Articles
What Makes Employees Mad - Part I | What Makes Employees Mad - Part II
Workplace Wrath: Using Anger to Build | All Praise to the Supervisor | Listen First
Feedback: The Breakfast of Champions | The Emperor’s New Clothes - Providing Negative Feedback
Practicing Safe Stress

What Makes Employees Mad - Part III?

“We have an ‘Us and Them’ problem in this plant,” the manger of a Gulf Coast plant told me. “The hourly employees do not want to accept responsibility,” he continued. “They don’t understand the pressures of the global market and how it affects the vary existence of this plant. We need them to fully participate in the solution to this problem.’

The comparison was striking, when as an independent facilitator, I debriefed the hourly employees. Here are some of their comments: “… they use threats to motivate us … if you don’t like it here you can leave!” , “…they treat us like kids”, “…they cannot admit it when they make a mistake” , “They don’t trust us”, “Let us alone and let us do our jobs”, and “We care more about this plant than anyone".

The first two articles on what make employees mad concerned the lack of respect and motivation through listening. If management learned those first two lessons and were now showing respect by listening, what would be their understanding of these employee comments? When I heard their concerns, it was in a raw and uncensored form, full of emotions. Deciphering these concerns of the hourly employees, I came to several conclusions. One, they were angry and they, had like management perceived, the “us and them’ barrier. Two, they wanted to be trusted and respected. Three was their concern about their plant; they cared what happened! This was the common denominator that could unite the “us to the them”!

All people want the same thing regardless if they are the president or the janitor; and that is a sense of power! It is true that certain disposition and personalities tend to gravitate to positions of authority but everyone wants to have some control over what and how they perform their work and to receive respect for their accomplishments.

Another way of expressing this truth, humans have four basic needs that are required to maintain a sense of emotional wellness; to love and be loved, and to feel worthwhile to themselves and others. Think about it; if you had all those emotional needs met wouldn’t you be more contented? In the last part of this century, corporations began to recognizing that in addition to earning a living; people have certain needs that require satisfaction. If the job site met some of these needs, the result would produce a more content and productive employee.

What is the key ingredient required for blending the “us” into the “them”? It is respect through the sharing of power; allowing employees a degree of control that was never available when management “treats us like kids,” do not “trust us,” or don’t “… let us do our job.” Although this concept is simple, it is incredibly difficult philosophy to implement.

Aren’t supervisors judged by how well their team performs? Since this job is how the supervisor feeds his family, the sharing of power is a difficult transition to achieve. What happens if the employees mess up? What happens if the supervisor empowers her employees and they refuse to accept the increased responsibility now required? How will my manager appraise me? How about the supervisor’s own needs; will failure cause me not to feel worthwhile to my boss or myself? These are real concerns to overcome.

However, it is the fear that locks us into old paradigms that are archaic but difficult to let go. However, it will only be when management changes, and the “us and them” begin to disappear and teamwork will increase. The need is apparent, the results are phenomenal, but the transition is very difficult. To quote another hourly employee, “If management doesn’t change; eliminating the “us and them’ will be a dream!” What is needed is the leadership to turn this dream of empowerment into reality.