Learned Helplessness and Modern Organizations

More, and more, people are growing increasingly disenchanted with our current support systems.

Corporations — large and small — have been failing to live up to the hype, and hopes, that many had expected they would.

Costs are cut. Pennies, and pensions, are pinched. And people inevitably suffer.

“It’s all about returning value to the shareholders.” Has been a phrase that too many people have heard, and it’s especially offensive given that many “shareholders” are now High Frequency Trading Algorithms.

Mega-corporations continue to binge-purge on a steady diet of people — paying lip service to contributing to personal health, and communal growth, initiatives. They’ll sponsor a sports stadium, but won’t let you use their bathroom even though you’re forced to stare at their brand insignias.

The leaders of these companies say they want to support “their people,” yet make decisions, and take actions, that signify the exact opposite of their statements.

Is that a little unfair?

Well, yes. A little. A lot of nice people work at corporations.

But do they know who they are actually working for? Or have they just taken on the brand identity that was engineered for them to take on?

Do the contributors actually want to work somewhere that they don’t feel connected with? Not really.

But learned helplessness is a powerful thing.

At provide.io, we’re working on ways to make things better. Ways to empower people that have fallen into a pattern of learned helplessness.

Check out our Notice of Intention over at GitHub.