Toxic Cultures at Work

Chapter 7 The informal organisation

DOI: 10.4324/9781003307334-11

Introduction

The world’s rainforests serve as home to many poisonous plants. The poisons of these plants ‒ dispersed in different ways ‒ cause varying reactions in the creatures affected. The stinging bush, native to north-eastern Australian rainforests, uses toxic hairs to poison potential predators. The strychnine tree produces berries with seeds which contain deadly strychnine. The toxin in the curare vine’s flowers is so poisonous that indigenous people coat their hunting arrows in their juice. These examples give us a clue as to how organisms react to threats. A useful analogy is to see organisations as organisms that, when faced with threat, develop a range of defensive ...