The Organizational Underground: Organizational Coaching and Organization Development Outside the Formal Organization

During this stage we tend to be occupied with creative and meaningful work and with issues surrounding family. Strength comes through care of others and production of something that contributes to the betterment of society, which Erikson calls “generativity,” so when we are in this stage we often fear inactivity and meaninglessness. There are many life transitions that naturally take place in this stage—children leaving home, aging parents, finding new meaning. Sometimes this is referred to as the mid-life crisis. This is the only stage in Erikson’s theory where “work” is an event. What happens to society if those in the organizational underground cannot emerge from Stage 7 adequately? Stage 8 is the final stage, Maturity or Late Adulthood, with the conflict of ego integrity versus despair. What if these people die in despair because they could not psychologically come to terms with the work component of Stage 7 due to the radical changes in their work identity during this recession? What is the responsibility of the organizational coach to prevent or at least minimize this societal alteration?

Unlike earlier models, William Bridges’ attention is focused on helping people discover, accept, and embrace their new identities in the new situation. Bridges defines transition as the psychological realignment that people go through as they internalize and come to terms with their new situation brought about by a change event (Bridges, 1980). Widely recognized as an organizational model for change, Bridges’ model can also be applied to individual transition management. Bridges describes the components of managing transitions in three phases: 1) letting go; 2) the neutral zone; 3) the new beginning. We would like to focus on the neutral zone, where the old reality is gone but the new reality isn’t functional or defined, making the future unclear. For some, living in this ambiguity is painful. For the unemployed or underemployed, the neutral zone is the entire period of unemployment or underemployment. Today, that period of time is not weeks, but months and years.

One of us [Vicki] interviewed an underemployed man who has been in the organizational underground since being laid off from his job as an Engineering Manager at a global company after 31 years of service. For over five years, he has been working in a job that is beneath his education level, professional training, and former income. “I don’t see any way out. This is the only job I could find after looking for over a year to replicate my former position, salary, and benefits. It doesn’t even come close to what I was earning, but I had to take it. My wife was on my back every day asking me who did I network with, how many calls did I make? It was driving me crazy. I felt like a child, not a husband. I felt worthless. At least now I go to work every day and have a paycheck. I have my identity back.”