The Passive-Aggressive Organization — Converting Consensus into Action

Building a consensus to make major changes is no problem; it's implementing the changes that can prove impossible. Entrenched, underground resistance from the field often defeats Corporate's best efforts. Lacking the requisite authority, information, and incentives to undertake meaningful change, line employees tend to ignore mandates from headquarters, assuming "this too shall pass."

Do you recognize this organization? Or worse, do you work there? If so, you are not alone. The passive-aggressive organization is the most common organizational profile among the seven we've identified in decades of clientwork and research.

More than a quarter of the 21,000 respondents who have completed Booz Allen Hamilton's Org DNA Profiler^SM assessment tool describe their companies as passive-aggressive. It doesn't matter whether the company is big or small, a manufacturing or a service concern, European or American — passive-aggressive profiles dominate the corporate landscape around the world. This reality is particularly sobering, since passive-aggressive behavior is inherently unhealthy, inviting inaction and, ultimately, competitive marginalization.

How can these ailing organizations be revived?

Booz Allen Senior Vice President Gary Neilson and Senior Associate Deanna Mitchell are the authors of "The Passive-Aggressive Organization — Converting Consensus into Action."