Employee Humor

The highlight of my business days are oftentimes the antics of a handful of employees.  They are overwhelmed and stressed, and yet they choose tears of laughter over bitterness.  For a moment their laughter will change the environment, bringing laughter and a bit of a brighter day to their co-workers. 

 

It's a shame that positive morale such as this can't be recognized on a performance evaluation. 

How would you, as an employer, recognize such ambassadors of goodwill?

Workplace Bullying Increasing

New survey results.  And no, the results aren’t good.  CareerBuilder released the results of a survey addressing workplace bullying.  The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive (May 14 – June 4, 2012), collected the responses of more than 3,800 workers nationwide.  The survey found that 35% of the respondents admitted they felt bullied on the job.  Unfortunately, that’s an 8% increase from last year.    

Bullies are found at all levels of the organization. The largest offender?  The boss at 48% followed by co-workers at 45%.  In a 2005 survey, when participants were asked to identify factors "which impair their organization's ability to deal effectively with bullying, the most commonly cited factors were management's unwillingness to acknowledge that a problem exists, and the prevailing management style."   Where are we 7 years later?  We acknowledge that a problem exists, but we're not making much headway in solving the problem. 

Bullying takes many forms:

• applying different standards to different people;
• constant criticism;
• ignoring an employee;
• false accusations of mistakes.

No matter what shape or form bullying takes, it can cause more harm that just hurt feelings.   Seventeen percent of the respondents to the survey indicated that they quit their jobs to escape the situation.  Sixteen percent said they suffered health-related problems as a result of being the target.

CareerBuilder released the results of their survey for Canadian employees on August 29^th.  How did our neighbors to the North do?  Of the 552 full-time employed Canadians, 45% of respondents said they were bullied.  The source:  24% coworkers, 23% immediate boss, 17% higher manager.  Twenty six percent of the bullied workers stopped their bullying by quitting their jobs.  A larger survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute indicated that 28% of the targets voluntarily quit, but another 25% quit after being forced out (constructive discharge).

The Workplace Bullying Institute defines bullying as "repeated, health-harming, mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators. .. . ".   Workplace bullying may violate an organizations ethics standards, company policies or even the law.   Review your policies.  Has anyone in your workplace been subjected to bullying?  What steps have you taken to eradicate bullying from your workplace?

 

 

Office Politics. Is Survival Possible?

Organizational politics refers to behaviors “that occur on an informal basis within an organization and involve intentional acts of influence that are designed to protect or enhance individuals’ professional careers when conflicting courses of action are possible” (Drory, 1993; Porter, Allen, & Angle, 1981).

Politics are the unseen elephant in the living room. We know it’s there, it’s just difficult to define and describe. And politics, seen or not, have a long-term negative affect on the organization and ultimately, organizational outcomes are damaged.  I have provided examples below of some the more obvious results of politics: 

1. Environment: Politics lead to a negative environment; spoiling relationships among individuals.   The overall climate of the organization may have an influence on an employees’ performance through mistrust, threats, defensiveness, low support, and/or poor communication.
2. Demotivator: No matter how much hard work an employee puts in, it goes unnoticed in a politically driven organization.  The employee who works hard is not rewarded suitably versus the non performer who is rewarded due to politics (favoritism rather than merit determines who gets ahead).
3. Increased Stress:  Politics increase the stress levels of employees (mistrust, threats, defensiveness, etc.). 
4. Information: Information is manipulated and either not passed on in its desired form, or is withheld. Managers/Supervisors have an incorrect view of what is happening in the organization.
5. Turnover (Organizational Commitment):  An employees’ desire to remain in the organization and/or willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization are greatly impacted by politics and behaviors. 

R. Buckminster Fuller (Critical Path) said that rather than attempting to teach people the right things to do, one should design organizations such that doing the right things was simply the path of least resistance.   Good advice.

Here's some ideas to help you survive a politically driven environment:

• Maintain your composure.
• Have those “hard” conversations and make your case.  The truth is hard to resist (however, there may be some harm to the messenger).
• Be the best you can be.
• Never join other voices to persecute the establishment.
• Never join hands to persecute a co-worker.
• Learn to know each co-worker individually and not base a relationship on gossip.

 

Cultural Change - Survival of the Fittest

Are there petty problems, constant crisis, ongoing conflict, power struggles, disagreements and drama? Is there a highly politicized internal environment where issues are resolved on basis of political clout?  Is there hostility to change where experimentation and efforts to alter status quo are discouraged?  If you answered "yes" to any of the above, you’re a victim of a dysfunctional organization.

It takes experienced management to understand how a dysfunctional culture develops and to actively work to avoid it.    As I stated in a previous blog, we “hire ourselves” and as a result, oftentimes dysfunctional factors creep into an organization.  The organization may begin to reflect a Darth Vader aspect of leadership (entitlement, narcissism, abuse of power).   It’s  organizational insanity.  We're doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  And, it's just not happening.    To change the culture we have to consciously change all the elements that have developed over the years to make up the system. 

An organization must be open to reality.    . .. “If a company’s internal culture isn’t healthy – if it isn’t focused on the right values and goals, and if it isn’t behaving in the right way – then ultimately, that will become apparent to the outside world."  With any organization the question must be asked, "are we (management and employees) moving in the same direction, toward the same goals?”

I have read a couple of interesting articles referencing the use of peer pressure.  Because we tend to conform to the behavior of people around us, the use of peer pressure may be key to changing an organizations culture.   Locate those employees that others look up to and admire.  If they are on-board with the culture change, they can model the behavior (best practices) that you want others to follow.    These individuals can enlist enthusiasm and a dedicated effort to achieve the company objectives.  Peer pressures that exists to display the core values.   

Promote positive change.  Bring in new blood, replacing traditional managers.  Change dysfunctional policies, change reward structures, reinforce culture through both word and deed.  Put constructive pressure on the company to achieve good results.  Promote and enable your cultural drivers!

Top 25 Signs of a Dysfunctional Workplace

Ran across this great article from 2008, Top 25 Signs of a Dysfunctional Workplace.  Published by HR World, I thought I'd share some of my personal highlights.  For the full article, the link has been provided. 

 

http://www.hrworld.com/features/25-signs-dysfunctional-workplace

1.  Nothing gets done without the bosses approval.  (Bottleneck anyone?) 

2.  Nothing can get done unless employees go behind the bosses back.  (If "it" works - you're gold.  If not, see #16 below.)

3.  No one is sure who the boss really is.

10.  Reward system?  What reward system?  (You can't have a stick and no carrot!)

16.  "Wall of Shame."  (Boss openly chastises employees in public.) 

21.  What matters is not what you've accomplished in a day, but how many hours you were seen "working."  (Let's reward productivity, not time spent in the office.)

25.  No one ever gets fired, no matter how ineffective they are at their job.  (Would someone please explain this to me????)

 

 

Letting Go - The Culture of Change

The only thing constant is change.    It encompasses every aspect of our lives.  We encourage the acceptance of new ideas and yet we resist the inherent change those new ideas bring.  We fight the loss of old patterns and the acceptance of new ones.   

Changing organization culture is a very difficult goal to achieve.  There are commonly shared interpretations, values and patterns that must be changed and yet are difficult to modify.   When employees face change within the organization, there are two obstacles to their success.  The social-psychological fear of the change and/or the lack of technical skills to make the change work.  For change to be truly successful within an organization, both weaknesses and fears must be addressed.  Leaders need to be open to discussing concerns with the employees, to clarify the meaning of the change.  What the change means and what it doesn’t mean to the organization.  “An organization should not abandon core aspects of what makes it unique, whereas some other aspects of the organization will need to be transformed.”  Culture is undetectable most of the time because it is not challenged. 

We’re going through reorganization.  Yes, structure does make a difference.  But we must transform the culture; change the way we do things, to be successful.  We must incorporate new ideas and practices.   Changing organizational culture is one of the toughest tasks we’ll ever undertake.  In any organization the established organizational culture is reinforced by new hires because we hire ourselves.  To change the culture, we need commitment to the change, understanding of the impact of the change to the organization and its people, and the tools to implement the change.

Transgender Status Protected under Title VII

On April 20, 2012 the EEOC released a decision in the case of Macy v. Eric Holder, Attorney General, Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, holding that a person undergoing a change in gender identify is protected from discrimination by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of  1964.

Employee File Access

If you are located in Texas and you are a private employer, under Texas law the personnel files belong to the employer.  As a result, employees have no legal right to either view them or copy them. 

Although the employer is not required to allow employees to review their files or receive copies, employers often times set their own policies.  Depending on the employer, the employee may be able to see their files, and/or make copies. 

No matter what your policy is.  Make sure you follow it.