Why Karoshi and Karo-suicide Victims Worked to Death: The Limits of Saying No in Organization

Once you entered an organization, you should accept its authority as a member. A person as an agent of authority behaves differently from as an individual. The same person could have two faces. Achieving Ury's Positive No in impersonal relations with an agent needs more time than in personal relations with an individual because an agent of authority has little empathy and lacks friendliness. Karoshi and karo-suicide victims suffer two disadvantages to saying No. The one is that they do not have enough time to finish Ury's Positive No with impersonal counterparts. Although it takes more time to get mutually positive agreement in impersonal relations than in personal relations, the victims' adaptation energy is diminishing due to overwork or job-related exhaustion. The other is that time deprivation caused by chronic long working hours provokes the victims' physical and mental disorder, which damages their normal judgement for saying No. The two disadvantages eliminate their chance to follow a Positive No process, which should be based on mutual respect with counterparts through bilateral contacts. Even if they once say No to their circumstances, agents of authority are reluctant to change the status quo. Unsuccessful results of saying No may bring them learned helplessness, which increases accumulated stress and decreases their adaptation energy for saying No again. The giving-up reaction or quitting response worsens their circumstances which lead them to karoshi or karo-suicide. These are the limits of saying No in organization.