In this story, we have Edmund, a happily married man with 3 young children. He holds a managerial position in his company. Over the years, he had developed a good working relationship with his boss, Jamie, the director of the department. She was an approachable and understanding lady who treated her colleagues and subordinates like her family.
About half a year ago, there were some staff changes in the department and Edmund had a new boss, Sally. After working under her for a period of 6 months, he was starting to feel very stressed as Sally's working style was significantly different from Jamie's. Sally was a result-oriented person and had a more authoritarian leadership style as compared to Jamie's participative style. In addition, she was a workaholic. This was manifested in the numerous times Edmund was made to stay back to do overtime (OT) work in order to complete his work on the same day.
Initially, he took it in his stride. However, after an extended period of time, he realised that he had less time to spend with his family. By the time he reached home, he would only be able to spend an hour or two with his family before the children went to bed. Often, he would be so drained of his energy after a long day's work that all he wanted to do after reaching home was to sleep.
Additionally, he felt that his boss made unreasonable demands very frequently. An example would be calling up the managers in the department for a meeting just before he was about to get off work. Interestingly, the company has a flexible working hours system which allows the workers to choose their working hours. Edmund's working hours are officially from 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. while Sally's are from 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
On many occasions, Sally would call for a meeting after 5 pm, just as Edmund was about to leave the office. There were times he tried to reflect his opinion that the meetings could be held eariler during the day, or postponed to the next day since not everyone officially ends work at the same time. However, Sally ignored his comments and left him with no choice but to comply. He felt that Sally was being too demanding and insensitive to his feelings. Also, he found it difficult to communicate with Sally as she always spoke in a condescending and curt manner. Overall, he became very unhappy at work and has even thought of resigning from his job.
What should Edmund do to get himself out of this situation and improve his working relationship with his boss?
Hello Hui Juen!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a difficult situation to handle. And it's rather sensitive too, since it involves the boss. One possible way of handling this would be to get more people to voice their concerns. If more people appear to be unhappy with Sally's way of working, she might change her working style. It could be a while before Edmund sees any change but I think it's worth the wait.
Alternatively, bringing the issue up to the management might help resolve this problem. However, it has the tendency to create new problems such as bitter relations between Edmund and Sally. And bitter working relations is bad news, especially if the boss is not going to be professional about it (i.e. make life even more difficult for Edmund).
Personally, I feel the first suggestion is the way to go. However, if all else fails, Edmund might have to resort to the second suggestion. He could try to wait it out, not do anything and hope for the best but I'm not sure whether that is really going to help.
What do you think?
Great suggestions Puva!
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that Edmund should try to avoid highlighting the issue to higher management levels unless he is able to do so anonymously or if is is absolutely confident that this move will not jeopardise his relations with his boss. This would however, be a very tricky situation to handle.
I guess the waiting would help, especially if others feel the same way as Edmund. After all, more people = more power, at least for most of the time. Personally, I feel that in the mean time, Edmund should find outlets to destress, by engaging in his favourite hobbies. Family support is also very important as there's nothing more comforting than to know that your family is behind you. Being in a more relaxed state of mind would probably prevent him from making any irrational and judgemental decisions in the future if his boss behaves in an uinreasonable manner again.
Thanks for your suggestions!
Hey Hui Juen and Puva,
ReplyDeleteI agree that alerting higher management would be a tricky issue - the fact that Edmund's boss is now his boss could mean that the company is becoming a slave-driving one, thus making his concerns known to management might make it seem like he's too much of a weakling to stay on in the firm.
I agree with Puva that Edmund should leave the company. He might have to take a pay cut at his next job, but it's important to spend time with his family, right?
You know, this scenario is pretty similar to what my sister is going through right now - she works in the client's office from 9 to 6, but then continues working from home after that, and even on weekends! Very sad, huh?
Hi Hui Juen!
ReplyDeletePersonally I agree with Puva that Edmund should get more people with him to voice their concerns. I took this psychology mod last year and there was this experiment whereby a group of 6 people who came together to vote on which stick was longer. 5 of them were actually testers while 1 was a totally random stranger. So when asked to vote for the longer stick, the 5 testers actually voted for the shorter stick. This lead to the stranger choosing the shorter stick as the longer stick. This was because of psychological effects from a large group of people voting on the same option.
So similarly in your mentioned situation, having a group of people voicing the same concerns would be useful, not to intimidate their boss but to pressure her to give in.
But if it still does not work, quitting would be a good solution! As the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side.
Hello Hui Juen, Vanessa and Franson!
ReplyDeleteActually, I did not suggest Edmund leave the job. In fact, I think it might be a rash move on his part if he did so. I think he should find a way of resolving the conflict instead.
But a thought crossed my mind when Vanessa mentioned leaving the job. What would it be like if people simply quit their jobs because of such conflicts?
Oops. Sorry to have misinterpreted your comment, Puva! I think I read it as "first suggestion is for Edmund to go".
ReplyDeleteHi Vanessa, Franson and Puva,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your comments!
Personally, I think quitting should be the last resort. This is when all else fails.
Even if the conflict remains unresolved, I guess in reality there are people who face constraints such as the responsibility to earn enough income to maintain the family, or the uncertainty of being able to find a new job once they resign. In that case, then they'll have no choice but to bear with it..
Hi Hui Juen!
ReplyDeleteI really liked Puva's suggestion too. Greater safety in greater numbers, haha.
Many female managers adopt the curt attitude to avoid having male subordinates look down on them. Evidently, Edmund has remained respectful, which is excellent for fostering a better relationship with Sally. It takes time, but there's no saying it's impossible. Suggestions within a friendship are more easily absorbed as compared to a working relationship.
Do you think it will help if Edmund proposed alternative meeting timeslots personally to Sally? Sally may have felt embarassed by negative comments aimed at her in a public setting such as a meeting.
Hi Rina!
ReplyDeleteThat's a refreshing way to interpret the issue.
I think it might be worth a shot, but in any case, Edmund will have do this with much tact and caution in order to prevent him from appearing too confrontational to Sally. It's going to be a really tricky maneuver...