Think of it as a kind of organisational flu or, in its most virulent form, a corporate 'cancer' that is not only malignant but also contagious.
When negativity strikes the workplace, it can damage staff morale and the bottom line. Office pessimism is often a self-inflicted condition, usually bred by management's poor handling of change and business shifts.
With rampant companies gobbling each other up, or constantly shifting in size and business focus, Asia is especially susceptible to the negativity virus.
In a global study concluded last year, human resources consultants Right Management - a unit of Manpower - interviewed 29,000 people, including 9,000 from Asia, to determine levels of job satisfaction and commitment to their companies.
'We found that over 50 per cent didn't like what they were doing, or they liked what they were doing but they didn't like who they were doing it for,' said Michael Haid, senior vice-president for Right Management's global solutions team.
Based on a survey this year, Haid's group found 67 per cent of senior executives and HR professionals said change at work was frequently having a negative impact on workers' attitudes.
