

Ing. Salih CAVKIC
orbus editor in chief


Murray Hunter
University Malaysia Perlis

Perpetual Self conflict: Self
awareness as a key to our ethical drive, personal mastery, and perception of
entrepreneurial opportunities.
Murray Hunter

The Continuum of Psychotic Organisational Typologies
Murray Hunter

There is no such person as an entrepreneur, just a person who acts
entrepreneurially
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Groupthink may still be a hazard to your organization - Murray Hunter

Generational Attitudes and Behaviour -
Murray Hunter

The environment as a multi-dimensional system: Taking off your rose
coloured glasses
- Murray Hunter

Imagination may be more important than knowledge: The eight types of
imagination we use - Murray Hunter

Do we have a creative intelligence? - Murray Hunter

Not all opportunities are the same: A look at the four types of
entrepreneurial opportunity -
Murray Hunter

The
Evolution of Business Strategy
- Murray Hunter

How
motivation really works - Murray Hunter

Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities: What’s wrong with SWOT? - Murray
Hunter

The five types of thinking we use - Murray Hunter

Where do entrepreneurial opportunities come from? - Murray Hunter

How
we create new ideas - Murray Hunter

How emotions influence, how we see the world? - Murray Hunter

People tend to start businesses for the wrong reasons - Murray Hunter

One Man, Multiple Inventions: The lessons and legacies of Thomas Edison
- Murray Hunte

|
The Continuum of Psychotic Organisational Typologies
Mohd. Murray Hunter
University Malaysia Perlis
Abstract
This
paper discusses the influence on our perceptions from the basic psychotic
disposition of organizations. Cognitive distortion is influenced by the
psychotic traits of an organization along a continuum of various states which
include paranoia, obsessive-compulsive, dramatic, depressive, schizoid, and
narcissistic tendencies. These tendencies may be of assistance in the early
start-up phases of a firm but overtime distort perceptions and behavior of the
organization through the defensive mechanisms that develop. The psychotic
continuum is a worthy paradigm through which to view organizational
opportunity, strategy, operations, and decision making, potentially capable of
assisting in diagnosing the causes of organization dysfunction.
Introduction
Peoples’ perceptions and views of the world are influenced by both conscious and
unconscious phenomena. The world is a totally socially constructed reality
where the people make sense of it from their culture, experience and learning.
Within the bounds of culture and experience, each person has some unique
interpretation of the environment and understanding of its dynamics. Thus
everything can be viewed with multiple perspectives or realities.
A person’s psychological state will directly influence perception of people,
objects and events. This can potentially lead to perceptive distortion,
especially if the person has any psychotic tendencies
[1]. Therefore any construed reality, decisions
made, strategies crafted, resulting actions and consequential behavior would be
based upon biased perceptions. Thus everything that develops within a firm
including culture, management style, interpersonal relationships, rules and
procedures, strategy, symbols and behavior will have some unconscious basis to
it (Kets de Vries & Miller 1984).
As
different psychotic states channel perception and thinking into specific
frames, this becomes relevant to how people see opportunity and take action to
exploit it. Thus perception and thinking processes that identify opportunities
and shape subsequent actions have their origins both in the psych and the
external world. Identifying an opportunity and exploiting it may have as more to
do with inner needs i.e., recognition, love and affection, power and
control, self esteem, or grandeur, etc., as with any rational thought
processes.
Cognitive
distortion and delusion are more likely to occur at the extremities of the
psychotic continuum. However, most people whose personalities can be considered
within the bounds of normality will exhibit some psychotic traits. This can
include compulsion, anxiety, depression, attention seeking, fantasies,
irrational fears, paranoia, shyness or narcissistic behavior, etc. For example,
psychographic research shows there are large variations in the levels of
depression across regions (Cohen, Slomkowski & Robins 1999).
It is
usually very difficult to see abnormality as many psychotic traits are also
important drivers of manager and entrepreneur behavior. Many well known
business leaders could be considered narcissistic in nature (Maccoby 2000).
Some forms of psychosis (attention-seeking, paranoia,
obsessive-compulsiveness & narcissism) are actually qualities that help
bring people to the top of their fields. However these same qualities in excess
can lead to an arrogant and overconfident delusion, once at the top. Many
managers have fallen from corporate grace for this reason (Kramer 2003).
Psychosis
can prevent firms seeing the environment in new ways and hinder the process of
creativity and innovation. US industry faced this situation in the 1970s and
80s when rising energy costs changed the competitive environment and new
competition came from Japan and East Asia. The leaders of US industry failed to
see the need to adapt to the changing market environment. Many companies hung
onto their old perceptions and failed to see the realities of their new
environment and the need to change. This cost many companies very dearly for
this delusion (Schoenberger 1994).
Firms
and organizations can also show ‘collective’ patterned behaviors just
like individuals and groups. Individual and group psychosis has been well
researched and written about. However ‘collective’ firm and organization
psychosis has been the subject of only a small handful of articles and books,
and generally ignored in management theory. The psychotic paradigm is useful in
looking at the issues of how a person sees and constructs meaning, how a person’s
needs influence the decisions they make, and how psychological pathologies
affect behavior.
There
are a number of basic psychotic pathologies which can affect both perception
and behavior. These pathologies include the paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, attention-seeking,
depressive, schizoid and narcissistic typologies shown in figure 1. These are
not absolute disorders and may vary in intensity from organization to
organization. Some psychotic conditions may act in together with other forms of
psychosis creating part of a complex personality.
Looking for evidence of these typologies can assist in seeing the way others
see the world and form their underlying assumptions.

The Paranoid Typology
Paranoia
is based on an intense fear, suspicion of others (both internal and external to
the organization) that is exaggerated or irrational. Paranoia usually brings
with it deluded perceptions that the person ‘is being singled out by
enemies’, who are harming or intend to harm him/her. Paranoia is
ego-centric because it is about ‘I’ and ‘me’ and usually sees
another as ‘out to get him/her’ (persecutory complex). People with
paranoid tendencies tend to see the world as a threatening place and are usually
very guarded until they know their fears are groundless. This leads to little
loyalty towards others.
Relationships
and interpersonal behavior is generally governed with the belief that ‘people
somehow have it in for him/her’. Paranoid people tend to avoid
relationships. However relationships they do form tend to be cold, lack
intimacy and involve jealousy and suspicion, i.e., the other person is doing
something harmful behind his/her back. They are usually very sensitive to
criticism and will brood for long periods of time if criticized. Criticism can
also invoke anger, argumentation, and uncompromising stands which often lead to
great antagonism, if challenged. Even though they are very sensitive to
criticism themselves, they are very critical of others. Anything that goes
wrong is someone else’s fault and not theirs.
Paranoia
is usually focused on the present where someone is trying to undermine him/her
and the future, where someone is plotting a plan to harm him/her. Suspicions
based on past experience cannot be classed as paranoia when experience as a
basis of concern. However, if this concern is blown out of proportion to any
potential harm that can be done, paranoia is present.
Paranoid
people have the urge to collect as much information about the market as
possible. They will scan for information of threats and spend a large amount of
time thinking how to formulate reactions to them. They are in fact looking for
evidence that reinforces their suspicions but at the same time pride themselves
on their rationality and objectiveness. They centralize organization decision
making because of lack of trust in other peoples judgments and their beliefs
that people are looking for ways to sabotage him/her. Consequently budgeting
and controls will be very strict. The organization culture will be one of
suspicion where looking for problems and wrong doers (scapegoats) is the norm.
The
resulting crafted strategies are primarily designed to protect the company’s
position and defend it from any potential competitor attacks rather than be
proactive moves in the marketplace and take risk. Therefore the firm will miss
many opportunities to be creative and innovative in the market. Paranoid
companies tend to lag behind the competition and muddle through with
disconcerted and inconsistent strategies. They will follow the market leader
rather than risk being innovative with their own ideas. However they will very
easily revert to legal litigation if they believe harm has been done to them.
Paranoid people will tend to avoid certain products and markets if they believe
there is a more powerful competitor in the market.
Paranoia
usually occurs when there is some form of traumatic and stressful issues or
some challenge arising. In many cases paranoia will be a temporary condition
until the immediate sources of stress pass. Paranoia can also be a selective
phenomena where an object, event or situation. For example, the belief that ‘multinational
companies always target local companies for takeover’ will influence
perception and behavior.
Paranoia
can also merge with the schizoid typology where a strong persecutory complex
develops. Paranoia sufferers can also develop grandiose delusions where he/she
believes they have particular skills or abilities to carry out a special
mission, but someone has a master plan to prevent him/her from successfully
fulfilling their calling. Such a fantasy was shown in the movie The Blues
Brothers where Jake and Elwood believed they were on ‘a mission from God’
and being prevented from carrying out their calling by a number of groups (the
police, the sheriff, the other group and eventually the whole United States
armed forces).
A mild
form of the paranoia typology could be positive where the organization will
have good knowledge of its external threats and opportunities and internal
strengths and weaknesses. This would be well suited to extremely dynamic
environments where there is rapid change going on.
The Obsessive-Compulsive Typology
The
obsessive-compulsive typology has many similarities to the previous paranoid
typology where there is great emphasis on control of the organization and
surveillance of the environment. A leader with this type of behavior will tend
to be stubborn and frustrated with his/her subordinates because of his/her
inner need to pursue perfection. This behavior is often a characteristic of
many high achievers in society.
Compulsive
people are usually perfectionists and take great care and diligence in their own
work to the point of being very slow to complete tasks. As a manager of others
he/she will have great difficulty in delegating work. To maintain control, they
will develop many rules, procedures and policies to keep a check on their
subordinates work. The firm’s preoccupation with planning, budgets, procedures,
rules and action plans will greatly influence how the company is internally
organized and how the environment is seen and interpreted. Strategy will also
be crafted taking into account the firm’s existing rules and procedure
structure, limiting its own strategy options.
Productivity
will be sacrificed for perfection of work. Obsessive-compulsive people also
expect perfection from others and become very frustrated when people don’t live
up to their standards and expectations. In extreme situations this leads to get
mistrust of coworkers and subordinates, leading to the loss of respect and
falling out of relationships. This is generally part of a wider inability to
develop and carry on relationships with people because of their feeling that
socializing is wasting time.
Strategy
is usually developed and implemented with a very clear concrete objective and
underlying and uncompromising philosophy which serves as the organization’s
reason for being. This philosophy based on the founder’s sense of ethics will
remain steadfast within the company’s mission and strategy, even at the cost of
exploiting some potential opportunities arising during the life of the company.
Strategy will tend to be based more on this philosophy than what is happening
in the competitive environment.
Success
is often jeopardized with to the reluctance to commit the necessary resources
in the implementation phase. The obsessive-compulsive organization will tend to
hoard and hang on to resources, being reluctant to use them.
The
entrepreneur who started the firm will in most cases also manage the firm
during the growth and maturity stages. A person may find it very difficult to
release control and delegate power and authority. Where compulsiveness and
centralized decision making worked well in the early stages, this style of
management in later stages of development becomes an obstacle to firm
creativity and innovation. This form of positional status can increase the
power-distance relationships in the organization.
Formal controls and organizational hierarchy creates a very static and stable
internal environment. Formal authority is through position in the hierarchy
rather than experience. This status and dominance over subordinates is clearly
shown in these types of organizations.
Obsessive-compulsive
behavior in organizations may tend to be a defense mechanism against some form
of anxiety or fear, in a similar way to the paranoia typology.
Obsessive-compulsive people hold the belief that some form of calamity will
happen if action is not taken to prevent it. To them this means that work must
be completed to the upmost highest standards possible. This scenario is often
reinforced by organizational stories about a previous major problem that
occurred because the firm was not adequately prepared. In times of great
uncertainty this typology can lead to organizational breakdown.
The
obsessive-compulsive typology is useful during entrepreneurial start ups, in
very stable environments and repetitive manufacturing operations, etc. However
the resulting organizational form created out of this typology will become very
rigid because of the core philosophy and the high number of controls in place.
If controls become too excessive, organizational motivation, creativity and
innovation will decline. This will hinder the organization from identifying and
exploiting new opportunities. However in a moderate form the organization will
have a well integrated check and balance system and focused product strategy.
When new products/opportunities are discovered, the underlying need of
producing perfection will make the development process very slow.
The Attention-Seeking (Dramatic) Typology
The
attention-seeking (dramatic) typology is manifested when a person is
hyperactive, impulsive and dramatically venturesome in their lives. They work
tirelessly to impress others, often appearing flamboyant, craving novelty and
excitement. Attention seeking people base their actions on hunches and
intuition, without any formal analysis before making decisions. An organization
within the attention-seeking (dramatic) typology will have very centralized
decision and command structures. The attention-seeking leader sees the primary
role the organization is to carry out his/her bold and dramatic ideas thought
out by the leader.
Attention-seeking
(dramatic) leaders are usually great charmers of people they want to impress.
They continually seek positive feedback and admiration of their actions. They
are very opinionated on topical issues, but lack substance to support their
ideas and will change their position to suit their audience. They have very low
self-esteem and rely on others to suppress this. Being at the centre of
attention relieves this tension and the insecurity they feel. Consequently it
is hard to get along with these people unless one helps to fulfill this craving
for attention. These leaders tend to surround themselves with people who will
always agree with them.
Decision
making is unreflective and borders on the impulsive. The larger and more
complex the organization grows, the more opportunity for dramatic events and
less time there is for the leader to focus on detail in the decisions he/she
makes on behalf of the organization. Decisions tend to be made on the potential
to gain attention rather than any factual analysis. Narcissistic behavior also
can occur, where bullying, manipulation and deception become tools of control
and domination. Subordinates usually see through the insincerity and become
de-motivated, uninspired, skeptical, and stop giving creative suggestions to
the leader. This uncreative environment is reinforced by the way managerial
posts are filled through politics and nepotism. Those who have real influence
are those who are favoured by the leader. The leader sees employees only as
tools to implement his/her grand plans. The views of subordinates are rarely
taken into account for major decisions.
Strategy
is based on the general craving for visibility and exposure. Consequently
strategy often diverges from previously set goals and objectives because other
circumstances have created opportunities where attention can be quickly gained.
As a consequence, strategy becomes very disjointed and ad hoc.
Organizational structure is hap-hazard and does not take account for the needs
of the environment. The structure is developed with the need of the leader to
control decision making. It is not uncommon for the leader to meddle in even
the most mundane decisions and give out assignments that are very difficult to
satisfy. Short term advantages are sort at the cost of long term gains for the
organization. Resources are used very inefficiently. Attention-seeking
(dramatic) organizations may borrow heavily and become highly geared companies.
Attention-seeking
(dramatic) people my start projects with great enthusiasm, as it seemed a good
idea at the time, but very quickly loses interest. The general motivation
behind what they do is to gain notoriety and attention rather than create
something of long term substance. This trait may be very valuable in start ups
in high profile industries like entertainment where there are no shortages of
examples. However this form of strategy can be disastrous in a mature
organization, where new strategy will be inconsistent, with an unnecessary high
risk with rash expansion.
The Depressive Typology
The
depressive typology is characterized by a feeling of hopelessness, inaction,
passiveness, low confidence and conservatism. There is a feeling that there is
little control of the outside environment and even if they intervened there is
little chance of success, so the best option is to carry on as usual and not be
proactive.
In a
depressive state cognitive information coming in will become distorted
resulting in a stream of negative thoughts. Beck (1967) suggests that people
who themselves are depressed will develop a cognitive schema that organizes
incoming information in a negative way. Things about self, the world and the
future will be subject to overgeneralization distortions which will
create negative outlooks into matters of competency, ability, luck, fate and
potential outcomes, etc. Other cognitive distortions (Beck 1976) like arbitrary
inferences (jumping to negative conclusions about everything), personalizing
(assuming everything is one’s own fault), and castastrophizing (thinking
the worst case scenario about everything) will also distort incoming
information, leading to the feeling of being a total failure, where a self
fulfilling prophecy develops.
Within
the organizational context, there will not be much interest in anything,
leading to a number of stifling consequences such as failure to replace assets,
little, if any new product development, little market intelligence gathering,
poor customer service and leader indecisiveness. There is a basic pessimistic
outlook towards the outside environment. The organization will tend to be very
bureaucratic and hierarchical, the same it has been for decades before (if it
is an established company). Managers will not take any initiative and leave
major decisions for the board and committees to make. The company operates
through procedures with little impact from happenings in the marketplace. This
brings complacency which brings strong barriers to any form of change.
Strategy
tends to develop from within, rather than from the market as managers feel they
already understand the market well enough and there is little point doing any
further field analysis. The competition is seen as being the same and customers
are homogenous as far as managers are concerned. Too much field analysis could
bring uncertainty, shock and anxiety about the need to change which is what the
organization is trying to avoid.
This
typology is common in very established firms in stable market environments
where technology in production processes have been already automated. Examples
of these types of industries would include the steel, automotive (prior to the
1980s), agriculture and some industrial chemical industries. Industries that
have been protected through tariffs and formed oligopolies would be very
susceptible to depression. Because these industries have been stable for many
years, environmental change is very difficult to see from inside the industry,
something like the goldfish not being able to see the water it is swimming
in. In an organization with a moderate form of pessimism, one would expect
a high degree of management involvement in strategy formation, resulting in
firm focus. However where complacency has developed, anarchistic strategies and
stagnation in a declining market would be very characteristic.
When
firms become pessimistic bringing on complacency, this leaves them open to
takeover by stronger and more ambitious competitors. For example, CEMEX the
Mexican cement giant took the opportunity to takeover cement companies in
South-East Asia during the 1997-1999 Asian financial crisis, where many firms
became very pessimistic. Novel strategies in very stable markets can shake
complacent competition. Singapore Airlines left IATA and shook up competition
by providing better in-flight service in the 1970s. Existing TV networks were
caught off-guard when CNN launched its 24 hour news network in 1980.
The Schizoid Typology
The schizoid
typology is relatively rare in new enterprises as someone in this state would
be unlikely to develop an enterprise unless it is of solitary nature, like
graphic design or computer programming. The world to the schizoid is unhappy,
unpleasant and empty of meaning. Nothing really excites the schizoid who tries
to remain detached from everything. Sometimes schizoid tendencies carry an
eccentric nature or beliefs with them such as belief in the supernatural, UFOs
or conspiracy theories, etc. In private life the schizoid person is greatly
devoid of personal relationships except for parents and closest relatives.
He/she would have very few friends as they are seen as intrusive and a waste of
time. For these reasons the person lives a very sheltered life, where any
social support network will not likely exist.
Under
the schizoid typology, any leadership in an organization would appear
directionless, always changing and confused, indifferent to praise and
criticism, and seemingly detached from the reality of what is going on. The
leader would appear to be in a world of fantasy or daydreams. Deep down this
state would be caused by anxiety or fear of being attached to intimacy from
either the feeling self conscious, worthless and at the same time superior to others
(Stone 1993).
Firms in
the schizoid state would carry out very little environmental scanning. There is
no firm philosophy to follow, resulting in undisciplined and uncoordinated
product/market strategy. Little direction would come from the leader who will
tend to be withdrawn, indecisive or uncommitted. It is likely that the leader
will not even have any close advisors to fill in his/her apathetic void. Such a
company would tend to pay little, if any attention to criticism and complaints
by customers, stakeholders and authorities. Due to this underlying apathy there
is great risk that strategies developed will operate with little regard to
rules and regulations. If these breaches are serious and the company is caught
out, it could lead to heavy consequences.
Company
strategy and operations will just continually muddle along unless one or more
groups within the organization takeover and dominate the decision making
process, e.g., marketing, finance or operations departments. There may be a
struggle between two or more groups within the company, where demarcation lines
with will be created with an “us and them” mentality. If this occurs
then the organization will become a political battleground, resulting in little
collaboration. These barriers between departments would lead to very little
flow of information around the organization.
If
conflict is managed within the organization this could promote many different
points of view. However this may be difficult if political competitiveness
destroys any potential cooperation. Most strategy and operational decisions
will be very inconsistent because they are based on political processes. The
organization will lack the strength in the top leadership to steer it all
subordinates in the same direction and overcome the climate of suspicion and
non-cooperation.
The Narcissistic Typology
Narcissistic
behavior can occur from extreme behaviors within the paranoid,
obsessive-compulsive and the attention-seeking (Dramatic) typologies or it can
occur as a psychological response to the need to manage self-esteem.
Narcissistic individuals have a strong need to be admired, a sense of self
importance and a lack of insight and empathy into the needs and feelings of
others. They see themselves as great achievers, even if they haven’t achieved
anything, which can lead to an overconfidence bias. They seek to associate
themselves with those who have been successful to seek more acclaim through the
association. Narcissists find it very difficult to cope with their own
emotions, particularly when their self view comes under scrutiny. For this
reason they find it very difficult to learn from others, are poor listeners and
don’t teach, but indoctrinate their subordinates.
Narcissists
are highly ambitious people. They are attracted to business and driven by their
need for power and glory. This is a trait of many successful entrepreneurs,
where self confidence and ambition assisted them. The dream of success and the
accolades it brings is something they think about a lot. Some narcissists are
truly experts in their field and they will extend their knowledge and skills
into other areas. Where narcissists have little intellectual knowledge in their
field, they will think very shallow, but at the same time they will be very ‘street-smart’.
Narcissists
expect a lot from their subordinates. When they don’t receive the total
devotion and dedication they expect of their subordinates, they will punish
them in Machiavellian ways. The narcissist is highly distrustful and overly
exploitive of his/her subordinates. However he/she is extremely sensitive to
criticism and will very quickly grow into childlike deep anger and rages if
they are not given the respect they think they deserve.
Strategy
will be underlined with a great desire to compete and win at any costs. This
drive to win can be positive but at the extreme, devious methods will be
employed which can border on the unethical and illegal. In extreme narcissism,
objectives can be unrealistic as they are based on fantasy. This results in
grandiose strategies objectives which are impossible to achieve (Brown, 1997,
P. 648). The arrogant nature of the narcissist will lead to intuitive decisions
where little analysis and interpretation of the market is undertaken (Brown
& Starkey 2000). The narcissist likes to think in terms of the big picture
and leave details to his/her few trusted loyalists who tend to tell their
leader what he/she wants to hear. The narcissist wants to leave a legacy and be
ready for a fight. However he/she will always look for potential enemies along
the horizon. There is a reluctance to change strategy even when it is not
working as the narcissist views this as a sign of weakness and failure. This
weakness can lead to large scale disasters.
Table
3.21. Six psychotic typologies, characteristics, associated thoughts and
beliefs.
Typology
|
Characteristics
|
Associated
Thoughts & Beliefs
|
Paranoid |
People
influenced by this typology will; Be distrustful
of others, Misinterpret
social events as threatening, Harbor
resentment towards others, Is prone to envy
and jealousy, and Is
argumentative, hostile and stubborn. |
“People are all
out to get me”
“We must get
others before they get us”
“All people have
ulterior motives and cannot be trusted” “People say one
thing but do another” “Don’t let
people get away with anything” “I have to be on
my guard all the time” “People are only
friendly because they want something” |
Obsessive-Compulsive |
People
influenced by this typology will; Be preoccupied
with order, Seek perfection
in what they do, Be workaholics Have little time
for friends and holidays, Usually be
miserly and stingy, and Be rigid and
stubborn.
|
“Rules and high
standards keep order” “Other people
are reckless and irresponsible in their work”
“If don’t look
into the details there may be possible flaws” “My way is the
right way to do things” “It is not worth
doing something unless it is done perfectly” “I must not
waste any time on frivolous things that interfere with my work” “I can only
depend on myself” |
Attention-Seeking
(Dramatic) |
People
influenced by this typology will; Engage in
excessive attention seeking activities, Exhibit
excessive emotions,Have shallow
opinions, Have a strong
need for attention, and Be very
political, Machiavellian in their decision making. |
“I am in charge
of everything” “People are here
to work for me” “High profile
actions promote my image” “Politics,
manipulation and deception are ways of achieving ends” “I get by on my
hunches without really having to think about things” “It feels good
to be at the centre of things” “The world is a stage
– dramatic acts lead to greatness” “Look at me,
aren’t I great” “I can impress
and entertain anybody because I’m an exciting person” “Boredom is the
worst feeling” “If I can do it
– just do it”
|
Depressive |
People
influenced by this typology will; Tend to give up
or not even try, Believe they are
not capable of achievement, See their
position as hopeless, and Tend to give up
if problems arise. |
“I am likely to
fail”
“The world is
against me” “If anything
will go wrong, it will” “Why bother
trying” “Everything is
my fault” “We cannot beat
the competition” |
Schizoid |
People
influenced by this typology will; Be detached from
personal relationships, Be indifferent
to opinion, Have very little
pleasure in life, Be socially
inept,
Be very passive
and uncommitted when events are occurring, and Prefer to work
alone. |
“I hate being
around and tied up with other people” “I like my
privacy and not being close to others” “Its best not to
confide in others” “Relationships
are always difficult and end up badly” “I am best
working on my own” “I don’t need an
intimate relationship” |
Narcissistic
Typology
|
People
influenced by this typology will; Need to be
admired, Have a strong
sense of self importance, Have a lack of
insight into other people’s needs and feelings, Have a sense of
entitlement, Have a sense of
superiority, Have a strong
but very fragile self-esteem, and Be envious of
others. |
“I very special
and deserve VIP treatment” “Rules don’t apply to me”
“I
look after No. 1” “If others don’t
give me the praise and recognition I deserve, they should be punished” “Who are you to
criticize me?”
|
The firm
will become self-absorbed and seek to capitalize on opportunities that show
greatness. These are very inward looking (Christensen & Cheney 2000), where
stakeholder interests are rarely considered, often leaving them to drop off
support. Self rhetoric can become so intense an echo of unrealistic dreams and
grand schemes, that in telling himself who he is and what he stands for, that
he will forget who he is and what he stands for (Hatch & Schultz 2002).
The
typologies above have some influence in how the world is perceived. Structure,
management style and strategy reflect or mirror how the leader and members of
the organization see the world. This is heavily influenced by the leader at the
top (Mitroff 1984), especially if the leader was also the founder of the
organization. Although organizations can be seen as a psychotic phenomenon,
very little research has been undertaken on this aspect of misalignment to
date. The psychotic continuum is a worthy paradigm through which to view
organizational opportunity, strategy, operations, and decision making,
potentially capable of assisting in diagnosing the causes of organization
dysfunction.
References
Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression:
Clinical, Experimental, and Theoretical Aspects, New York, Hoeber Medical
Division, Harper & Row.
Beck, A.T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and
Emotional Disorders, New York, International Universities Press.
Brown, A. D. (1997). Narcissism, identity
and legitimacy, Academy Management Review, Vol. 22, pp. 643-686.
Brown, A. D. and Starkey, K. (2000).
Organizational identity and learning: A psychological perspective, Academy
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[1] The continuum from normal to any type of psychotic behavior should
be seen in steps and degrees, rather than in any absolute terms.
[2] Personalities are very complex and most psychological profiling
methods measure them simply missing much of the depth of a personality. Thus
personalities really cannot be accurately understood through a 5 or 7 point
scale, etc, as a personality is made up of thousands of traits or attributes
which vary in influence according to time of day, mood and situational
occurrences. What even makes personality more difficult to understand is that a
person’s ‘self-view’ may be very different to what they portray to the world,
i.e., an attention seeker shows grandiosity but may have a very low
self-esteem. Our general surface observation of a person can only see what that
person wants us to see and what they want to be, rather than whom they are.
[3]
The power-distance relationship was a concept developed by Gerard
Hendrik Hofstede to describe how people in the lower part of the organization
accept power from higher up the organisation hierarchy. In the case of an
obsessive-compulsive organization it would be expected that the power-distance
relationship to be high where relationships would be very autocratic. See:
Hofstede, G. H., (2001). Culture’s Consequences: Comparing values, behaviors,
institutions, and organizations across nations, 2nd Ed., Thousand Oaks, CA., Sage
Publications.
PUBLICATIONS:
One Man, Multiple Inventions: The lessons and legacies of Thomas Edison -
Murray Hunter
People tend to start businesses for the wrong reasons - Murray
Hunter
How
emotions influence, how we see the world? - Murray Hunter
How we create new ideas - Murray Hunter
Where do entrepreneurial opportunities come from? - Murray Hunter
The
five types of thinking we use - Murray Hunter
Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities: What’s wrong with SWOT? - Murray
Hunter
How
motivation really works - Murray Hunter
The
Evolution of Business Strategy - Murray Hunter
Not all opportunities are the same: A look at the four types of
entrepreneurial opportunity -
Murray Hunter
Do we
have a creative intelligence? - Murray Hunter
Imagination may be more important than knowledge: The eight types of imagination
we use - Murray Hunter
The environment as a multi-dimensional system:
Taking off your rose coloured
glasses
- Murray Hunter
Generational Attitudes and Behaviour -
Murray Hunter
Groupthink may still be a hazard to your organization - Murray Hunter
Perpetual Self conflict: Self awareness as a key to our ethical drive, personal mastery, and perception of
entrepreneurial opportunities - Murray Hunter
The Continuum of Psychotic Organisational Typologies - Murray Hunter
There is no such person as an entrepreneur, just a person who acts
entrepreneurially - Murray Hunter
Go Home, Occupy Movement!!-(The McFB– Was Ist Das?) - prof. dr. Anis Bajrektarevic
Diplomatie préventive - Aucun siècle Asiatique sans l’institution pan-Asiatique - prof. dr. Anis Bajrektarevic
Democide Mass-Murder
and the New World Order - Paul Adams















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