The Psychology of Fear in Organizations

How to Transform Anxiety into Well-being, Productivity and Innovation

Sheila Keegan

• Éditeur: Kogan Page
• Année: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780749472559
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Psychology
• Sous-sujet: Industrial & Organizational Psychology

In the context of global economic recession, fear has become institutionalized in many organizations, both in the private and public sectors. Board directors are under pressure from shareholders, senior executives are attempting to maintain sales in a nervous market and many people are concerned about job security and maintaining their living standards. The Psychology of Fear in Organizations shows how fear manifests itself in large organizations, how it impacts on the workforce and how by reducing our willingness to take risks and to innovate, it can inhibit economic growth and innovation, at both an individual and corporate level. The Psychology of Fear in Organizations examines the psychological barriers to innovation and presents initiatives to loosen the paralysis caused by the economic downturn. It presents psychological theory in an accessible way to provide a better understanding of the needs and fears of people and how they can be supported to improve productivity and innovation. Online supporting resources include lecture slides on how to harness fear to fuel innovation.

1

2

PART ONE

The nature of fear and how it shapes organizations

01

3

The paradox of fear

Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up. VERONICA ROTH

In this book we will explore the emotion of fear within large organizations: how it arises, how it can be recognized and how we can deal with it. The book is in two parts. Part One explores the paradoxical nature of fear itself and its various manifestations in the workplace. We examine how a widespread culture of fear has emerged, fuelled largely by the recent economic downturn, and how it has spread its tentacles throughout many organizations and indeed through society as a whole. In particular, we will examine how fear can infiltrate workplaces and the impact it can have on employees, at all levels of the organization.

Part Two explores the ways in which we can both combat the effects of fear and tap into its energy. By examining different approaches to utilizing fear we can harness it for our own benefit, particularly in relation to creativity, productivity, innovation and risk-taking within organizations. Most importantly, we can attempt to create healthy organizations in which people want to work.

The scope of this book

We will examine some of these issues within the context of working life in a range of organizations. The book is based in part on commissioned research and organizational change projects carried out by Campbell Keegan Ltd, a business consultancy that I have jointly run, along with my co-director Rosie Campbell, for the last 30 years. I also include academic input from books, papers, conferences and innumerable conversations with colleagues working in the areas of research and organizational change over the years.

4

My aim in writing this book is to encourage thoughts, comments and discussion among those who work with and within organizations so that we can share experiences and further develop ideas on the growth and nature of organizations. We are moving out of the time of austerity, yet many of us still carry the baggage of anxiety and, all too often, fear, instilled by the recession. My initial aim was to direct this book towards psychologists, research practitioners and those who work in organizational change. However, as I wrote, I came increasingly to the view that, as almost all of us work in, or interact with, organizations, it may have broader relevance.

The book draws on both the academic and the practical. It includes some theory and a scattering of case studies. It is also coloured by my ongoing interest in the complexity sciences, in particular the work of Professor Ralph Stacey¹ who explores complexity theory within the workplace. The complexity sciences challenge our traditional thinking and practice; arguably, they can change the way in which we view the world. Put crudely, the Western perspective tends to see the world as a collection of static things (a door, a person, a viewpoint etc) whereas a complexity perspective emphasizes interconnectivity, relationships and unpredictability (change, flow, emergence etc).² Of course, both perspectives are important and this is a question of perspective. How we work with these different perspectives is something we will return to throughout this book.

Much of Campbell Keegan’s work over the years has involved qualitative research. This is a form of research seeking useful directions to explore and pursue in order to help solve problems or create new concepts. Qualitative research is a form of emergent inquiry³ that allows the researcher to explore, hypothesize and experiment. It is therefore concerned less with measurement and statistics (as is quantitative research).

However, ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ perspectives are two sides of the same coin. Overemphasis on measurement and statistical significances skews understanding, just as exclusive attention to qualitative findings potentially distorts understanding in a different way. Both elements need to be in balance. As we will see, this is particularly relevant in the context of organizational development as well as the development of new ideas, products or services in a range of sectors.

The recession has eased, but its psychological effects may well be with us for some years to come. Both employers and employees are still wary. In many organizations tough decisions had to be made to ensure the company’s survival and it will take time for the scars to heal. It is perhaps not a gross overstatement to say that, just as the Second World War shaped the attitudes of a generation, so too the recent recession will shape the attitudes, behaviours and fears within organizational life for some decades to come.

5

What instils fear in organizations?

We will start by briefly introducing the topic of fear within organizations. Although we will examine fear in many different contexts throughout this book and probe into its manifestations and effect on different aspects of our lives, fear in organizations is our prime concern. This is not a new subject – you could argue that there is not an organization in the world that does not have at least some employees who are fearful on some occasions – but research from around the world provides strong evidence that fear is a more invasive and disabling influence than ever before. Fear is part of our human lot, for better and worse, and we cannot avoid it. However, when we get to the point where significant numbers of employees express the view that ‘work is a source of fear and anxiety’, we have to ask ourselves: What is going on here? How have we created this situation? How is it possible that working environments that should provide us at the very least with an income, job satisfaction and a sense of community become places to avoid or even to dread? It must be that fear improves employees’ performance, their thinking, their speed, their creativity. Well, on the whole, no, it doesn’t. Fear is much more likely to inhibit productivity than to foster it. So, why has a culture of fear developed? This is one of the key issues we will explore in this book.

You may ask, ‘Is fear that big a deal in contemporary life In developed countries we are unlikely to be savaged by wild animals, die of starvation on be unable to access medical care.’ This is a big question and one that is not easily answered. Fear is a very powerful force and it is one that is difficult to define. Or at least it is difficult to find a way of describing it that everyone would agree with. What one person experiences as fear might be brushed away by another as a minor irritant.

Fear as a cultural norm

The sociologist Barry Glassner describes America as ‘engrossed with fear’.⁴

6

He claims that three out of four Americans say they feel more fearful today than they did 20 years ago but, he believes, it is our perception of danger that has increased, not our actual level of risk. He points out that the huge amount of attention given to airline safety is disproportionate to the risk. ‘Hazards that kill and injure many more people receive much less attention.’ In the mid 1990s, while the press obsessed over airline accidents – which resulted in fewer than a dozen deaths in the best years and a few hundred in the worst – more than 5,000 Americans died in work-related injuries each year. It seems that some risks are simply more sexy than others. If the issue is that we overestimate fear, that we see fear where there is none, perhaps we simply need to address our perceptions of fear rather than trying to avoid situations that induce it.

The climate of fear

Fear and uncertainty are the backdrop against which this book is set, and fear is the emotion that many of us try hardest to avoid; although paradoxically we may also court it. Fear reaches back into the origins of mankind and, at the same time, it lurks in the dark alleyways of our 21st-century minds, biding its time, waiting to pounce in our moments of weakness. It can be a figment of our imagination – or it can be all too real. Sometimes it is unclear which it is – or maybe it is both at the same time. Fear is an emotion that is widely viewed as a pariah. Many of us feel afraid of fear itself, but fear can be our friend as well as our foe. It can sharpen our senses. It can steer us through danger. Whatever you may currently think about fear, my aim is to convince you that fear is not all bad news. Fear is a chameleon. It surprises us. It shocks. But, paradoxically, it can help us to perform to the best of our abilities, sometimes to a level way beyond our wildest dreams. In certain circumstances it can even make us superhuman. We will examine the conundrum of fear; how it can be so ubiquitous, so adaptable and so scary, all at the same time.

We will explore fear in order to better understand our complex and quixotic relationship with it, particularly within the context of our working lives. Humans try, with varying degrees of success, to manage our relationship with fear. Much of the time we may feel that we have the upper hand. Fear is a distant rumble, barely discernible. We forget about it. But at other times fear can loom large in our lives, oppressing us and undermining our confidence and our ability to function well in our working lives. Occasionally we feel that it has defeated us and, however much we try, we cannot overcome it. In these situations, fear hangs onto our coat-tails and we can never seem get rid of it.

Fear gets a bad press

7

In general, fear gets a very bad press in contemporary life. We easily forget that fear is a double-edged sword, both friend and foe. We tend to focus on the negative aspects of fear; how we struggle to suppress it when we are delivering a presentation or convening a workshop, or when we have to make a public speech, or in a variety of work contexts that make us feel anxious, uncomfortable and out of our comfort zone. In some circumstances feeling frightened is an appropriate response to the situation in which we find ourselves. More than this, the complex pattern of fear responses that cut in when we are – or feel that we may be – in danger can be literally life-saving. Fear is both our brother in arms and our nemesis. It is all around us but, like the air we breathe, it is invisible. It is not until it rears up, wrapping us in panic and anxiety, that we remember its power and feel cowed by it.

The shame and embarrassment of fear

Fear is also the emotion that we most deny; the emotion that we hide from others and even, sometimes, from ourselves. Fear makes us feel childlike. Why are we so embarrassed to display fear, especially in a work context? Is it a help or a hindrance? How can we overcome our fears? Should we even try to conquer fear? But then, what about the positive side of fear? Fear gives us the strength to run and the wit to hide. If we can understand and befriend fear, perhaps we can harness its strengths to help us achieve our goals or to protect us from danger. When we are able to harness fear, we can absorb its energy and focus. We can feel invincible.

Emotional contagion

Although we will talk about fear in organizations, this is something of a misnomer. As we have already touched upon, fear does not recognize categories and never stays neatly where we put it. Work-related fears and worries seep into our work lives and our home lives. Fear has a tendency to spread, joining with diverse worries to create a mass of anxiety. We have a niggling worry and, like Chinese whispers, off it goes. It cannot be recaptured, but it can grow and morph into some other fear. This is particularly true in fear-ridden organizations. The hierarchical nature of large organizations means that it is more difficult for managers to refute rumours. They expand to fill the void.

Fear in different organizations

8

We will move on to explore how fear impacts on our lives in a work environment; how it subtly – and not so subtly – influences our decision-making; how it encourages or prevents us from taking certain paths. Many of us work in environments which, at least some of the time, are scary; we are afraid to speak out, we feel anxious about job security, about our role or our relationship with our manager. We keep our heads down and are fearful of the future. We will explore the roots of these fears and how the structures and practices within many contemporary organizations often contribute to a culture of fear at work.

Organizations come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small, informal groups. Others are formal a...

Table des matières

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Imprint
• Contents
• Preface
• Part One: The nature of fear and how it shapes organizations
• Part Two: How we can harness fear to improve productivity and organizational health through promoting human values
• Index
• Full Imprint