Whistle-blowing

From Chapter 11 entitled Working with Integrity in the subsection Conscious Integrity the concept of whistle-blowing is introduced. This is discussed often in my business classes and is a tough topic when having to decide whether or not to follow through with “blowing the whistle”. Whistle-blowing is basically alerting important people about something unethical or irresponsible happening in an organization or any other form of business. Normally this would be the authorities, FDA etc. There are many pros and cons that must be weighed before a whistle is actually blown. Will you lose your job? Is this truly unethical or something you just do not like? Are you trying to get back at someone for treating you unfairly at work? Will this tarnish your reputation whenever you try to get another job? Do you have evidence to back up your accusations? These are just a few questions you should ask yourself before “blowing the whistle”. I am lucky enough to have worked at places that, as far as I know, are honest and ethical. I did however; have the whistle blown falsely on me in order for someone to hurt my reputation….

There was a woman who wanted my job as manager and when she did not get it she got on the board (my bosses) and told everyone I was fudging my time card and stealing. Now this place was like my second home I had been swimming there since I was born and every member was like part of my family, plus I am not one to EVER do something like that. No one did anything about her accusations while I worked there and eventually my mom ended up becoming President of the board after I left and she had the lawyer on the board conduct an investigation. When this woman was confronted about the investigation she immediately quit, suspicious no?

So before you blow the whistle make sure your evidence is valid, can back you up, and that you are doing it for the right reasons.

Organizational Development (OD)

From Chapter 10 entitled Organizational Alignment in the sub section Organizational Development (OD) on pages 323 – 326 OD professionals express three lessons they have learned: (1) People still want to be inspired, (2) People are more likely to support something they helped to create, and (3) Actions still speak louder than words. Organizational development “deals with the facilitation of strategic systems of change,” and the lessons above are things that must be promoted in order to facilitate change and have people are willing to go along with it. It is important to remember that you cannot force anyone to change, they will when they are ready. Work is still looked at as something with meaning through the lives of an organization’s employees and they must be given ample opportunities to be a part of that organization. When I was a manger I did my best to make my employees feel like they were doing something good for others, especially by making sure lives were safe and keeping the facility clean. I also rewarded guards for going above and beyond while at work in order to show others that working hard does have its good sides and that everyone is happy when the employees are.

Bullying in the Workplace

From Chapter 9 entitled Communicating Leadership in the sub section Bullying in the Workplace on pages 297-298 the process by which a leader can be a bully is discussed. Robyn Mann defines bullying in four different parts: (1) Verbally through name calling, threats, or personal attacks (2) Indirect verbal through gossip, slander, or innuendos (3) Nonverbal through looks, gestures, or ignoring and (4) Manipulation through withholding important information, setting unreasonable deadlines, excluding from deadlines, and so on. Bullying can take many forms subtle or not, but the fact of the matter is that it all starts young. The way a child bullies their peers is the same ways a boss bullies their employees. I, luckily, I have never to experience a boss who bullied me however, my mom has. Her boss, I think, is the worst boss anyone could ever have and she did her best to make my mom feel out of place, that she did not do a good job, and that no one liked her. As it turns out the boss was bitter because she wanted her friend to get the job that my mom got and tried to run her off, it worked, but her friend still did not get the job!

People can be incredibly cruel if they want to be and the fact that people are so willing to make someone miserable is disheartening. I hope one day people can learn to deal with confrontations, misunderstandings, or personality clashes maturely and work it out together without the use of bullying and pressure.

Dialogic Democracy

In the web lecture Democracy and Dialogue all the different forms of democracy are discussed but I will focus on Dialogic Democracy, “a form of democracy emphasizing inquiry, participation, and dialogue in decision making.” However, in order to be successful in discussion and dialogue is based on “a profound willingness and ability to engage in differences without judgment,” meaning that people who interact must be willing to be their differences aside or at least try to understand them. It is also important for organizations to be able to communicate effectively in order to be successful in the long run. Everyone must work together to create successful dialogue. However, this does not mean that people can say whatever they want; they must be active listeners too. One must be willing to express their own ideas and hear others as well. The only issue is that all this communication takes time and in our fast paced world some get left behind.
I have stated before that my boss can be terrible at communicating and then suggests I should know everything without having to be told. No business can be successful until all communication lines are open, free, and done correctly. The communicator has to convey the message to someone and that someone must listen actively in order to obtain the information given. Hopefully one day my buss will be able to communicate.

Groupthink

From Chapter 8 entitled Teams and Networks in the sub section Decision-Making Processes on page 205 the concept of groupthink is introduced. Groupthink “is a well-known problem associated with team decision making initially identified by psychologist Irving Janis, occurs when team members go along with, rather than evaluate, the group’s proposals or ideas.” Groupthink can be detrimental to a team because members do not express their ideas or concerns instead they go along with what the group decides no matter how bad the final decision is. I have noticed in many groups at school people do not like to be the first to speak so I will start shooting out ideas and everyone just goes along with whatever I say. I could say let’s do a project about unicorns and everyone would say “yeah great Idea,” etc. So I have noticed that I give an idea and go around the group and have others bring up their own ideas and we then vote as a group – I will then voice my concerns and ask for others, and eventually people begin to participate and chime in when necessary. Groupthink can be a bad path to follow so avoid it at all costs!

Gender Communication Differences

From Chapter 7 entitled Identity and Difference in Organizational Life in the sub section Frame 1: Gender Differences at Work on pages 204 to 206 the authors support the case that men engage in report talk and women in rapport talk. Men use a style that emphasizes demonstrations of skills, commanding, direct, assertiveness etc, while women use a style that emphasizes experiences, support, listening, tentativeness, and personal relationships. Women are incredibly different when it comes to communicating in the workplace and it does not always mesh. My boss and I have a hard time communicating a lot of the time; however, I have learned to work around his lack of communication skills. He expects me to know dates and times without telling me about them so I have had to go around him to figure out important information I need to know. I do feel that men focus more on status and power then women who prefer to focus on personal relationships and a lot of them really care about what people think of them. The lack of communication between men and women is fun though; they can never figure us out!

Work/Life Conflict

From Chapter 7 entitled Identity and Difference in Organizational Life in the sub section Organizing Difference in Organizations on page 203 the topic of work/life conflict is discussed. Here the authors define it as the “simultaneous influence of work on members’ lives away from work – at home, at leisure, and in families and communities – and the influence of personal life responsibilities and aspirations on members’ experiences at work.” The discussion focuses around women and how they are normally the ones who have to find this balance of life and work and normally have a hard time doing so. They work and then go home and work – the cycle seems to never end. My mom is a perfect example of this – she works 16 hour days and is also President of our neighborhood pool, while also being a mom and a wife. She never rests. I recently did an interview with her about what it means to her to be a woman and she said that women never get to relax and that my brother said to her when he was little “Mommy you work all the time,” because he never saw her sitting down and relaxing, she was always busy. I do feel that women do have to work harder than men in order to prove themselves in the workplace while also having to take on the domestic responsibilities. Luckily more and more men and stepping it up and helping their wives manage the home but that extra time can lead to more time spent at work which can run someone down. I sometimes find that I overwork myself between school and two jobs - I get pretty stressed out, especially when I have a bunch of things due, I have to be at work all day and I do not get home till after 9 – but hopefully this will help me better manage my time in the future when I have a family.