The subject of this paper, healthy organizations, is one which has occupied much of my energy and attention over the last quarter of a century. Over the last 25+ years, I have worked in a variety of environments: public and private, governmental and manufacturing, educational and clinical, military and civilian, large, small, and very large; with volunteers and paid employees. And I have discovered that toxic workplaces exist everywhere. The real challenge is to build a healthy workplace. And whose responsibility is it? Management's? The employee's? Government's? The courts? Lawyers? Educators? I believe it will take all of us to make this happen.

Broken social contracts.

One of the myths of the 19th and 20th centuries was that employers and employees had an unspoken, but binding, obligation to each other. If you perform well, do your best, and are loyal to the organization, the organization will take care of you for life. In our new economic world, there has been much disillusionment from employers and employees regarding this relationship. We could notice societally that those contracts have also been violated

My father worked for the same employer for 42 years. His career was within the same company, a multinational paper corporation, and when he retired as Director of Engineering for the corporation, he had gained recognition for the company through his contributions to organizational growth, company profits and professional trade associations. But he was among the last generation to benefit from this type of relationship. Since then, even the paper industry has conducted RIFs (reductions in force), fired their last president and all the vice presidents, and created an environment much different from that during Dad's 42 years of service.

Other giants have toppled: IBM, GM, NASA, the military, and all levels of government, as well as many non-profits. So what do we say to future employers, and to employees as they join these organizations? What SHOULD their expectations be?

And how do we create a healthy environment, within and around organizations that can be free of toxins?

Finally, is it possible to create a new social contract?

The Beginning of an Era.

In 1980, I was working in a manufacturing organization, where I had initially been hired to develop a workforce to help to double the profitability of the company in five years. After spending a year "growing the workforce," I spent year two reducing the workforce from 1200 employees at two locations to 500. Also during those two years, I was demoted and promoted, as well as spending most of my last year firing people. That spring of 1980, even though I hated what I did, I hadn't made any move to leave. As a single parent with two small children, I was fearful about giving up the security of the job, even one I hated, and which I knew was killing my soul. On April 1, my supervisor informed me that my job was being eliminated "within 60-90 days. " Before this day, I had begun talking to my college major professor, whom I had not seen in ten years, regarding possible career changes, and one option was a doctorate. He told me if I decided to pursue additional education, to call him and he would be glad to help. On this fateful day after the announcement, I walked directly from my supervisor's office across the hall to my office, called my mentor, and at the end of our conversation, had a new career opportunity, a mentor, and a place to live if I needed it. By the end of the day, company leadership assured me of full pay and benefits for 90 days, which ended up being enough to get to my next pay check at the University of Georgia as a graduate assistant. An announcement that I had resigned to return to school was followed by two company going-away parties! I was ok, for a while at least, but what about everyone else?

Because I had been laying off the workforce for over a year, with no concurrent management and support staff reductions, a "major purge" of the "overhead" was held. In one day, we (terminated, riffed, fired) 100 people. Some of those were second-generation company people, most had never worked anywhere else, and some were illiterate. Then we conducted a 5-day outplacement program for those who were terminated. These employees had lived all their lives by the premise that if they were loyal to the company, the company would take care of them. The outplacement program was abysmal: people were in shock, the consultants in charge were from "out of town", glib, upbeat, and certainly not sympathetic, and the employees were in shock. To describe the program's lack of effectiveness, of the 50 terminated employees, three attendees were there for day 3: none returned for Day 5). The rationale for selecting those employees who were terminated is the subject for another presentation.

For the last 15 years, I have studied how to deal with that experience. The research question has been: In our present competitive environment, what do we do to "humanize the downsizing process," to reduce stress and burnout in the workplace, to make managers and supervisors more effective at their jobs, and overall make for healthier workplaces? The premise resulting from this experience is:

PREMISE: "Organizational environments can either contribute to keeping employees healthy, or contribute to making them sick." A corollary is that if we learn how to make organizations healthy places in which to work, perhaps we can learn to remove toxins from society as well.

So what is a healthy workplace? How do we recognize it?

We spend at least 67% of our waking lives in a five-day week at work: should it be a pleasure? Absolutely! Is it? Not usually, for too many of us. In any given newspaper or magazine, articles proliferate on cutbacks, downsizing, longer workdays, doing more with less, closures, and dealing with the stress and uncertainty of living.

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss a model of organizational health, which is based on the concept of being "sound in body, mind and spirit," which eliminates physical disease or pain. Most of the references will not be only from management writers, but also from poets, philosophers, and some former mentors. In order to get your "money's worth", I have enclosed a suggested list of references on your handout.

How do you recognize a healthy organization? Think about those in which you saw elements of organizational well-being. If you wish to diagnose A survey in your handout will describe your organization's environmental health, although the authors describe it as a burnout test.

Characteristics of healthy organizations include:

Management and organizational consultants and researchers have identified many of the concepts which underpin a healthy organization. These characteristics comprise a "bucket" which holds all those characteristics described above.

Individual and organizational responsibility: The organization has responsibility to provide a safe workplace, the tools and structure in which to perform tasks, and clarity of policies and procedures to ensure success. The individual has a responsibility to provide services as agreed upon to the employer, to ask questions when tasks are not clear, and to provide feedback to the employer when concerns arise.

Multi-dimensional view of work and life: A perception that there is sufficient room for all of us to succeed, without causing harm to someone else. The traditional two-dimensional competitive model assumes that there will always be a loser if there is a winner: there must be a diminishing of what power or resources I have, if you obtain more. (Kaleel Jamison, Nibble Theory)

Managers are committed and feel responsibility to create a culture that includes respect for the dignity of every person, as well as a commitment to the organization's goals.

Effective supervisors, who are trained in the skills of supervision. Don't forget, everyone has a boss! What is a boss? A mentor, supervisor, leader, general director, conductor, vision-er, coach.

Self as an instrument of change: This implies a commitment to expanding our knowledge of our selves, ongoing lifelong learning, and accepting responsibility to participate fully in the using of our gifts and skills to improve the "space" around us. To give at work, and in our communities, of our time and talents to make the space around us better.

Work can help meet our spiritual needs: All of us have four spiritual needs: (according to Tom Morris)

Primarily I believe that we need to integrate the parts of who we are. Why do we separate what we do at work, and that person, from the person we are on the outside? One of the most powerful learnings from this year of sabbatical is that is possible to be all that I can be, at work as well as outside. My learnings have influenced both parts of who I am. For years, I have encouraged through burnout workshops around North America and through my research, strategies to achieve balance in our lives. But let's face it, if we have too much fun at work, some of us feel guilty: you mean they pay us to do something we love? In an era of cutback management, how do we continue the enthusiasm, when we are concerned that what we do won't continue? We persist in part by staying refreshed and renewed. Also, we do it by pursuing the activities which keep us current and learning in our fields, and by staying in touch with those who do what we do: our peers,and our support network.

Why is it important to build a healthy organization? Is it even necessary to ask this question? Simply, and briefly, the following list outlines some of the reasons.

Fact: Toxins have physical and psychological consequences for individuals, as well as for the organizations in which they work.

Workplace Toxins

Toxins include, but are not limited to, the following:

Fear: what are the causes of fear? Arbitrary treatment; moodiness on the part of leadership; uncertainty of job, organization, environment; history and experience viewed with how fellow coworkers are treated (if they will do it to Mary, they will do it to me); and other toxins listed following result in fear) In discussions with military employees, fear of "telling the truth" can be a motivator: would ruin my career, etc.

Discrimination: "Using race, gender, religion, ethnic origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other criteria other than job related ones, to make decisions related to employment"

Harassment: A special form of discrimination, using gender as a criterion for performance and evaluation (Two forms: quid pro quo or "hostile and intimidating environment"). Sexual harassment: clipping from Charleston, SC newspaper: a Navy civilian's sexual harassment from a co-worker had caused an employee's lupus to re-emerge; the courts said she should be compensated. In 1994, a jury awarded an employee 7 million dollars for a law partner's harassment, because they wanted the firm to "tithe". The US Navy (and hotel industry) are still reeling from the fallout from the Tailhook events from the early 1990s. NAACP experienced embarassment, loss of credibility, and financial ruin because of alleged misconduct. Until the fall of 1994, I was involved in every training program in sexual harassment at the Medical University of South Carolina. In one case, a department paid a trainer to conduct training with every department member, while one employee was the problem.

Sexual harassment can also result from "love in the office", which requires the supervisor/manager to take special actions.

Unfair conflict: Frequently, using role power to win; or using private information to intimidate

Threats/intimidation: can be subtle or overt

Violence: Workplace violence is becoming a much-too-common phenomenon. The incidents at postal offices throughout the nation have become a sign of extremist responses. Also, a newspaper article in a California paper noted that 1/3 of major organizations experienced at least one violent act during the last year, and many had experienced more than one. A law firm in San Francisco became a battlefield when a disgruntled client opened fire on law firm employees, killing at least two people, whose spouses sued and received compensation. (but no solace). Clipping from Today's Supervisor, October 1994: Take the punch out of violence: BLS: 1004 workers were murdered on the job in 1992. A winter, 1995 special issue of the Catholic Healthcare Ministry is entitled: The Violent culture: What healthcare providers can do about the problem of violence. The American College of Emergency Physicians has a policy statement regarding protection from physical violence in the emergency department (of a hospital, no less!) to protect "patients, health care workers, and all other persons in the area...protected against violent acts occurring within the department."

Inequity in treatment: policies, compensation, etc.

Excessive stress: an early publication in downsizing was about an automobile manufacturing plant closure. During the two years, there were two deaths, one a suicide; a number of somatic complaints, including the fact that one member's hair fell out twice! (i.e., grew back and fell out). My burnout research over the past 14 years has indicated that everything bad comes from excessive stress, or burnout: heart, gastro-intestinal, alcohol and drug abuse, sleeplessness, weight disorders, etc.

Invasion of Privacy: cultural diversity has an impact on

Poor communication: e.g., no communication; secrecy; damaging gossip, indirect communication (talk about me, not to me); one upsmanship

Physical hazards: noise, air, space, equipment, etc

Poor supervisory skills: favoritism, gossip, Peter Principle; poor management; unrealistic expectations, norms of organization reward succeeding "over the bodies of the competition"; "they say"; lack of ownership of policies and procedures, and frequently a lack of perception that supervisors are part of management

Blurring of line between work and home: Excessive length of hours; expectation that rewards are associated with the amount of personal sacrifice

Menial/lack of challenge: repetition and lack of ownership (I don't want you to think, or "own" the job) "You have no lines here"

Unreasonable goals/punishment; supervision by intimidation: Cutbacks and the method of selection, treatment of RIFs, survivors and terminators; equity and secrecy are major factors here; in an unpublished account of a cutback, the director had to undo a major RIF, and went home and killed himself: organizational response: personal problems.

Insecurity: of organization, job, project, etc. Examples of miscommunication: "The only straight shooting is from the LA Times! Cutbacks. LA County to cut 2500 jobs! (or more recently, 10,000 jobs) Result? Much work, turmoil, and pain: 100 actual slots were eliminated, but 70-80% were either retained or brought back." Was the pain worth the gain? No one looks at actual costs in those situations, but had to be high.

Glass ceiling (not just women, but no upward mobility for anyone)

Ethical/moral violations: An article last week described a recent publication advising secretaries how to deal with ethical violations by supervisors: ie, how to survive and protect themselves! But not how to leave a morally questionable workplace, or even more important, to insert ethical principles into the workplace.

Role conflict/ambiguity: our VA research describes feelings of VA leaders - directors, associate directors and chiefs of staff - and their lack of clarity over what their role is, and also the conflict between their roles as local leaders, and the need to be responsive to the Central Office and the larger VA system: Result? Burnout.

Power imbalances: abuse of power; This can manifest itself in many ways: hierarchical role power never changes, but to take advantage of that positional authority in relationship with a subordinate is unethical, particularly in a confrontation.

Why should the courts be the only place you can get recourse? e.g., grievances should lean more toward empowering employees than employers, because of power imbalances: management always has the power!

Guiding principles for a healthy workplace.

California State University at Monterey Bay: At the newest university in the CSU system, California State University at Monterey Bay, on Thursday June 22,1995, 350 people from health and social agencies throughout the county inaugurated the new Institute for Community Collaborative Studies. The Institute's purposes are:

Dr. Daniel Martin, keynote speaker: noted that there is a new "shift in perspective" taking place throughout the world. He told the story of cryptic Corks, which translates to mountain people here: .."extent of territory".

Another Story: The director of social services was invited to a client's house: when she walked in, he introduced her to the directors of family service, United Way, mental health, school psychologist, alcohol and drug abuse, Salvation Army, and health department: "I thought since you all work with me, it might help to meet each other!"

Tom Morris, philosopher at Notre Dame University and best-selling author, particularly of a book entitled "True Success" speaks of a movement which is redefining excellence, that moves us from what he describes as the competitive model of the west to a new model. Competitive models emphasize zero-sum, win/lose principles: we're number one, but not organizationally or personally: the price is too high. He distinguishes this from the "comparative model of the East", which focuses solely on self, compared over time; I don't compete, except with myself. The danger is what Morris calls the "self-defeat of self-centeredness." The model he proposes is the "collaborative model of the mid-west," which focuses on interactivity and community: using all our talents, teams, and resulting in a deep transformation in relationships.

Obstacles to collaborative models.

These include short-term thinking; bottom line thinking, self-centered thinking; adversarial thinking. Healthy competition can happen, when everyone gets better: the outcome should be quality. Much of the quality (CQI/TQM,TQL etc) movement focuses on principles which reflect this, but come out with few outcomes. An example of focusing on the wrong issues was a parking TQL group: after months of discussion, the group announced to the administration that there were more cars than parking spaces! A solution was to let students wear tennis shoes (non-regulation) so that they could walk further. While this solution might help temporarily, it did not solve the fact that there are three times as many cars as parking spaces, and parking is not considered when new buildings are constructed.

Aristotle: "The city is a partnership for living well"

Morris's general formula for human good: people in partnership for a worthy purpose

Since June, CSUMB (California State University at Monterey Bay) has begun collaborating with members of Congress and other universities, institutions and organizations to use legislation make social collaboration as important as other methods of collaboration. One strategy is to develop empowerment zones which also fund social collaboration zones: to place a priority on communities affected by base and hospital closures, and other economic crises. A part of this strategy is to identify and recognize communities which are collaborating successfully, based on the Malcolm Baldridge Award for quality.

Changing the metaphors.

A recent article in a California newspaper suggested the following new metaphors for the workplace:

Improvement.

 Thus, toxins in the workplace are the same ones which exist outside the workplace: and when one becomes healthy, it will "spill over" into the other realms. Over a decade ago, my mentor at the University of Georgia, Robert Golembiewski, wrote a series of articles about the tension between democracy and administration. The titles of his three papers changed only one word: versus, and, and finally, through. His premise, which holds true today, is that through a democratic workplace we can develop citizens who are mature, self-actualized, productive, and involved in their external society. As we "conspire" - i.e., breathe-- together, management can create this healthy and democratic workplace and contribute to the creation of this ideal democratic society.

Barrentine, Pat. (Ed.) (1993). When the canary stops singing: Women's perspectives on transforming business. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Covey, Stephen R. (1990, 1991). Principle-centered Leadership. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Ferguson, Marilyn. (1980). The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and social transformation in the 1980s. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher, Inc.

Golembiewski, Robert T. (1985). Humanizing public organizations. New York : Lomond Publications.

Golembiewski, Robert T. (1985). Practical Public Management. New York : Marcel Dekker.

Helgeson, Sally. (1990). The Female Advantage: Women's ways of leadership. New York: Currency/ Doubleday.

Helgeson, Sally. (1995). The web of inclusion: A new architecture for building great organizations. NewYork: Currency/Doubleday.

Jamison, Kaleel. (1984). The Nibble Theory and the Kernel of Power. New York : Paulist Press.

Keyes, Ken, Jr. (1982). The Hundredth Monkey. (Second edition,). Los Angeles: Love Line Books.

Morris, Tom. (1994). True Success: A New Philosophy of Excellence. New York: Grosset-Putnam.

Quick, Thomas L. (1990). Unconventional wisdom: Irreverent Solutions for Tough problems at work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Senge, Peter M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Currency Doubleday.

Senge, Peter M., Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross, and Bryan J. Smith. (1994). The Fifth Discipline Fieldbok: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday.

Tao. 365 Daily Meditations.

Interesting and Useful References

1. Tell employees what you expect them to do
2. Make the work valuable ("management principles are few and simple. They apply to everyone. But management practice is complicated; it's one-to-one.")
3. Make the work do-able
4. While employees are trying to do what you expect, give them feedback.
5. When employees have done what you expected, reward them.

Creativity is an essential element for everyone. Unlike the outer-directed creativity of making art, solving problems, or writing, the creativity that everyone can engage in is learning.
As long as we continue to learn, welcome new ideas and ways of doing things, and continually expand our understanding of ourselves, and the world around us, then we are engaging in the ultimate creativity of the self.
If one looks carefully at those seniors who are ongoing and vital participants in life, one will see that a common habit is continuous learning and interest. These seniors are not the same as they were in their youth. They have found new ways of learning and acting."

What good is self-cultivation and wisdom if you just keep it for yourself? Knowledge is meant to be used, and if you can use it on behalf of others, you should.

There was once a man who prayed daily to a particular god among many in the temple. Eventually, he noticed that the incense he lit drifted all over-other gods were getting the benefit of his efforts! He built a paper cone over the incense burner so that all the smoke would be directed right at the nose of his god. Unfortunately, this turned the face of his god black with soot.

Those who follow Tao believe in using sixteen attributes on behalf of others: mercy, gentleness, patience, nonattachment, control, skill, joy, spiritual love, humility, reflection, restfulness, seriousness, effort, controlled emotion, magnanimity, and concentration. Whenever you need to help another, draw upon thse qualities. Notice that self-sacrifice is not included in this list. You do not need to destroy yourself to help another. Your overall obligation is to complete your own journey along your personal Tao. As long as you can offer solace to others on your same path, you have done the best that you can."
( 365 Tao Daily Meditations )

Freedom: freedom is not an idol, or an end, but a prerequisite condition of human worth. Man needs a margin to move about in and try himself out and show what he is worth and attract grace. (Charles Peguy)

Man desires to be free, not in order to be spared tribulation- this is more liable to increase in proportion to the degree of self-determination attained - but in order to grow. (Keyserling, The Book of Marriage)

Caution is security. "Bold" is freedom-the breaking thing...Freedom lies in being bold. (Robert Frost, Wisdom)

Variation is a consequence of freedom, and the slight but radical diversity of souls in turn makes freedom requisite. (George Santayana. Character and opinion in the United States)

Communication: There are men who would quickly love each other if once they were to speak to each other; for when they spoke they would discover that their souls...had only been separated by phantoms and diabolic delusions. (Ernest Hello, Life, Science and Art)

Positive thinking: The universe is transformation: our life is what our thoughts make it. (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus). " It's awesome, the power we each wield in life that unfolds before us. The inclination of our thoughts invites that which we encounter, which is that we expect to find. What we can become or experience is limited only by our imagination. ..Just as our thoughts can nurture positive experiences and outcomes, negative epsodes might be drawn to us, too. We can be sure, though that we use this individual power to create the flavor of each day as it's met.
Our attitude is the byproduct of our thoughts. It is in our attitude that we discover strength or weakness, hope or anxiety, determination or frustration. Alone, we determine whether our attitude will be loving or jaundiced."

Life revolves. You cannot go back one minute, or one day. In light of this, there is no use marking time in any one position. Life will continue without you, will pass you by, leaving you hopelessly out of step with events. That's why you must engage life and maintain your pace.

Don't look back, and don't step back. Each time you make a decision, move forward. If your last step gained you a certain amount of territory, then make sure that your next step will capitalize on it. Don't relinquish your position until you are sure that you have something equal or better in your grasp. But how do we develop timing for this process?

It has to be intuitive., On certain days, we come to our limits, and our tolerance for a situation ends. When that happens, change without the interference of concepts, guilt, timidity, or hesitancy. Those are the points when our entire lives pivot and turn toward new phases, and it is right that we take advantage of them. We mark our progress not by the distance covered but by the lines and angles that are formed."

Looking at Employment as a CONTRACT: The changing expectations of the new workplace

A Developing List