It is specifically the culture of the organization that serves as the primary vehicle for addressing anxiety and stress. The culture of an organization is highly resistant to change—and plays a central role in maintaining the patterns of the organization–precisely because change directly threatens the informal system that has been established in the organization to help those working in it to confront and make sense of the anxiety inherent in the operations of the organization. On the other hand, culture can facilitate change if it is needed—especially if the culture is deeply embedded in a foundation of appreciation.
Narratives of success in an appreciative culture can provide guidance in plotting the journey of change (Cooperrider and Whitney,2005). Furthermore, as Edgar Schein (1999) has noted, the culture of an organization is often the residue of the organization’s success in confronting varying anxiety-producing conditions in the world. To the extent that an organization is adaptive in responding to and reducing pervasive anxiety associated with the processes of organizational learning and related functions of the enterprise, the existing cultures of this organization will be reinforced, deepen and become increasingly resistant to challenge or change. It is in this way that organizational culture and organizational containers produce the most effective solutions for addressing the anxiety and sources of anxiety facing the organization. There are other solutions that are not as visible or often as constructive. These are the social defense systems . . .
Social Defense Systems
As I have already noted, Isabel Menzies Lyth (1988) suggested that anxiety gets addressed on a daily basis through cultural structures and processes that operate in an organization. Menzies-Lyth labels these as “social defense system.” They are the patterns of interpersonal and group relationships that exist in the organization. Menzies Lyth’s observations have been reaffirmed in many other organizational settings. I have written about social defense systems operating in corporations (Bergquist, and Brock, 2008), postsecondary educational institutions (Bergquist, 1993a; Bergquist and Pawlak, 2008) and (like Menzie Lyth) in health care systems (Bergquist, Guest and Rooney, 2004; Fish and Bergquist, 2024). Anxiety is to be found in most contemporary organizations—for they operate in a world of VUCA-Plus. Efforts to reduce this anxiety are of prominent importance.
Somehow an organization that operates in an anxiety-producing climate of VUCA-Plus must discover or construct a culture-based buffer that both isolates (contains) the anxiety and addresses the realistic, daily needs of its employees. Some organizational theorists and researchers, for example Deal and Kennedy (2000) as well as Schein (1992; 1999) have suggested that the rituals, routines, stories, and norms (implicit values) of the organization help members of the organization manage anxiety inside the organization. It is important to note that these rituals, routines, stories and norms are not a random assortment of activities. Rather, they cluster together and form a single, coherent pattern in the organization—they create meaning as well as contain anxiety.
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