What's Big and Blue?

The company is a star in a fast-growing industry. Yet earnings have
started to decline and competitors are grabbing a share of new business.
Managers and employees alike are concerned, but both feel they've lost
control over what happens to the company. Workers especially feel they
are not in tune with the organization.

Most companies would call in a consultant--probably hordes of
them--and identify the problem as poor morale. They might try to remedy
things--as Kmart recently did--by having workers gather daily for an
energizing cheer and to hear how much their CEO cares. But it's way
beyond poor morale, says Dallas business consultant James D. Scurlock.
It's a case of organizational depression.

Just like individuals, companies get deeply depressed, argues
Scurlock, head of Savannah Consulting. And as with individuals, the
telltale signs are a sense of disconnection and feelings of
hopelessness.

"Organizational depression paralyzes the persons within by making
individual aspirations untenable," observes Scurlock. The problem
reflects serious structural flaws in the company--typically a layer of
useless management that ought to go.

Like a good therapist, Scurlock's main diagnostic tool is a sharp
ear. Companies can check for depression by listening to workers for clues
about how they really feel.