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The Cynicism Challenge

Loren Rodgers

January 2002

Most employees react positively to the idea of employee ownership, but there are always exceptions. Every HR manager knows them—they’re the cynics who say, "What difference does any of this make? Nothing’s ever going to change around here."

"Cynicism" is a familiar term, but it takes on special meaning the context of an employee-ownership company. Using the Ownership Culture Survey^TM (OCS) of employees in employee ownership companies, we have identified two distinct types of "cynics."

Types of Cynics and Other Employees

Ideological Cynics reject employee ownership at a conceptual level. One survey respondent, exemplifying this perspective, described employee ownership as "a fairy tale." Ideological cynics may have an automatic distrust for any company initiative, or they may perceive ownership as a risk or responsibility they want to avoid. Situational Cynics may believe that ownership has potential benefits in the abstract, but they feel that their particular company has not done a good job of realizing that potential. They support the idea of ownership, but not the way in which their company implements it. A situational cynic might say, "ownership is a nice idea, but it hasn’t changed our situation much," or, in the words of one actual respondent, ownership at her company is a "strong concept [with] weak execution."

The focus of this article is on cynics, but two other types of employees are relevant. Believers are those employees who react positively to ownership both as an abstract idea (in contrast to the ideological cynics) and as it exists at their own company (in contrast to the situational cynics). Neutral employees, the "silent majority," are neither believers nor cynics.

Survey Data

The Ownership Culture Survey^TM has found that the largest group of employees surveyed (over 50%) are neutral, 16% are believers, about a quarter are situational cynics, and just 5% are ideological cynics. Substantial variation emerges within individual companies, and among occupational groups.

A few patterns emerge from the data. First, non-management employees tend to be close to the average distribution described above. Senior managers are more likely to be believers. Surprisingly, middle managers and supervisors are somewhat more likely to be situational cynics, and slightly less likely than average to be believers.

The OCS suggests that ideological cynics seem to work less diligently and with less mental engagement than the typical employee. Situational cynics work as hard as the typical employee, but they are less likely to contribute to the company beyond the boundaries of their job description.

Responding to Cynics

What steps can a company take in response to cynics? No company can reasonably expect to eliminate cynicism, but cynicism can be "contagious" and should not be ignored. When dealing with cynics, the most important audience is often not the cynics themselves—it’s the rest of the work force. An open and principled response to cynics has the indirect effect of encouraging more believers and discouraging neutral employees from becoming cynics.

Dealing with cynics should not consume all of company leaders’ time. Do not neglect the rest of the work force. The most effective way to overcome cynicism is indirect: through co-workers who are not cynical. Cynics may not listen to managers, but they will likely be influenced by their colleagues.

Manage Expectations: Companies must be careful about the promises they make or are perceived to make about employee ownership. High expectations can encourage engagement and hard work, but unrealistic expectations often result in disillusionment and situational cynicism. Low expectations, on the other hand, seem to be a primary cause of ideological cynicism. To prevent both types of cynicism, companies consciously determine and explicitly discuss what ownership does and does not mean.
Focus on Middle Managers: Since supervisors are the "face" of the company to many employees, companies must address the high observed levels of situational cynicism among middle managers and supervisors. If they are to promote rather than discourage enthusiasm about employee ownership, supervisors should be able to answer employees’ questions about the ownership plan. They should also be comfortable in their new roles and confident about their job security.
Education: The most effective response to situational cynics is likely to involve education. Education about the mechanics of the EOP should also include a range of topics, such as basic legal and regulatory issues, a capsule history of employee ownership in the U.S., and the rights and responsibilities of ownership. Do not avoid the issue of why the EOP was advantageous to the seller.
Communication: Secrets and surprises breed cynicism. Especially when situational cynicism is prevalent, increased information sharing reduces the credibility of cynics. Establish principles for information sharing and participative decisions, publicize them, and follow them consistently.
Ideological Cynics: Although some companies succeed in eliminating ideological cynicism, there is generally less a management team can actively do about ideological cynics. The most effective tool to overcome ideological cynicism is peer-to-peer discussion. In carefully structured small-group discussions, co-workers can challenge the perceptions and assumptions of the ideological cynics.

The most effective way to keep cynicism to a minimum is to prevent it before it starts. Companies should consider some of the steps above before cynicism becomes a problem, or, ideally, before the ownership plan is adopted.

Revised and reproduced from Ownership Cynics, Ownership Culture Report vol. 1, no. 3 (spring/summer 1999). Parts of this article have also appeared in the NCEO's Journal of Employee Ownership Law and Finance, vol. 11, no. 4 (fall 1999).

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