Healthy companies are hard to mistake. Their

managers have access to good, timely information,

the authority to make informed decisions,

and the incentives to make them on behalf of

the organization, which promptly and capably

carries them out. A good term for the healthiest

of such organizations is “resilient,” since they

can react nimbly to challenges and recover

quickly from those they cannot dodge. Unfortunately,

most companies are not resilient. In fact,

fewer than one in five of the approximately

30,000 individuals who responded to a global

online survey Booz Allen Hamilton conducted

describe their organizations that way.

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The largest

number—over one-quarter—say they suffer

from the cluster of pathologies we place under

the label “passive-aggressive.’’ The category

takes its name from the organization’s quiet but

tenacious resistance, in every way but openly,

to corporate directives.