101 Myths and Realities at the Office

Utkarsh Rai

Description

What do you need to do to be valued as an employee, and respected as a manager? Every organization knows that human resources are its greatest asset. To really work well as a team, managers need to think like employees, and employees need to know what management really thinks. But how? This book presents 101 typical workplace situations, distinguishing Myth (perceived wisdom) from Reality (what actually happens on the ground) and describing the best approach to take in each scenario, both for managers and employees. 101 Myths and Realities @ the Office reveals the secrets that are key to optimizing your potential in the workplace.

Sujets

• Gestion et management
• Economics

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 août 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788184757361
• Langue: English

Extrait

UTKARSH RAI
101 Myths & Realities @ The Office
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Foreword by Nandan Nilekani
Introduction
Promotion
Salary
Appraisal
High Performers
Career
Company
Colleagues
Subordinates
Managers
The Management Ladder
Working Relationship
Communication
Time
Stress
Acknowledgements
Copyright Page
PORTFOLIO
101 MYTHS & REALITIES @ THE OFFICE
Utkarsh Rai is the India head of an IT MNC and a recipient of Udyog Rattan Award. After earning his degree in computer science from BITS Pilani in the late eighties, he worked in Siemens, first in Delhi and then in Germany. Later, he moved on to work with Adaptec in the US. During the late nineties, when Indians were flooding the US job market, he sensed better opportunities in India and swam against the tide to join Motorola in Bangalore. Having gained the required experience, he took another gamble in leaving a safe and successful career in Motorola to bet on a small start-up, Infinera. Since then Infinera has gone public and is growing manyfold.
Utkarsh s desire to share his experiences with a wide audience spurred him to write books. He is the author of Offshoring Secrets and Life in a Cubicle (e-book). Apart from writing, he enjoys globetrotting and has travelled with his family to many countries. He is interested in learning about various cultures, religions and the history of the world. Utkarsh can be reached at [e-mail] .
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
Utkarsh Rai has penned a particularly relevant book on personnel management which I would strongly recommend to every organization to use as a reference manual as they evolve new ways to manage talent and build organizational excellence.
-Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw CMD, Biocon
A useful compilation of everyday situations we all go through in the work environment. These are helpful insights into expectations that others have and into the rationale behind organization decisions affecting individuals. The book consistently provides balanced perspectives/viewpoints of both sides. I hope this helps those early in their career from the unnecessary anguish they sometimes go through while evaluating themselves and every situation they are faced with.
-Som Mittal President, NASSCOM
To my wife Deepti
Foreword
As the world becomes more connected and smaller, organization models and behaviour have started evolving at a faster pace. You no longer have to wear suits to work at Wall Street! But how have individuals been adapting to such shifts? What do organizations expect from its next generation of employees? How do employees plan to climb the corporate ladders? Do they know what they need to know? As more people join the workforce tutored by traditional recipes for success, it is observed that they are sometimes clueless of what the organizations are expecting from them.
When individuals do not align career aspirations with organizational dynamics, they feel frustrated and helpless. They fail on two counts: first, in understanding the full dynamics of the office, and second, in managing expectations. Instead of focusing on winning, they spend time finding answers to their problems. When they cannot find the solution, frustration sets in. This lowers morale, which is counterproductive to the organization.
To make real-life choices, individuals have to navigate through many prevalent myths and understand the ground realities. The first step is to realize that these are myths, and not a practice or a policy of the organization. The myths prevail mostly due to a lack of understanding. The realization that these are not the ground realities will solve most of the dilemmas.
101 Myths & Realities @ the Office by Utkarsh Rai beautifully captures the diverse myths prevalent at the office. Each myth is described in detail, along with the underlying reasons. These myths have been captured from various perspectives to help the reader correlate with many real-life experiences. Furthermore, it shows different ways to overcome such myths. This book is beneficial to both employees and managers. Together, they can bring positive changes to any organization.
In these challenging times, as the world economy recovers from the meltdown, there will be new opportunities, new careers, new expectations. Here s a wonderful guide to help put a career on track and on fast forward!
Nandan Nilekani
Introduction
Every organization emphasizes that human resources is its greatest asset. However, the managers within these organizations are often ill-equipped to deal with people issues despite the considerable time they spend on them, and despite running multiple training sessions, courses and symposia for their employees. The reason for this is simple: people do not get right and timely help to resolve their issues.
Some people issues cannot be resolved by mentoring, coaching or training; they can only be solved by reading between the lines and acting on the unsaid . This aspect is beautifully captured by the management guru, Peter Drucker, who says: The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn t being said .
A manager has to think like an employee to appreciate the latter s issues, while an employee needs to know what the manager is actually thinking. If the two can arrive at an understanding, they can resolve most of the issues amicably. This will help in increasing employee motivation, which, in turn, helps in the overall performance and productivity of a company. Actually, eighteen per cent of an administrator s time-more than nine weeks out of every year-is spent resolving conflicts among employees . 1
Politics is normally a taboo word in office life, but an employee often finds himself surrounded by the phenomenon. He feels helpless when his voice is not heard or he is at the receiving end of events that he doesn t fully understand. Many questions come to his mind: Why is this happening to me? What have I done wrong? Why am I always at the receiving end? How can I come out of this mess successfully?
Unfortunately, it is too common to find people unhappy at the office, particularly when things do not happen the way they want them to happen. Once in a while, everyone has a reason to complain, but, for some, it becomes a habit. And if the organization is not doing well and people do not see any room for professional growth, complaining becomes prevalent and flows throughout the organization. This is not only dangerous, but also counterproductive. Managers at every level should be cognizant of this aspect. If it is not handled well, an employee may start looking for an organization that is more likely to fulfil his expectations, and where he can be a part of a team in which he feels more comfortable. But, for such an employee, this comfortable state of affairs may last only for some time, and eventually there is a good chance that circumstances will repeat themselves.
To understand the root cause of such issues, one has to look into the idiosyncrasies in an organization. An organization is made up of people governed by its policies. Each organization has its own hierarchy, requiring its employees to undertake various roles and responsibilities at different levels. They will be bound by a set of rules and regulations derived from the organization s policies. However, these rules and regulations can become a major source of discontent as it is impossible to interpret and implement them in exactly the same manner in all situations. People are not robots. They have their own emotions and ways of thinking. What this means is that new challenges keep on emerging in the office atmosphere, and no two situations can be dealt with in the same manner. And any failure in meting out an equitable treatment will give rise to further dissatisfaction among the employees. Often, the first person to be blamed for any problem in an organization is the manager-he might be accused of not seeing things from the subordinate s perspective.
Through this book, I present some of the myths that rule office life. I believe that if these myths are understood and debunked, a majority of office problems can be solved.
When I started writing down the first few myths, I did not think it could stretch itself into the size of a book. But the more I thought of employee issues, expectations and frustrations, the greater the number of myths that surfaced. Delving deep into these myths was not an easy job, but then, that is what was required to cover the wide range of issues faced by the workforce.
The book is divided into chapters dealing with myths of myriad hues: concerning salary, promotion, appraisal, the manager, and so on. I have largely used the male he / his / him forms purely for the sake of consistency. The content is equally applicable to female office-goers and their problems. I hope that the reader is able to relate to these myths and find ways to handle them in the best possible manner.
Promotion
Promotion is a long wait for a short happiness
1
M YTH : My manager has promoted my colleague over me.
R EALITY : The manager knows that if your colleague leaves the organization it will have a greater impact.
It is the manager who is blamed first whenever anyone is denied promotion. And when an employee comes to know that a co-worker, whom he does not consider as possessing better skills, has been promoted over him, he also starts feeling that he has been victimized. He might view this move as the triumph of a co-worker s sycophancy or as an act of managerial favouritism. There are also those who think that a person has got promotion only because he threatened to leave the organization.
Promotions usually take place when two levels of managers are of the same opinion. While the immediate manager has more say in the promotion, he is not the lone decision-maker. A manager usually bases a decision of promotion on the quality of skills that an employee demonstrates. However, this can cause d