Communication is central to the implementation of planned change (Ch 11)

I agree with the authors that “once a change has been decided upon, it must be communicated to others”. Many times, I found out about up coming changes through the grapevine, most information was actually correct. However, each time, I was very frustrated by the silence of our managers. It did not matter who would communicate with me and how the information would circulate, what mattered to me what that someone would somehow communicate. When changes are imminent and communication does not happen, employees spend hours speculating about the details or just about whether the rumors are true or not. The lack of communication affects employee morale and eventually productivity. Awkward communication is therefore better than silence.

Box 11.1 Identifying Your Beliefs About Change (Ch 11)

I believe that change is difficult, complex but possible. People and organization do change. Based on my experience, it seems that people might agree with the goals an organization is trying to achieve but not with how the organization wants to reach these goals. In other words, employees might agree with the “what” but not the “how”. At my last company, our executive team thought that the only way back to profitability was to lay people off. While most employees agreed that we needed to get back to profitability they did not agree that the only was to lay people off. Many people thought about lowering our expenses, or cutting down on bonuses or business travel. It seems that the executive team wanted to find a short term, easy solution.

Stress versus Burnout (Ch 10)

The definition of stress on page 299 and the fact that it can be positive are interesting. I have always used the words stress and burnout interchangeably. It seem that people always complain about stress. The word is often used with a negative connotation. But I now can appreciate the difference. A few months ago, my Director, gave me a “challenge assignment”. It was an new opportunity for me that was both important and had a high level of uncertainty. I was both excited and stressed. Excited because I had been given an opportunity to show my skills and stressed because I might not be able to do what was expected of me. I can see how “stress” can be positive but I still believe that there is a fine line between stress as a positive force and stress as a negative force.

Styles of Conflict (Ch 10)

The diagram on page 290 showing various styles is very interesting. If I think about where I would position myself, I face a dilemma. For example, with my friends or socially I always place myself in the "collaborate" category. At work, in class or in more formal environment, I would place myself in the "accommodate" category but at home, I am definitely in the "compete" category. It is interesting to think about the different styles I might adopt based on situations in my life. The authors emphasize that all five styles are fine but to me they are based on specific situations. In my case, these styles are based on life “categories” not situations. I am always accommodating at work when in some situation maybe I should not be. This understanding is very consistent with what my manager wrote in my last review. He suggested that I work on becoming more assertive.

“Natural Competition” of the Market (Ch 10)

I understand how encouraging competition can benefit an organization. By trying to perform better than others, people increase their productivity and it helps the bottom line. While the short-term benefit for the company are obvious, I am not so sure about long-term benefits. A few years ago, one of my previous manager could not make up his mind about who to promote. He hesitated between me and my co-worker. So he decided to spit up our group of 6 people in two identical groups of 3 people. My co-worker managed one of the group and I managed the other. This was one of the worse decision I have seen. My co-worker and I started competing for the management of the entire group and the competition became very ugly. She, of course, never played fair. I remember about her spreading lies about me or taking credit for my ideas or always interrupting me when I was speaking at meeting to repeat exactly what I was saying. Eventually I decided to leave. My work environment has become to unhealthy for me. I was spending all my energy fighting her or defending myself. Neither one of us, nor our manager, was really thinking about what was best for the company. At the end, the company lost productivity and motivation and a great employee.

Gatekeepers and Power (Ch 9)

Five years ago, I decided that I no longer wanted to have a TV in my house. The main reason was that I realized that while people on TV did not tell me what to think, they definitely told me what to think about. This is an important distinction. I realized how information was manipulated to force me to think about certain topics. Sure, I was free to agree with X or Y, but I was not free to decided no to think about it. I know TV programs are evolving and with Tivo once has more freedom in what to think about. Yet, I don’t think we are at a point where I can completely customize the type of information I decide I want to receive.

Authority in Bureaucratic Organization (Ch 9)

Starting a new job is so fascinating for so many reasons. When I join a new team, I have a new way of looking at things. Sometimes this “new way” is encouraged, sometimes not. Questioning existing processes is often not encouraged. When I started my last job, my manager asked me to run a couple of reports once a month. I asked him who read the information and in what way the information provided helped in making decision. He could not answer. All he told me was that needed to do it because the person before me did it and that was the end of the conversation.

The "Who" of Power (Ch 9)

When I start a new job, I am usually introduced to the management within the first few days. However, the people in management are not always the one making decisions. The challenge, when starting a new job, is to find who is really in power and who decides what and when. This takes longer to find out. Once I find out where the real power resides then it becomes easier for me to do what I need to do to be successful. Then I know who I need to influence if I need a specific piece of equipment or collaboration from another team.

Defining Participation (Ch 8)

I never stopped and really thought of democratic participation at work and what it meant for me. I suppose that my definition would be something like taking into consideration everyone’s input. If I asked myself is this something that really happens in the work place? I would probably say that it depends on the level at which decisions are made. My perception is that democratic participation happens more towards the top of the organization, not in lower levels. My manager often asks for my option but has never, once, done what I suggested. So now, I only tell him what he wants to hear. Some organization promote being democratic but are not really.

The Ever Demanding Employers (Ch 8)

I agree with the statement “employees are required to participate more fully in their jobs than was true in the past”. I noticed that in my own career. When my manager hired me two years ago, he explained what was expected of me. Now, two years later, the same tasks are expected however, he slowly added more and more tasks expecting me to continue doing what I was hired for but also pick up new things along the way. It seems to me that management is never satisfied with continuation, they always try to push employees to do more. But at the end of the day, there is only so much one can do.

Situational Leadership (Ch 7)

I agree with the concepts described on page 191 in box 7.7. It is true that leaders should evaluate the situation they are in and choose a style that would work best with their audience or followers. I believe this is relatively easy to do when dealing with a few people or an homogenous group of people. However, the reality is very different. As the work environment evolves, small group of people are rarely homogenous. Groups might be composed by people from different countries, cultures, gender and age group. Some people might be new to the group while others might have worked for a specific department for many years. Therefore finding the right style for a group of people becomes more difficult.

The confusion about leadership (ch 7)

Last week, I received my review. One of the criteria my manager used to measure my performance was ‘leadership’. I thought about it and I was confused about what it really meant. My understanding on leadership was different than his. In my mind, I was not a great leader but in his I was. Reading about leadership helps me understand why we did not define leadership the same way. It seems that there is an academia definition of leadership and a business definition. As the authors state, people often tends to use interchangeably the terms “leaders” and “managers”. My manager was defining leadership as management. I was defining it more as an “influential person”. In order words, for him I was “doing things right” while I thought that I was not “doing the right thing”.

Synthetic Personalization of Communication (Ch 6)

The paragraph on page 155 is really interesting. I had never heard of the concept of “synthetic personalization of communication” or “technologizing of relational encounters”. It is true that when I emotionally connect with a representative, whoever this person is, from a company I tend to view the company in a more positive light. I would consequently go back to this company and continue to buy the product or the service. For example, it is necessary for me to connect with my hairdresser. If I do, then I’ll keep going back. Thinking about how these relationships may affect society is really scary to me. I had noticed more superficial relationship around me and I attributed the cause to the increased usage of computers. I never imagined that the cause might also come from the synthetic personalization of communication.

Personal Relationship with coworkers (Ch 6)

A few months ago, I received a chain email. It displayed a series of silly sentences intended to make me laugh. One I recall said something about only keeping in touch with people who have an email address. At first I laugh but then I stopped because I realized that it was true. I was shocked. I had been ignoring my friends who did not have an email address, I even lost touch with some of them. It really make me sad. For some strange reason picking up the phone was not really something I would thing of. In parallel, as the authors of the book state, I noticed that my social and personal relationships with coworkers were increasing (page 143). I was becoming more friends with people I worked with and less friends with people that I did not work with or people that I could not connect with via email. I tried to reverse this trend but eventually I accepted it. I guess it was easier.

Relationships and Productivity (Ch 6)

Reading about relationships and productivity on page 141 reminds me of my ex-manager. She was the perfect manager, the one you don’t even know can exist. Of all the manager’s I have had, she was the best. As an example, one day I was sick at home and she knew I was too sick to eat, so she decided to bring me lunch. She genuinely cared about me as a person and as a friend. She also showed me that my work mattered. She listened and addressed my concerns. In return I cared about her too and because of our relationship I was very productive. I worked long hours and weekends because I wanted her to look good. The nicer she was to me the more productive I was. Our relationship was a real partnership, based on trust. Unfortunately, this is very rare and only few people really understand and implement what she understood.

Struggling to be heard (Ch 5)

It is true that we encounter an enormous number of corporate messages daily through various media such as TV, radio, internet or junk mail. I understand the need for companies to be heard and to send a clear message to potential customers. However, as a customer, I often feel overwhelmed by messages and by choices. Some companies even go too far in how they send their message. I remember a specific instance where a company send me a weekly letter for me to apply to their credit card. They send me letters weekly for over a year. I finally had to reply to the company and tell them that I was considering these letters as “harassment”. They stopped sending me the letters. Finding the right message and the right amount of communication is difficult and a constant struggle for companies. Very few achieve success without over communicating.

Organizational Identification (Ch 5)

While I was an undergrad student, I worked part-time for a non-profit organization. I wanted to contribute somehow to a good cause. I cared about certain things and I defined myself by where I worked. I initially completely identified and embraced my organization’s identity. However, as time went by, I saw things that made me uneasy and heard about decisions that I was not completely agreeing with. For example, the way we functioned, like most non-profit organizations, was based on donations. As we expanded and received more donations, the need for hiring more people became obvious and as consequence we needed to find a bigger location. I agreed with the principle but I did not agree with the specific location chosen. My management decided to go with a very fancy office location that, to me, looked more like a small business than a small non-profit organization. A lot of money was spent in decoration and fancy offices. Eventually, I stopped identifying with the organizational identity and left to find another place to work.

Building a Strong Individual-Organization Relationship (Ch 4)

I found the concepts presented in box page 101 very interesting. I can relate to the first stages listed. When I joined my last company, my interviewers painted a great realistic image of the environment. My “entry” was successful and so was my “learning” stage. I was able to quickly find my role in the company. In the “negotiation” stage, my manager gave me excellent feedback on my performance however things started heading in the wrong direction when I reached the “mutuality” stage. By that point I had another manager who did not quite see things the same way I did. The opportunities presented to me did not allow me to continue my growth. I think that is a difficult phase to be in for both companies and employees. Economic downturns and company difficulties do not allow for managers to focus on employees growth, during these times most managers focus on getting work done and survival.