A Cult of Abuse and Victimization Part 2 of 4

A Cult of Abuse and Victimization;

            The Dysfunctional Inner Circle of the National Park Service (NPS)

Part 2 of 4- A Collective Call for Help

In every Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey <http://www.fedview.opm.gov/> since 2004, the NPS has hovered in the bottom-most rankings for Employee Satisfaction results. The year 2012 was no exception with the overall ranking of the NPS work force dropping to 163rd for all federal agencies.  The NPS would rate dead last in the ranking if the overall numbers for NPS survey results were not bolstered by employees’ very high response to questions about their personal dedication and commitment to the mission and their beliefs that the work they are doing is worthwhile and important.

A careful reading of these employee viewpoint survey results will illustrate that the source of the overall low rankings for the NPS include very low responses to question related to: 1) the effectiveness of NPS merit system, 2) trust and confidence in manager and supervisors, and 3) opportunities for employees to effectively participate in fulfilling the mission of the agency.  All of these issues can be summed-up as the abuse of power by predatory NPS managers and supervisors.  The above website does not allow you parse the NPS results from the rest of the Department of the Interior (DOI).  The National Parks Traveler <http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/11/national-park-service-falls-best-places-work-rankings9091> does a fair job of outlining the generalities of the NPS data, considering this organization is responsible for promoting use of the National Parks.  To fully comprehend how damning the survey results are to the policies and actions of the predatory NPS management, I will refer your to the data website for the survey, which will require from you a certain familiarity with spreadsheet files to obtain the NPS results <http://www.fedview.opm.gov/2012FILES/FEVS2012_PRDF_CSV.zip>. It is not surprising that citizen access to the NPS survey results is difficult and convoluted.  Remember, a key step toward victimization requires the predator to isolate and control the victim.  An important component of this isolation and control for the NPS as a predatory organization is the control of information.  The Federal Employee Viewpoint Surveys clearly show that NPS employees are experiencing undue stress, anxiety, and impaired job satisfaction as a result of actions (or inactions) by manager and supervisors.  It is not surprising that the  results are of theses surveys are purposely obfuscated by the NPS and the DOI because ready access to these survey reports may create sympathy for the victims of NPS predatory and abusive managers.   Remember, from the first part of this series, that two of the requisite conditions for victimization, predation, and abuse involve isolating and controlling the victim.  Controlling information is an effective method of isolating a victim.  If a victim cries out for help and only the abuser hears the cries, does the victim still need intervention?

This culture of institutionalized abuse and predation within the NPS is implemented and perpetrated by the same three stages that Leslie Morgan Steiner describes for victimization in the cases of domestic violence in her book Crazy Love: 1) seduction, 2) isolation, and 3) dominance and control. In the NPS, these steps are particularly egregious because the cult of personality within the NPS effectively creates and sustains this victimization by providing the venue, opportunities, and institutional precedents for abusers within the NPS to prey upon their victims.  

Chad Montreaux

Newell, CA