization (e.g. Jerks at Work!)

Unfortunately, the Toxic Organization / Toxic People problem in the workplace occurs almost everywhere in the world regardless of culture or business sectors.

Terra West, a New York University professor, recently proposed the idea of “Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to do about them” at Harvard Business Review.

In her article and book, she proposed five Toxic people styles:

Kiss-up / Kickdown
Credit stealer
Bulldozer
Micromanager
Gaslighter

According to Professor West, toxic people create toxic organizational culture.

Five Lemmas of "War for Energy as Capital"

A toxic organizational culture kills the best talent.

However, Why do people get toxic, and How does an organization get toxic?

Are there any ways to avoid them?

In order to identify the fundamental mechanisms and principles of “Toxic People / Toxic Organizations” to avoid them, Dr. Choi brought Lemmas and Ideas. He defined his ideas as “Healing the Organization: War for Energy as Capital”.

All photos and characters are made by Dr. Jerry Choi are fully registered as Intellectual property at an international NFT / BlockChain system.

Dr. Choi summarized and proposed “Five Lemmas” to explain the Toxic People and Toxic Organization Phenomena in the workplace.

They are:

People struggle for ‘Energy’
Energy is ‘Capital’
Capital is ‘Multidimensional ’
Becoming Energy Drain or Energy Source is ‘Habitual’
Habit is ‘Constructing’ rather than constructed

Drawing upon the organizational and occupational frameworks of Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory and Bakker's Job-Demand Resource (JD-R) Theory, the energy-based approach is formulated as follows:

The Conservation of Resources (COR) theory is about how people and groups work hard to get, keep, and protect things they value.

Main Idea: People are motivated to gather and keep resources, which could be things like money, relationships, time, or energy.

Principles:
1. Primacy of Loss: Losing resources feels worse than gaining them feels good. People notice loss more.
2. Resource Investment: To protect what they have, recover from losses, or gain more, people need to use their existing resources.
3. Gain Paradox: When people are losing resources, any gains they make feel more important and valuable.
4. Desperation: If people run out of resources, they may act defensively, aggressively, and irrationally to protect themselves.

Resource Caravans and Passageways:
- Resource Caravans: Resources don’t come alone; they come in groups, like when someone who has money might also have time and social support.
- Passageways: The environment or conditions around people either help or block them from getting and keeping resources.

Corollaries:
1. People or groups with more resources are less likely to lose them and are better at gaining more. Those with fewer resources are more vulnerable to loss.
2. Loss Spirals: Once people start losing resources, it’s easier to keep losing them, which makes them more stressed, creating a downward spiral.
3. Gain Spirals: Gaining resources tends to happen more slowly and is weaker compared to how quickly resources can be lost.

The Job-Demand Resource (JD-R) Theory by Bakker explains how different factors in the workplace affect employees' well-being and performance. It divides these factors into two main categories:

Job Demands: These are the physical, emotional, or mental efforts required to do a job. Examples include a heavy workload, tight deadlines, or dealing with difficult clients. These demands can lead to stress and burnout if not managed well.
Job Resources: These are the things that help employees handle the job demands. Resources can include support from colleagues, a positive work environment, training, or opportunities for career growth. These resources make it easier to manage the job demands and help employees stay motivated and engaged.

The JD-R Theory says that when job demands are high and resources are low, employees are more likely to experience stress and burnout. On the other hand, when there are enough resources, even if the job is demanding, employees can stay motivated and perform well. The key idea is to balance demands and resources to maintain a healthy, productive work environment.

People struggle for ‘Energy’

James Redfield introduced the concept of “Energy War” in his book “Celestine Prophecy”.

Shortly speaking, individuals and institutions seek to “Control the Energy” of the physical, social, mental, and spiritual powers of others.

This energy is often referred to as “Prana” or “Chi,” and it is believed to be the source of all life and consciousness.
People believe that ”Control the Energy” is essential for their power and wealth, and they try to maintain their dominance through several “Control Strategies”.

Redfield suggested four energy vampire styles such as “Interrogate; Intimidator; Aloof; and Poor Me”;

However, Dr. Choi focused on ”Tools and Strategies” for Controlling Energy.

And he suggested five energy-vampiring tools:

Torture needle
Sledgehammer
Frozen arrow
Begging bowl
Spider Web.

Each tool and strategy is used to “Stealing and Hijacking” Energy from others.

On the other hand, there is ‘Constructive “Energy” Creating strategies for Healing and Healthy relations and organizations.

Richo – the psychologist and business consultant proposed the Five A’s as tools for creating vitality at work.

Attention: Paying attention to one's thoughts, feelings, and actions, as well as to those of others.
Acceptance: Accepting oneself and others as they are, without judgment or criticism.
Appreciation: Appreciating the unique qualities and strengths of oneself and others.
Affection: Expressing and receiving love healthily and appropriately.
Allowing: Allowing oneself and others the freedom to be who they are and to make their own choices

Energy is ‘Capital’

More fundamentally, why people do struggle for “Energy”?
The answer could be, “Because energy is precious like money”!
So, we may think that Energy is the Capital!

Capital is ‘Multidimensional ’

But ”What is the Capital”?

Capital can refer to a variety of resources that are used to produce goods and services.
In recent years, business scholars have proposed the concept of ”Multiple Capital Theory”.

The multiple capital theory is a framework that proposes that organizations have multiple types of capital that they can draw upon to achieve their goals. This theory was developed in response to the limitations of the traditional view of capital regarding human development, environment, sustainability, and a holistic view of governance systems.

Synthesizing previous terms and ideas, Dr. Choi proposed seven types of Multiple capitals.

Financial capital
Organizational Capital
Social capital
Human capital
Psychological capital
Physiological capital
Spiritual capital

Therefore, we can understand that “People struggle for energy as multiple capitals”

Becoming Energy Drain or Energy Source is ‘Habitual’

Revisiting the two cases of” TikTok” people who recently quit their job,
They commonly pointed out the “Toxic Organizational Culture” that drove them to leave the organization.

Summarizing those toxic organizational cultures, Dr. Choi proposed seven “Toxic Management” practices.

They are:

Mediocre
Bureaucracy
Asymmetricity
Nepotism
Ignorance
Meritocracy
Disparity

On the other hand, seven contrasting Healthy and Healing management practices were matched one to one.

They are:

Excellence
Participation
Transparency
Competency
Active Listening
All level people development
Inclusion

Choosing the Toxic management practice on the Energy Drain side or the Healing management practice on the Energy source side is “Habitual” by the leadership!

Habit is ‘Constructing’ rather than constructed

According to the habitual choice of the Leader’s Toxic or Healing management practices, people transformed into Energy vampires or Vitality agents to steal or create multiple organizational capitals.

So, creating or transforming an organization as a Toxic one or a Healing one is highly dependent on the quality of people, especially the leadership.

Concluding Remarks:

If a business organization wants to transform its culture into a Healthy and healing one, the organizational leadership should reflect their habitual choices in their managerial practices.
The leadership should give more attention to the dynamics of the “Energy” war between people.
Thank you for listening.