by Rick Brenner
When an organization is coping in the Narcissistic pattern, it's driven by its love of itself and disregard for everything and everyone else. No other organization, no person, nothing external to itself is of any worth or value, except perhaps as support or utility to itself. The Narcissistic organization is prepared to use, abuse or exploit anyone, any idea, or any other organization, including its organizational parent, to further its own ends.This is a portion of an essay on Organizational Coping Patterns — patterns of organizational behavior relative to stressful, challenging situations.
As it tries to make meaning of the world around it, and the organizations with which it interacts, it adopts any interpretation that permits it to continue to see itself as flawless, favoring those interpretations that degrade the worth of others, other organizations, or the world at large. In this it has much in common with the Blaming organizational coping pattern, except that Narcissistic coping is less focused — the denigration of the Other that we find in Narcissistic coping isn't restricted to a single Other. Moreover, since it has regard only for itself, consistency and logic are unimportant — it might explain two independent failures using mutually contradictory arguments.
In Narcissistic coping, the organization finds it difficult to execute any of the forms of reflective learning that have become so valuable to other organizations. Retrospectives, "lessons learned" exercises and the like, which involve acknowledgment of imperfection, are particularly challenging. If they're attempted, a sense of hollowness or unreality can accompany them, as the organization works out ways of identifying "opportunities for improvement" while at the same time refusing to acknowledge any serious error.

In Narcissistic coping, it's rare that the organization would
have done the financial modeling, market research or risk management
studies to back up the proposed strategy, because all of these
activities involve acknowledgment of Other or Context. If you
can bring these activities about, the results could be the basis
of a sound decision. If the organization plows ahead without
this backup, the foolishness of the decision to proceed will
be obvious to many people. That alone could bring about a change.
Top
Back to "Organizational Coping Patterns"
Projects never go quite as planned. We expect that, but we don't expect disaster. How can we get better at spotting disaster when there's still time to prevent it? How to Spot a Troubled Project Before the Trouble Starts is filled with tips for executives, senior managers, managers of project managers, and sponsors of projects in project-oriented organizations. Check it out!
I tweet about what I'm thinking or reading or hearing, or thoughts I've had or read or heard, or what I see or have seen, or…who knows? For a limited time, new followers will receive a complimentary copy of Geese Don't Land on Twigs (and other observations about life at work). Just DM 'geese" and your email address to me from Twitter.
It can contain active links to your site or landing page, and you can select the page and placement that best meets your needs. More info
Are your projects always late and over budget? Are your project teams plagued by turnover, burnout, and high defect rates? Turn your culture around. Read 52 Tips for Leaders of Project-Oriented Organizations, filled with tips & techniques for organizational leaders. Check it out!
Are you fed up with tense, explosive meetings? Are you or a colleague targets of a bully? Read 101 Tips for Managing Conflict to learn how to make peace with conflict. Check it out!