On 19 Jun 96 Rol Fessenden wrote -
> Tobin asks if the data about mistrust of management that I quoted is reflective
> of trustworthiness and integrity of management or of workers' lack of direct
> contact. In my opinion, it is entirely due to lack of contact. The source of
> this mistrust is identical to the sources of racism. What we don't know or
> understand is uncomfortable. Easier to denounce and belittle than to
> understand. Only my opinion. I suspect that the mistrust flows in both
> directions as well.
I agree that lack of contact creates unknowns and thus plays a large
part in creating mistrust. But it is totally under the control of the
boss(es). Contact forces bosses to see and hear the problems which
juniors have. If they then do the reasonable thing of assuming
responsibility for these problems and seeing to their satisfactory
(to the affected employee) resolution, they become caring bosses
worthy of respect. This makes juniors more receptive to orders, but
also makes bosses realize that juniors are good people who need far
fewer orders than they would otherwise think.
But the truth is that any boss is the supplier of many elements of
support to employees who must have high quality support in order to
succeed at their jobs. Without lots of contact with these customers
of support, no boss can produce high quality support. This is a
truism of any supplier-customer relationship and is no less true in
the boss-junior relationship. The boss gets to decide the outcome,
but most don't seem to understand the true characteristics of their
relationship with their juniors.
Once this relationship is understood, many other issues quickly fall
into place.
Regards, Joan
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Joan Pomo The Finest Tools for Managing People
Simonton Associates Based on the book
jpomo@gate.net "How to Unleash the Power of People"
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations
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