Does your workplace resemble a cult? (2/2)

The previous article described the attraction of cult leaders, as well as how something resembling a cult is to be found in many different social institutions. Now let's see if this also applies to your firm.

Illustration

Isolation as a tool of control

To have absolute control, cult leaders urge their followers to sever all ties with the outside world. One way of doing this is to foster paranoid thinking, which is very often about the old us vs. them mindset. Cult members are then led to regard their families or the government as villains. Truth is to be found only in the safe haven of the cult.

Without their former connections, cult members are progressively more and more dependent on the cult. They have to have it in order to fulfil their physical and emotional needs. This abusive relationship is very difficult to escape because members remain convinced that everything they do is still based on their own initiative. The opposite is clear only to outsiders, according to an article on the INSEAD business school website.

Frankly speaking, many businesses also have cult-like characteristics:

  • Influential leaders inspiring devotion and demanding loyalty
  • Corporate culture that is inward-looking
  • Strict rules regarding behaviour
  • No tolerance for those who break established norms

Cult-like characteristics

Many business organisations are based on commanding ideologies. Things may look different from religious cults but the conversion process is similar. They give their employees a sense of meaning and belonging. They demand a set of beliefs be adhered to. Sometimes paranoid thinking is nourished involving, for example, a struggle with some kind of hostile outside forces.

However, these organisations do not encourage creative thinking and healthy debate. Such businesses are not places where sound judgment and authenticity flourish.

-jk-

Article source INSEAD Knowledge - INSEAD Business School knowledge portal
Read more articles from INSEAD Knowledge

Články v sérii

Aktuální

Does your workplace resemble a cult? (1/2)

Aktuální

Does your workplace resemble a cult? (2/2)