Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006, Page 60
the courtship phase of the recruitment ritual. The leader wishes to seduce the new recruit
into the organization‘s embrace, gradually habituating them to its rituals and belief systems.
Individual consideration overcomes moods of resistance, by blurring distinctions between
personal relationships, theoretical constructs and bizarre behaviours. Nor is most people‘s
receptiveness to such tactics at all surprising. As an early researcher into interpersonal
attraction and influence expressed it (Jones, 1990, p.178):
There is little secret or surprise in the contention that we like people who
agree with us, who say nice things about us, who seem to possess such
positive attributes as warmth, understanding, and compassion, and who
would ‗go out of their way‘ to do things for us.
The problem is exacerbated by status differentials. Normally, a person of lesser status
attaches more importance to being liked by those of higher status than the other way round
(Rosenfeld et al., 1995). Within cults, and certainly within most corporations, status
differentials between leaders and followers are both manifest and growing. For example, in
1991, ―the standard big-company CEO in the US earned 140 times the pay of the average
worker the multiple is now nearer 500 times‖ (Haigh, 2003, p.5). Individual consideration
from such figures – the message that the new recruit is positively valued and very much
wanted -increases the person‘s tendency to affiliate, conform and engage in yet further
behaviours consistent with well established group norms.
Conversion
When someone responds to intense individual consideration from higher status leaders, and
is desperate to affiliate with them, the outcome of their shift in attitudes can be regarded as
conversion. It occurs when a person experiences fundamental changes of knowledge and
beliefs, values and standards, emotional attachments and needs, and of everyday conduct
(Lewin, 1948 Lalich, 2004). New dress codes, behaviours, beliefs and modes of being are
embraced. Each reinforces the other. A new dress code is likely to encourage the adoption
of behaviours normally associated with the dress code novel behaviours strengthen the
attitudes that underpin them the overall effect is, frequently, what outside observers come
to see as a fundamental personality transformation, or new mode of being, on the part of
the person concerned.
Indoctrination
The convert mentality is then reinforced within the cultic environment by a process of
indoctrination. Indoctrination occurs through the one way transmission of intense messages
from leaders to followers that require ever greater levels of devotion to the group ideal, and
which are designed to instil into the recruit a feeling that being accepted into the group is a
particular privilege that makes him or her a member of a special elite. Thus, recruitment/
initiation, conversion and indoctrination are all vital stages in the cultic experience, and are
sustained through the impression of individual consideration by the group‘s leaders. The
question is: to what extent were they prevalent within Enron, and to what extent do they
characterise the wider corporate environment?
The Case of Enron
Recruitment/Initiation
Recruitment at Enron was a particularly gruelling procedure. Fusaro and Miller (2002, p.49)
reported that job candidates ―…had to demonstrate that they could maintain high levels of
work intensity over an extended period of time. Some have compared the work
environment and high employee intensity at Enron to that of a top law firm, which is
typically filled with brilliant young associates willing to do whatever it takes to make
partner.‖ It was clear that those selected would be required to devote most of their waking
the courtship phase of the recruitment ritual. The leader wishes to seduce the new recruit
into the organization‘s embrace, gradually habituating them to its rituals and belief systems.
Individual consideration overcomes moods of resistance, by blurring distinctions between
personal relationships, theoretical constructs and bizarre behaviours. Nor is most people‘s
receptiveness to such tactics at all surprising. As an early researcher into interpersonal
attraction and influence expressed it (Jones, 1990, p.178):
There is little secret or surprise in the contention that we like people who
agree with us, who say nice things about us, who seem to possess such
positive attributes as warmth, understanding, and compassion, and who
would ‗go out of their way‘ to do things for us.
The problem is exacerbated by status differentials. Normally, a person of lesser status
attaches more importance to being liked by those of higher status than the other way round
(Rosenfeld et al., 1995). Within cults, and certainly within most corporations, status
differentials between leaders and followers are both manifest and growing. For example, in
1991, ―the standard big-company CEO in the US earned 140 times the pay of the average
worker the multiple is now nearer 500 times‖ (Haigh, 2003, p.5). Individual consideration
from such figures – the message that the new recruit is positively valued and very much
wanted -increases the person‘s tendency to affiliate, conform and engage in yet further
behaviours consistent with well established group norms.
Conversion
When someone responds to intense individual consideration from higher status leaders, and
is desperate to affiliate with them, the outcome of their shift in attitudes can be regarded as
conversion. It occurs when a person experiences fundamental changes of knowledge and
beliefs, values and standards, emotional attachments and needs, and of everyday conduct
(Lewin, 1948 Lalich, 2004). New dress codes, behaviours, beliefs and modes of being are
embraced. Each reinforces the other. A new dress code is likely to encourage the adoption
of behaviours normally associated with the dress code novel behaviours strengthen the
attitudes that underpin them the overall effect is, frequently, what outside observers come
to see as a fundamental personality transformation, or new mode of being, on the part of
the person concerned.
Indoctrination
The convert mentality is then reinforced within the cultic environment by a process of
indoctrination. Indoctrination occurs through the one way transmission of intense messages
from leaders to followers that require ever greater levels of devotion to the group ideal, and
which are designed to instil into the recruit a feeling that being accepted into the group is a
particular privilege that makes him or her a member of a special elite. Thus, recruitment/
initiation, conversion and indoctrination are all vital stages in the cultic experience, and are
sustained through the impression of individual consideration by the group‘s leaders. The
question is: to what extent were they prevalent within Enron, and to what extent do they
characterise the wider corporate environment?
The Case of Enron
Recruitment/Initiation
Recruitment at Enron was a particularly gruelling procedure. Fusaro and Miller (2002, p.49)
reported that job candidates ―…had to demonstrate that they could maintain high levels of
work intensity over an extended period of time. Some have compared the work
environment and high employee intensity at Enron to that of a top law firm, which is
typically filled with brilliant young associates willing to do whatever it takes to make
partner.‖ It was clear that those selected would be required to devote most of their waking
