Table Of ContentEmotional Abuse and Neglect in the Workplace
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Emotional Abuse and
Neglect in the Workplace
How to Restore Normal Organizational Life
Joost Kampen
VrijeUniversiteit,TheNetherlands
Translatedby
Mischa Hoyinck
and
Robert Chesal
©JoostKampen2015
FirstpublishedinDutchbyKluwer/Vakmedianet,Deventer(2011)underthe
titleVerwaarloosdeorganisaties:eennieuwconceptvoororganisatie
professionalsbyJ.(Joost)Kampen.Thisrevisededitionhasbeeneditedby
JoostKampenandtranslatedbyMischaHoyinckandRobertChesaland
publishedunderlicencefromPalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofMacmillan
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Contents
ListofTablesandFigures viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Parenting:ASourceofInspirationforLeadership 1
1.1 Whenchangefailsandleadershipislacking 1
1.2 Emotionalneglectintheworkplace 5
1.3 Metaphorsandnarratives 6
1.4 Structureofthebook 8
2 AmsterdamPublicTransport:AToughNuttoCrack 11
2.1 Context:GVB’s20-yearhistoryoffailing
transformation 11
2.2 TrafficControl:Amixofplanned-changestrategies 14
2.3 Secondcasestudy:Line-BoundOperation 21
2.4 Afirstattempttoexplain 37
2.5 Conclusions 42
3 EmotionalNeglectandChildDevelopment 45
3.1 Definingneglect 45
3.2 Whatconstitutesneglectfulparenting? 49
3.3 Characteristicsofneglectedchildren’sbehavior 52
3.4 Goodandbadparentingstyles 55
3.5 Effectivetreatmentofneglect 59
4 NeglectintheWorkplace:DefinitionandDiagnosis 66
4.1 Definingneglectintheworkplace 66
4.2 Signsofneglect 70
4.3 Diagnosticmethod 78
4.4 Whotoinvolveinthediagnosis 82
4.5 Howtomakeadiagnosis 84
5 RecoveringfromNeglect 88
5.1 WhyclassicODstrategiesfail 88
5.2 Preconditionsfornormalizingdailyorganizationallife 93
5.3 Therecoveryprocess:Whoneedstodowhat? 98
v
vi Contents
5.4 Interventionstorestorenormalorganizationallife 100
5.5 Durationandphasingoftherecovery 103
5.6 TheODconsultant’sroleintherecoveryprocess 105
5.7 Howtodealwiththeinevitablebacklash 108
6 GoodandBadLeadershipStyles 110
6.1 Whenmanagementneglectstotakeresponsibility 110
6.2 Leadershipstylesandorganizationdevelopment 112
6.3 Goodandbadleadershipstylesinneglected
organizations 115
6.4 Laissez-faireleadershipanddestructiveleadership 118
6.5 Changeofleadershipstyle:Interventions 122
6.6 Practicalexamplesofleadershipstylesinneglected
organizations 124
7 RecoveryfromNeglect:CopingandIntervening 136
7.1 Howtocopeinaneglectedorganization 136
7.2 Casestudiesinintervention 149
7.3 InterventionsinOrganizationB 156
7.4 InterventionsinOrganizationC 163
7.5 Overviewofinterventionsandtheireffect 170
7.6 Withhindsight:InterventionsatGVB 170
8 LessonsforODPractitioners 174
8.1 Personalexperienceandtestedsolutions 174
8.2 Matchexpectationswithwhattheorganizationcan
handle 175
8.3 Avoidlarge-scaleandorganization-widechange
projects 176
8.4 Personalstyle:ODprofessionals’self-awarenessand
self-reflection 176
8.5 ODprofessionals’basicattitude:Inquisitiveand
skeptical 177
8.6 ‘Neglectintheworkplace’:Aloadedphrase 177
8.7 Practicalsuggestionsforexternalconsultants 177
8.8 ODprofessionals’suitability 179
8.9 Howchangeagentscanholdtheirown 180
9 InConclusion:ANewODConcept 184
9.1 Arresteddevelopmentinorganizations 184
9.2 Similaritiesbetweenparentingandleadershipstyles 185
9.3 Backtobasics:Normalizingdailyorganizationallife 186
Contents vii
9.4 Changeagents’basicknowledge 186
9.5 LessonsforODguidance 188
AppendixI LeadershipQuestionnaire 192
AppendixII OrganizationalTrustQuestionnaire 193
AppendixIII DiagnosticChecklist:SignsofNeglect 194
AppendixIV Checklist:PreconditionsforRecovery 197
Notes 198
Bibliography 200
Index 213
Tables and Figures
Tables
3.1 Abuseversusneglect 46
3.2 Expressionsofneglect:parents’neglectfulconduct 51
3.3 Impactofneglectonchildren’sdevelopment 52
3.4 Children’sbehavioralproblemsindicativeofneglect:
diagnosticsignificance 55
3.5 Treatmenttargetsintwosettings 61
4.1 Signsofneglectintheorganizationalcontext 74
4.2 Signsofneglectinleaderbehavior 76
4.3 Signsofneglectinemployee/directsupervisorbehavior 79
7.1 InterventionsandresultsinorganizationsA,B,andC 171
7.2 ProductivityandabsenteeismatGVB 173
9.1 Transformationalleadershipcomparedtogoodparenting 189
Figures
1.1 Connectingtwodisciplines 8
3.1 Interactionbetweenparents’andchildren’sbehavior 49
3.2 Parentingstyles 59
4.1 Diagnosticmethod 80
5.1 Vygotsky’szoneofproximaldevelopment 92
6.1 Fleishman’sleadershipdimensions(1961)supplemented
withnotionsfromchilddevelopment 114
6.2 Fourleadershipstyles 115
6.3 Developmentofleadershipstylesinaneglected
organization 117
viii
Preface
Why did my organizational development (OD) interventions fail to
bringaboutthedesiredeffectincertainorganizations?Curiosityabout
this question led me, 10 years ago, to publish my first scholarly arti-
cle on the topic. There were few clues in the OD literature that could
explainthephenomenaIhadencounteredinmyconsultancypractice.
MyInternetquerieson‘abusedorganizations’and‘neglectedorganiza-
tions’ led nowhere. When I left out the word ‘organizations,’ however,
I found a large body of developmental psychology and child devel-
opment literature. There, I discovered that the interactions between
neglected children and their caretakers bore striking similarities to the
dynamics I had observed, in my OD practice, between employees and
theirmanagers.
In 2011, when I was 57 years old, I was awarded my PhD at VU
University Amsterdam. That same year, the book based on my dis-
sertation was published in Dutch. In 2012, it was nominated for VU
University’sSocietal ImpactAward andnamed BookoftheYear by the
DutchChapteroftheAssociationofCertifiedManagementConsultants
(CMC).Myresearchhasgivenmeadeeperunderstandingandappreci-
ationofthedifferencesbetweenpractitionersandscientists.Sincethen,
I have continued to combine OD practice and scientific research from
my offices at VU University Amsterdam and Van de Bunt consultancy
inAmsterdam.
NewcasestudiesandadditionalresearchareincludedinthisEnglish
edition. The idea of publishing the book in English was born during
my recent collaboration with André Henken, Dean of Applied Sci-
encesandTechnologyattheUniversityofAppliedSciencesinUtrecht.
In June 2014, we copresented a paper at the Symposium on Pro-
cess Organization Studies in Rhodes, Greece. A few months later, we
both attended the annual meeting of the Academy of Management
(AOM) in Philadelphia, where we gave a professional development
workshop chaired by Léon de Caluwé, PhD, tenured professor at VU
UniversityAmsterdam.DuringtheAOMmeeting,IapproachedPalgrave
Macmillan.
This book introduces a new OD concept: ‘neglect in the workplace.’
To my knowledge, no earlier studies on failed organizational develop-
menthavecomparedparentingtoleadershipandchilddevelopmentto
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