You Manage It! 1: Ethics/Social Responsibility Employees Don’t Always Speak Up When There Is Bad News to Communicate
As discussed in this chapter, companies establish feedback systems such as speak-up programs, open-door policies, grievance panels, or corporate ombudsmen in order to give employees an opportunity to lodge a complaint or voice their reactions to what they perceive as unfair treatment. These systems are designed to improve situations that are sources of employee dissatisfaction and to avoid costly turnover as well as keep upper management informed on what employees are feeling about their relationship with management and company policies. Despite the presence of feedback systems, employees do not always use these channels of upward communication because they fear for their job security as well as fear possible retribution from powerful managers who may want to discipline an employee who provides critical feedback. A manager may view an employee who uses the feedback program as a whistle blower or someone lacking in team spirit. For example an employee who feels rightly or wrongly that her supervisor is being unfair in allocating work assignments or pay raises may not use her company’s speak-up program because it requires that she first try to resolve the dispute with her supervisor, and she may fear making the relationship even more stressful and being forced to quit before she is ready to leave for another job.
The fears that some employees have for their safety and job security when using a feedback program to voice a concern may indeed have a basis in reality. When an employee goes to an HR representative or a corporate ombudsman—who is supposed to be an impartial party that helps to resolve an employee’s problem—the employee knows that the designated person that listens to his or her problem in the workplace is still being paid by the company. The employee may hesitate to use the feedback program because the problem resolver is likely to have interests that are more closely aligned with those of management.
Critical Thinking Questions
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13-9. Assume that you are working in a company and you believe that your supervisor gave you a pay raise that is unfair and less than you deserve based on your performance. This is not the first time this has happened with the current supervisor and you believe your performance has also been evaluated unfairly by him. You are considering using one of the company feedback programs to complain that your pay raise is not fair and that you deserve more pay. The company has an open-door policy, a corporate ombudsman, and a speak-up program. Which one will you use and which one will you avoid using? Explain the basis for your choice.
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13-10. A company has a speak-up feedback program but unfortunately few employees use it. Managers learn about employee problems only during the exit interview when the employees are leaving to work for a different employer. Provide some ways that a feedback program can be improved to increase the likelihood that employees will use it.
Team Exercise
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13-11. Academic cheating on exams occurs at a high frequency at many universities and yet most students are not willing to inform on cheating students and use university feedback channels designed to let the university administration be aware of the parties who are cheating. With a group of four or five other students, develop a list of reasons why university students avoid using university feedback channels to let the administration know that cheating is going on in a class. How would you design a feedback channel that has the potential to be used by more students to inform the administration about cheating when it occurs? Be prepared to share your ideas with other members of the class when called on by your instructor.
Experiential Exercise: Individual
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13-12. In this experiential exercise, think about how you would react to the following situation. During the first few months of your first professional job since graduating from the university, you discover that your supervisor is a difficult person and treats you badly. Here are some examples: (1) At team meetings the supervisor humiliates you in front of other employees by calling you a nickname “Booby” rather than your given name of Bob; (2) the supervisor has described several of your mistakes that you have made learning your new job on his Facebook page and coworkers have teased you about these mistakes, which makes the workplace seem hostile to you; and (3) the supervisor likes to play practical jokes on employees and you believe you are often the target of these pranks. You want the supervisor to stop treating you disrespectfully and are not sure how to get him to treat you in a better fashion. You are considering using one of the following company feedback programs: the open-door policy, the speak-up program, or the corporate ombudsman. Which one will you use and what is the basis of your choice? Should you just quit the job? Quitting after only a few months of employment may look bad on your resume and make it difficult to secure a new job. Be prepared to explain what you decide to do when the instructor calls on you.