Thursday, October 04, 2007 Cena: On behavior in the workplace! By Rolo B. Cena Pulp Bits
THE advent of modern-age technology reinvented the science of personnel management, especially in dealing with infractions.
Medium-sized companies today simply hire managers without considering hiring personnel managers or human resource and development managers, to be appropriate in title. For one, it is an added cost; second, the expense of hiring a non-earning position can be diverted to an earning position, so why bother.
Which is why, people in the management often ask questions like "what is happening to him?" or "why is he behaving that way?"
Lately, my colleague solicited my assistance to diagnose one incident in their workplace, which I, without any reservation, accepted. Not because she is a friend but because it is my interest - organization development and human resource management.
She narrated that three assistants had a series of verbal fights with their supervisor. She narrated that the supervisor is the type of person whose commanding presence in the workplace is as domineering as his "commanding" attitude in dealing with people, situation, of function. He does not cease working until everything is done; he does not stop unless requirements are perfected. The supervisor shouts especially when deadlines are not met.
Further, my colleague narrated that the three assistants are believed to be irresponsible, always come to work late, and they most of the time deliver late because they are always caught texting or chatting.
Based on these, initially, there are already two types of behavior being employed by the two camps: the supervisor is a "commander" while the assistants "drifters."
Francie Dalton of Dalton Allied Services classified workers into seven types, the first two of which aptly describes the type of workers my friend has.
"Commanders" are curt and controlling. They don't waste time on petty things. While they don't mean to offend, they often forsake tact to get their point across. As a boss, a commander often fails to delegate important assignments.
"Drifters" are averse to structure and often have trouble with rules, work hours, and deadlines. They often lose track of details and can neglect to see a project through to completion.
After confirming that these are the behaviors of the parties involved, she asked, "And what could have been done?"
Exactly, that's why she solicited my assistance. Human resource management is a crucial as meeting sales targets and production quotas. Human resource managers are as valuable as sales managers or production managers. Don't ever forget that!
In response, if one happens to have a "commander" boss, one should strive to earn their trust and demonstrate that he or she also prioritizes structure and results. Communicating to the boss about instructions not clear is one best way to beat him.
And because commanders are perfectionists, the management should talk to him to lower his standard and consider the "little" things demonstrated by staff for as long as quality and income are not jeopardized.
On the other hand, shorter and easy assignments or tasks should have been given to the three assistants.
Drifters are affable and their disorganization can be off-putting. This type of people makes managers seem ineffective. The best that should have been done was unloading the three assistants of those functions they have failed to perform and gradually assign these to them after a period. Training drifters to value work the way they value their lives can be effective.
Human resource management should also be in place. The management should also learn how to invest on people, especially on training and seminars. The management should also make the workplace as conducive to working as required and should provide better compensation and benefits package to the employees, too.
At any rate, concrete rules and regulations on discipline should be implemented. Stern warnings should be given for every infraction so it is easy to deal with matters, in the technical and legal sense.
