The document discusses how some employees secretly work against their organizations in harmful ways similar to how an octopus eats its own arm when stressed. It argues that while an octopus does this out of necessity, these employees act out of jealousy, revenge, or perceived injustice. The document advises organizations to identify such "octopus" employees early in order to protect company culture and interests.

1. Octopus eats its own arm when it is hungry or stressed. Harming the self when there is
stress or duress is well known in human world but is less known among animals.
Do Octopus eating its arm has any link with the behavior of some employees in
corporate. Many employees do behave exactly like an Octopus during different
occasions. Many corporate employees secretly work against the interest of the
organization. They love to see the fall of the organization, having some litigation for the
organization, it incur severe loss, looses its business share etc.,.
To achieve their wicked motive, they go to any extent to see that their wishes are
fulfilled. One should differentiate the behavior eating own arm by the Octopus under
stress from the behavior of people who intentionally wish to harm the organization.
These people are either suffered some injustice in the organization or perceived so and
that is why they act against the organization with hatred and revenge.
The whistle blowers should not be compared with people who exhibit Octopus under
stress behaviour in corporate. The whistle blowers only highlight the malfunctions and
maladies that exist in the organization. Whistle blowers never wish to harm the
organization but only wish to expose the hidden and suppressed facts with a hope of
improving the system.
The people who exhibit Octopus under stress behaviour are rotten at heart. They are
frustrated pessimists whose actions are filled with jealous and revenge. The point they
seldom remember while engaged in harming the organization is that they exists only
because of the organization. They are cutting the very tree on which they roost or
under which they reside.
When the Octopus eats its arm it re-grows. But the misdeeds of the employees cannot
be corrected or the damages caused by them can be repaired.
The Octopus that chooses to eat its arm only after it has exhausted all options. But the
employees use their secret act of harming the corporate as their first and best option.
Octopus does only to save its life but the employees do the above just to save their
‘selfishness and hatred’.
Another interesting thing is that, a stressed Octopus never makes another Octopus
stressed to do the same act. The employees who intents to harm the corporate
seriously do damage the people and culture of the organization.
The survival of an Octopus is not exclusively depends upon the arm that it eats but the
survival of such employees are exclusively depends on the corporate but that they never
realize. Such employees will not be talented, well qualified, cultured or good
communicators. Getting a job for them elsewhere is extremely difficult.

2. Do a through survey in your corporate and understand whether any Octopuses are
hiding in your organization. Allow the Octopus to live in its natural habitat but not the
employees who exhibit Octopus behaviour of harming the self in your corporate.
Another remarkable thing about them is that, like an Octopus how it releases the ‘ink’
when threatened, to hide its identity; the employees also confuse the corporate culture
and hence identify them early.
Dr S Ranganathan, ClinRise Derma Pvt., Ltd., Chennai
Learn more from the following management books
1. Jungle wisdom for corporate management – lessons from the university of
nature by Swami Sukhabodhananda and Dr S Ranganathan
2. Nature – The Entrepreneur by Dr S Ranganathan