Negative Organizations and [Negative] Powerful Relationships and How They Work against Innovation—Perspectives from Millennials, Generation Z and Other Experts

Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira ()
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Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira: Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-17

Abstract: Negative organizations, where powerful people manage to keep a negative strategy in place, one which does not benefit the firm but perpetuates their power, is a reality discussed herein. Positive organizations, led by positive leaders who do not feel threatened by brilliant employees who have brilliant ideas, may be less prominent than we think and should not be taken for granted. Following thirty years of working in organizations, both large and small, the author has come to realize that the status quo tends to be very strong, and that innovating and disrupting that balance is not only dangerous but seldom succeeds. More research is necessary in this field to prove this theory right. This article aims to point readers and researchers in the right direction and to challenge one to think just how negative organizations may be. The article is based on the experience of the author; on a look at the case of Nokia (the former handheld mobile phone division), seen to be a negative organization; as well as on in-depth personal interviews with three experts (a purposive sample) on the topic of positive versus negative organizations; and, finally, the results of two surveys ( n = 116—millennials; and n = 115—Generation Z) are shared. A total of 94.8% of the Generation Z respondents (109 respondents in total) believe negative organizations to exist (where the status quo may prevail over innovative individuals and innovation to the detriment of the global organizational strategy), which is seen to be very encouraging for this research study.

Keywords: organizational sustainability; organizational culture; status quo; anti-innovators; envy; radical innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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