What Is A Cult?, Part 1
At my previous employer, a lot of terms were thrown around to describe the employees. We often joked about “not drinking the Kool-Aid”. And there were fairly open discussions about others deeming the company a cult. At the time, I didn’t think much about it. After all, it’s a business; what business does not want dedicated, happy employees? Now, as I’m reading Anthony Pratkanis’ and Elliot Aronson’s book “Age of Propaganda”, especially their chapter on how to become a cult leader, I don’t think those terming the company a “cult” are far off.
Here’s why.
First, from the book:
The term cult is used to describe a pattern of social relations within a group. At the core of these relations is dependency. [...] This dependency results in a specific pattern of relations. First, cults tend to be highly leader-oriented, since the leader is the source of all sustenance. Second, because the leader is so important , he or she cannot be criticized or second-guessed. Cults are marked by little or no checks and balances on the leader’s power. [...] Communication is highly centralized. [...] The agenda, objectives, and work tasks are set by the elite. Finally, given the importance of the group to the individual, all influence and persuasion is directed toward maintaining the group. Rewards and punishments are used to maintain the leader’s power. Dissent is immediately quashed.
This description can be used, almost exactly, to describe my former place of employment. Employees are clearly dependent on their employer for things like money, but this company takes things farther. They try to serve all meals onsite, as well as offering employees a wide variety of clothing options to purchase (while requiring no dress code). They also ever expand social opportunities, while keeping work schedules varied enough to discourage regular participation in groups outside of work. The company is headed by one woman, who appears to make all the decisions. While it seems likely that she does not make ALL the decisions, this information is not presented to the employees. Her edicts often make little sense, but are presented nonetheless as the de facto new path for the company. Employees’ outside behavior is monitored (especially blogs), and employees are repeatedly warned not to misbehave outside of work, so as to not give the company a bad name. I don’t want to be a direst here, but when I read that description, it scared me.
Then, the book goes on to describe specific steps to creating a cult. These steps hit even closer to home and scared me even more. Check back for that information tomorrow, when “What Is A Cult?” continues.
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September 22nd, 2009 06:25
Excellent analysis! I’m glad you have gone on to other things. As an Epic customer with over a decade of experience in healthcare information technology this was certainly my impression of Epic. The best example of cult membership is in the attitude of their excessively perky trainers. They know nothing about healthcare and nothing about technology (they freely tell you this, it is not an assumption), yet are charged with somehow leading clinicians and technicians in implementing one of the most complex information systems on the planet.
Beyond that, what I find particularly disturbing about Epic is how they, essentially tell everyone in the hospital, “this is how you are going to work from now on.” If you protest about their simply awful and primitive design, they reply, “well, you don’t understand. The system has to work this way…” It is maddening. Who other than medical schools or nursing schools should dictate how patient care is performed?
On the plus side, like other cult like technology companies they are sure to fade. Other vendors are already working to make their systems more robust and most importantly, well designed from the user perspective. If Epic truly is a micromanaged cult, they will not be able to adapt to a market place driven (for once) by what hospitals want.
September 22nd, 2009 15:11
Thanks for the comment. As a former employee, I felt frequently under-equipped to talk about how the system should work. Especially as it meant learning a whole new vocabulary and business structure, lack of training and knowledge in this area is a real disadvantage.
March 30th, 2010 13:34
THANK YOU for writing this. Epic invited me to interview. I am 62 and can’t stand control freaks. Yikes! Can you picture me in that place???!!!! It is so pitiful I just have to laugh.