Customer Reviews

The Addictive Organization: Why We Overwork, Cover Up, Pick Up the Pieces, Please the Boss, and Perpetuate S

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In many years in the Corporate life, I wanted the Company to understand that a lot of the problems management was having were caused by...surprise!...management.

This book is excellent in explaining to those of us who hate the insanity of corporate life what is happening and why, and possible remedies.

If you are working, or are listening to a friend or loved one complain over and over about office politics and craziness of different bosses, this book is a great read.

Even the authors, however, will tell you not to expect the Company to listen. They might nod and buy the book, pass them around HR and so on, but in essence, most mid- to large-sized corporations are so big that their dysfunctional behavior cannot be taken apart without the whole thing unfolding. (Or at least, that's what they believe, and so the urge to hold on).

The CEO of a dysfunctional company won't appreciate the insight that each company is as healthy or as ill as their top leader - the further away she/he gets from the goings on, the less s/he may be aware of this, and the less willing to hear this.

My advise is to read the book but expect no "cures". Reading this book helped my sanity (I took early retirement). Anyone suffering inside a corporation can start questioning, seriously, if they want to stay in this dysfunctional "family" (there may not be much of a choise)and if they can get out, start planning. Even if retirement or leaving is years away, planning helps. Get a life outside the Company. Also read "Crazy Bosses" and other books by Anne Wilson Schaef.

The key insight I had when I read this book is that the behavior of organizations when they become "addictive" follows very predictable patterns. There is nothing unique about them. But to a society that is full of "addicts" who create addictive organizations, the principles revealed in this book will stir reactions and opposition. The book is almost too honest, and there lies its power. The book has many new insights and connections and is a lot of fun to read. I found myself chuckling often.

It was refreshing to see an author who is willing to view organisations from a perspective of whether or not their culture would represent healthy living or not. The verdict is 'no'. Wilson Schaef and Fassel, by presenting organisational culture and inflluence as pervasive and abberent makes us rethink their place in our human psyche and society. A refreshing view, even if a rather disturbing conclusion. A good book to let go our inertia.

I found this book while in graduate school and wrote a long essay about my experiences in an addictive organization, based on my understanding of the theories presented in the book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels trapped in an organization and wants to understand more about how they work. ()

There are some definite nuggets here, and addiction is a good way to look at workaholism and dysfunctional organizations. This was outweighed, though, by a couple of things.

First, the writing is horrible. It reads more like a grad school paper. Clunky, turgid academic prose and organization.

Second, it's written very much from an addiction/recovery perspective. If you're familiar and comfortable with all those ideas and terms, fine. If you're not, and are more interested in the simple organizational aspects, you might be a little put off.

If that last bit describes you, I would recommend the following books instead:

- Corporate Cults: The Insidious Lure of the All-Consuming Organization
- Chained to the Desk (Second Edition): A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them

I liked this book, I'm almost done with it and have found it an honest description of the issues in many companies. You might find it thought provoking, especially if you take the time to compare the many problems they talk about to some of the things happening in your organization. It may provoke some questions. . .like why is that guy never around, or why do people seem to cover for him.

It doesn't cover every strategy that bad managers maybe using to make themselves look good at the expense of the company. One I can think of is the "make all my employees attack each other, foster complex rumors about each other, all to the focus off my crappy ability to manage people". The funny thing is there is some effectiveness to that approach, even though unpopular. The problem is I have rarely seen it used effectively because the managers usually just are doing it as a self centered way of managing people.

Everyone should read this book. It is quite revealing about the addictive nature of human beings and the holographic system that supports it.

Oh boy....interesting analogy, but I believe that the cause of the woes of many organizations cannot be attributed to just this cause. For the sakes of an entertaining analogy it may entertain you.