7 signs of a dysfunctional company

Image courtesy of Flickr user wetwebwork

COMMENTARY I was just reading about how Barack Obama and George W. Bush are the most polarizing presidents of the past 50 years, meaning they had the largest gap in approval ratings between democrats and republicans.

Some think there's a chicken and egg aspect to the question of which came first, our divisive leaders or our divided nation, but I think it's entirely a function of leadership. If Obama and Bush were effective leaders, the nation wouldn't be so divided.

That's because, by definition, leadership is about somehow getting people with disparate views to coalesce and execute on goals and plans they would never agree to on their own. Clearly, that's not happening in Washington and that's why America's so divided. Makes sense, right?

Now, it's tempting to paint all ineffective leaders with the same brush. You can get away with that in politics. Just label the incumbent a big fat loser, vote the bum out of office and call it a day. But when it comes to the corporate world, that's not entirely practical because, well, it's often hard to tell the losers from the keepers.

For example, I've worked with micromanaging control-freak jerks who were remarkably effective leaders. They united people and accomplished great things. On the flip side, I've known good executives who were well liked but, nevertheless, couldn't get everyone moving in the same direction.

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While companies may not have political parties to deal with, polarizing leadership and divisive management are real and entirely common issues that destroy organizational effectiveness and ultimately lead to operating failure in companies big and small.

Since we can't really solve a problem without identifying it first, here are seven signs of a dysfunctional company with polarizing leadership:

Ivory tower effect. When self-important executives make decisions in a vacuum or otherwise barricade themselves in their expansive corner offices, that creates a nasty cultural divide between management and employees. On the contrary, I knew one executive VP who insisted on sitting in a cubicle with his people. Good man.

Warring factions. You hear it all the time: "There's a natural tension between sales and marketing"; or "Come on, everybody hates HR," like it's an inevitable feud between warring factions. That's bologna. There's nothing natural or inevitable about it. It's dysfunctional, it's divisive and it fosters rivalry instead of alignment.

Strategy du jour. When dysfunctional executives consistently overreact to a single data point and take the entire organization in a new direction. Often the result of hallway or ad-hoc meetings in obscure places and making decisions in the absence of those who are actually responsible for that sort of thing.

Analysis paralysis. When executives, especially from warring factions, chronically debate issues to death, going down one rat hole or knock-down, drag-out fight after another without actually making decisions because there's no clear leadership to drive consensus.

Walk on water behavior. When leaders either consciously or subconsciously hoist certain groups up on pedestals while denigrating others. Besides being divisive, that also creates "walk on water" behavior where exalted groups aren't subject to standard processes like budgeting, for example.

Silo mentality. When teams, departments or entire divisions act as if they're independent from the rest of the company, usually in a defensive "it's us against them" sort of way when fighting for resources. Often the result of being denigrated by a dysfunctional and divisive CEO. A.k.a. "bunker mentality."

Sacred cow. A pet project -- usually owned by a founder -- that's immune to criticism and the company's standard processes. In other words, it continues to be funded long after it shouldn't. Also leads to passive aggressive behavior where the exec in charge agrees to kill it but never actually does.

If you've experienced dysfunctional, polarizing leadership, share your story in the comments. You'll feel better if you do. Really.

[PJ1252]

Oh this was about our Presidents - I thought you were speaking of the New York City public school system and Bloomberg - Oops I'm bad -

[JMSTAR100]

Without taking any side on the last two presidents, I will just point out that the Senate is firmly divided, much more so than it was a generation ago. (Ever hear the term "liberal Republican" these days? There used to be several in the Senate.)

I mention the Senate just because they hold state-wide offices, so gerrymandering isn't the cause. And they hold long-term offices, so "wave" elections related to a president's recent performance also aren't the cause.

The Senatorial divide is not the fault of these two men and matters of their leadership. The fault lies firmly elsewhere.

[rms316]

I must admit I have worked for about all types of managers. That is what's propelled me to work on my own, even for less money. I just got tired of working, producing and innovating ideas for somebody else and really getting little in return. Good leadership is tough to find. And, don't expect the elected officials in D.C. to do anything except for themselves and their money masters.

[skulster]

I am living many of these scenarios at my work place right now and have been for over 3 years! After reading the above I have realised just how disfunctional my workplace really is.
I am going to do something about this - resign!

Thanks for helping me move on with my life.

[rpbfinancial]

I would add that lack of a Moral culture will bring down many companies, and find their strings being pulled by Uncle Sam!

[HandyAndy5]

Dysfunctional for employees or management? If you intend to become an employee of a corporation, please take some time to read about how they treat their employees.

The parent company of my former workplace treated their lowly employees like cr*p. They were union busters--they took over companies and tried to force the unions out so they could make full-time people into part-timers (to avoid paying benefits.) They wanted to eliminate seniority so they could fire those who had been there a while in favor of college kids making minimum wage. They were cited by OSHA for unsafe equipment. They didn't seem to keep up with repairs to their vehicles so we were forced to drive a corporate fleet that was sometimes so bad the metal showed through on the tires on one. There were barely any brakes left on another. I go could on, but it would take too much time to go through it all.

This, in addition, to the fact that they would make you sign a work agreement in which you basically forced to sign away your right to sue if they violated your civil rights. And do you think that was in there randomly? No. They then underpaid and didn't promote qualified women and minorities.

In short, find out these things before you waste your time (endanger your life).

[CorporateRoadkill]

My last employer was the poster child for dysfunctional. The GM regularly sent out communications to the entire company that were threatening; even threatening to terminate people who did not comply with his requests. This wasn't a mom and pop company either. This was a global, multi-national. Then he has the nerve to state that he didn't understand why his engagement scores were in the toilet. He routinely demoralized everyone in that business unit.
After 5 years, I had enough.

[Bare_understanding]

Steve Tobak has been spending too much time watching the Portland, OR city/counties and state conduct (business?). Unfortunately he is all together perfect in his accuracy.

The Ivory Towers have catapults with flaming balls of slur as the Warring Factions thrust barbs at each others Strategy du jour. And the voters not only lose as the pot holes in the fabric of our city grow to school bus size, but there are several enabler tribes that egg it all on.

The term "Analysis Paralysis" would best describe the entire culture that prevails from neighborhoods asking for in-put all the way to the state legislator who can't seem to vote on anything, and defer everything to the referendum process of the unwashed, uneducated, and knee jerk reactionaries mouthing what they heard from the pulpit of another blinded person.

Silo Mentality is as much about the two warring political parties, as it is about county vs. county and state vs. state. Both sides lose and those in-between are decimated; especially those that can't defend themselves.

Sacred Cows, wander the streets of this territory and leave their calling cards like Shriner candy thrown at a parade. It only hits the little ones.

Oh wait - - maybe we've been talking about Washington instead - and I don't mean the state.

[soph6]

I was very fortunate to be able to leave my previous very toxic employer. I could tell many stories that still make me shake my head in disbelief that any management would act like that. But for this exercise, I'll stick with my story about the "Sacred cow"

From the day I started working in this particular department, I was warned to just keep my mouth shut about any criticism of this particular software. My Manager (who brought in the software with her boss) actually referred to it as "my baby," while the rest of the department struggled to use it in silence. Behind the scenes, it was well known no one saw the value in the software and the issue was heavily discussed.

While working on a large project, I found the cost of including this platform in the direction we were moving was going to be very high. The vendor we were working with even went as far as to question our business case for having it. I did a thorough study of it and it just didn't make sense. Armed with that, I decided keeping quiet was ridiculous and that my manager and her manager couldn't possibly be that unreasonable given the facts I was able to produce. I got my team together and everyone was in agreement, we would stand together and present our plan to replace the software at a much reduced cost with a more streamlined long-term solution.

I set up the meeting via teleconference, management on one side and my team on the other. I should add one manager was actually too frightened to attend - but agreed with us. From the beginning of the meeting it was clear that my manager and her boss were angry. I presented the facts and in doing so, my manager's boss got more and more angry, which I just couldn't understand. I mean this is business; shouldn't it be about what is best for the company?

Finally my manager's boss just came right out and said it, "I travel the country on speaking engagements for this software company, I am featured in magazines, make no mistake about it, regardless of the cost, this software is going nowhere!!" There we had it, the truth, it was all about him.

My team sat there, mouths agape in disbelief at what just happened. One member of my team looked downright terrified and told me repeatedly, "you can't tell anyone about this." I felt this was a clear conflict of interest and did report the matter. The rest of the team ran for the hills, no one would tell what was really said and encouraged me to lie as well. As a result, there was a spin put on the whole thing and nothing was done.

[bodoke77]

To say George W. was an ineffective leader would be true. I don't think he could even be an effective follower. Barack Obama does lead but is up against a 'just say no' republican congress. Even when they agree they say no. Now to compare Washington to private enterprise is really an idiots comparison. Effective leaders in private business can fire the ******** that are the problem. The problem there is, like you've outlined in your article, that its usually the leaders that are the ********. What you seem to be, pardon the term, ignorant about are the ways of Washington. Nobody there gives a rat's ass whether anything gets done especially anything that might benefit the working class. You have to understand that Washington's job is to protect the wealth of the rich whom have bought the majority of them into office. That includes the big oil barons, the big insurance comanies, the wall street billionaires club, China Inc. and the like.

So when you say that lack of leadership is the cause for a country so divided you sir are completely off base. The country is so divided because that's exactly how Washington wants it. The plutonomists have gotten everything they want and that's how it will stay. Keep in mind the top 1% populate both sides of the aisle.

Mitt Romney's #1 campaign contributor (Goldman Sachs) is also a generous donor to Barack Obama. Anyone who thinks that Washington represents the people of America is grossly mistaking.

[mightbealiberal]

You have hit the nail on the head, Bush the 2nd was a sorry ass leader who made no attempts to bring along anyone on the Democratic side of the aisle when rolling along. Obama does propose compromises that should appeal to both sides (actually making many progressives furious, BTW) but is stymied by the "just say no" types in Boehner, Cantor, McConnell and their ilk.

[kenkenc]

How obtuse can you people be? President Bush bent over backwards (to a fault) to accommodate a Democratic lead Congress in an effort to make "progress." But when he won re-election in 2008, it so pissed off their partisan feelings that they made it their daily mission to sabotage anything he did, all to discredit the man, and ultimately get this nation on the tailspin it has been in. Bush warned on multiple occasions about the direction the freewheeling housing approvals was taking us, which fell on deaf Democratic leaders ears.
If you want to place blame on why we are so divided now, thank the Democrats for starting this mess. If you doubt my comments just look at what Obama and his Dem Congressional buddies has done to the whole debt situation in the 3 short years he's been in place. Those of us that go to work, pay our mortgages on time, and still find a way to pay for college while saving a few pennies for retirement are tired of now being asked by this President to give more. Talk about someone stuck in the "ivory Tower", he's your classic poster boy for that one...