Corporate Weirdos - Part 6
Yes, I'm doing this series after a long time. But, today I'm not gonna talk about 'weirdos' in the strict sense of the term. This is a practical problem faced by all organizations (well, almost all)...It is the lack of support from the 'support' teams in the firm....Many, have written humorous and not so humorous accounts of difficulties faced from HR, Network team, Finance Desk and Travel Desk...
I have been subject to very rude treatment from my support teams the past two days, despite me trying to pamper their egos infinitely...and that made me wonder why? My answer lies here:
1. Under paid and over worked: Most often they compare salaries with people in the line functions and feel that they are being under paid and over worked...The feeling that they are doing a thankless job adds to their frustrations...The end result is they never lose a chance to test the patience of the 'better-offs'...
2. Lack of training: While these teams are busy organising and funding trainings, nobody bothers to train them on how to treat the rest of the organization as their internal clients. The very least they can be taught is to shed their high handedness and treat people who are literally at their mercy with some mercy :P
3. The 'us' vs 'them' approach: That's the mindset which governs the relationship between line functions and support teams most often. The line function very often considers the support teams 'second rung' citizens, and in turn get treated that way when they approach for 'support'...I guess, if this adversarial mentality is dropped and if truly both sides work as one, administrative hassles in most organizations can drop significantly...
4. Multiple levels of approvals: While these are essentially a sign of good internal control, I feel a much better way is to trust your employees and then punish defaulters harshly...Most often, employees will not misuse trust, especially when the consequences are costly...
I hope corporate senior managements wake up and realise the importance of these teams in making organizations 'people friendly' and allocate budgets accordingly...And I hope both sides treat each other as human beings....
I have been subject to very rude treatment from my support teams the past two days, despite me trying to pamper their egos infinitely...and that made me wonder why? My answer lies here:
1. Under paid and over worked: Most often they compare salaries with people in the line functions and feel that they are being under paid and over worked...The feeling that they are doing a thankless job adds to their frustrations...The end result is they never lose a chance to test the patience of the 'better-offs'...
2. Lack of training: While these teams are busy organising and funding trainings, nobody bothers to train them on how to treat the rest of the organization as their internal clients. The very least they can be taught is to shed their high handedness and treat people who are literally at their mercy with some mercy :P
3. The 'us' vs 'them' approach: That's the mindset which governs the relationship between line functions and support teams most often. The line function very often considers the support teams 'second rung' citizens, and in turn get treated that way when they approach for 'support'...I guess, if this adversarial mentality is dropped and if truly both sides work as one, administrative hassles in most organizations can drop significantly...
4. Multiple levels of approvals: While these are essentially a sign of good internal control, I feel a much better way is to trust your employees and then punish defaulters harshly...Most often, employees will not misuse trust, especially when the consequences are costly...
I hope corporate senior managements wake up and realise the importance of these teams in making organizations 'people friendly' and allocate budgets accordingly...And I hope both sides treat each other as human beings....
Comments
corporate=bah!
:P