All organizations have a set of guiding principles and expected behaviours to adhere to in the workplace. Organization leaders are becoming obsessed with these expected behaviours and at times policing the workforce in a way that violates the rules and values of others.

There is always the need to find a balance between what is expected in the workplace and what is acceptable to the people that contribute every day to the success of the organization.

The problem with corporate behaviours is that far too many people eagerly accept them and never seek to stop and think about how this may be designed to influence and undermine their own rules and values. There are many people who seek to promote the corporate behaviours and values continually repeating the language in team meetings, one-to-ones and also social media.

Many people are repeating corporate narratives to appear more virtuous and righteous whilst seeing how it will allow them to climb the co

Human beings have the need for certainty and connection and will often meet these needs by conforming to corporate behaviours and standards even if it means violating their own values to meet these needs.

Many employees are so focused on conforming, through compliance, to fit in with the corporate eco system they do not stop to evaluate (at all) what they are being told and simply accept the company narrative and agenda.

Corporate standards and behaviours, through messages can target ‘Functional Theories’, one of these is known as ‘Adjustment Function’. This is where we all want to increase reward and pleasure and reduce the risk and impact of pain. We pick attitudes that direct our behaviours toward pleasure and away from pain

Corporate standards and behaviours induce an adjustment function to employees. For some employees they will conform to corporate standards and behaviours to an extreme because they associate more pleasure and feel psychologically safe. However, some employees will see this as a direct assault on their own values and beliefs and they will associate more pain to conforming to someone else’s standards and behaviours.