14.
Case Studies:
Management Failures and
Successes

 

The Purpose of the Case Studies

This chapter comprises 50 case studies, presented as told by Gen-Xers in the workplace. Their alternating scenarios of management failures and successes provide us with a study in contrasts—an instructive mix of experience intended to promote a better understanding of the Gen-X experience and perspective. The effectiveness of these case studies depends, in great part, on your active response to them.

For each management “bomb,” apply your powers of thought, and perhaps a little ingenuity, to come up with a “solution” to the given situation. Ask yourself …

If this situation occurred in my organization, what concrete actions might I take to resolve it?

For each management “star,” consider the many ways that you too can apply the basics of this book and become a model of Gen-X management. Ask yourself …

What concrete actions could I take to follow the example of good management portrayed in this situation?

Bombs and Stars: The Case Studies

CASE A1 — Four Days’ Work Over the Weekend, “Have a Good Sunday”

Associate working at a major investment bank: “You can’t make anybody happy because everybody wants too much. Each senior VP on the way out the door on a Friday afternoon will give me a day’s work for the weekend. The problem is there are four of them. Each of them says, ‘Here, this is just one day’s work, have a good Sunday.’ But four of them do that, so I have four days of work over the weekend. That means I cannot give anyone what they want, and I work the entire weekend, and no one is happy. When I am overloaded like that, I can’t get the satisfaction of doing a great job because I don’t have time to put a bow on anything. It is difficult to produce the kind of quality I want.”

CASE A2 — That Kind of Management Fosters Long-Term Thinking

Strategic planner for a major retail company: “Our manager gave us the right amount of autonomy with the right amount of input and support, and he really kept up our team spirit. What made him such a good manager was that the passing on of work and sharing of burdens was very well organized. He was a good listener and he expressed himself very clearly. He was great about leading and giving us direction but still giving people ownership of their work. He showed us that he respected our time, because he was a good planner and he delegated work efficiently.

“The difference between him and bad managers I have had is that he wasn’t so self-centered.… That kind of management style fosters long-term thinking about the job and the company. And that is selfreinforcing. We had the most incredible, productive team this company has ever seen. All of the members of our team have since been promoted in the company. Our manager was promoted to a very senior position because the company was so pleased with the results our team produced.”

CASE B1 — To Be Yanked Off One Project and Just Thrown onto Another

Engineer in an electronics company: “Management began taking people from their projects and throwing them on the tail end of another project that was in urgent need. This meant there were people who were always being thrown onto the end of something, instead of having a full team staffed on a project from beginning to end. Instead of looking for the best team for a project, they were filling in gaps.

“It is very disconcerting to be yanked off one project and just thrown onto another. For one thing, it is disorienting. For another thing, there is a period of time, maybe two months, where you are absent from the project you were working on. Plus, whenever that happened to me it sort of made me question how important the original project was that I got yanked away from.

“When a situation like this becomes routine, an imbalance seems to develop between the hardship and any kind of gains. I certainly wasn’t putting in extra hours and all kinds of extra effort after it became clear that none of my needs and wants were being included. It is also hard to feel like I am on a career path when I have no control over what I am working on and have no way to direct my own goals.”

CASE B2 — I Do Better Work If I Am Able to Do It My Way

Circulation director for a magazine holding company:
“I have a lot of respect for my manager because he is very precise about what he wants but very flexible about how he lets me get there. He might say to me, ‘Here is where we are on a particular situation and we want to get to point B, the information we need is a, b, c, and here is why I want to look at it. Now go put that together by z date.’ That gives me a little more freedom to approach the project. It is positive because I like to do things my way and I am producing much better work here than I would under different circumstances.”

CASE C1 — Standing Behind Me Looking Over My Shoulder All the Time

Temporary employee speaking of assignment as receptionist in engineering firm: “The guy who was sort of in charge of me couldn’t just let me answer the phone, not that he told me exactly how he wanted the phone answered either. The first day I was there, I asked if someone could walk me through exactly how they liked the phone answered, messages taken, and just the basics. But this guy kept saying like, ‘Great, you don’t even know how to answer the phone.’ That’s not at all what I was saying, but he wouldn’t even just tell me the basics. Okay, so I can just wing answering the phone. I’d done it before at other places. So this guy is just standing behind me the whole time looking over my shoulder. Practically every time the phone would ring, he would come out and just stand there watching me handle the call. Then he would duck back into his office. Come on, give me a break. I thought he was going to just tell me, ‘Forget it, I’ll answer the phone myself, go home,’ but he didn’t.”

CASE C2 — Nobody Wanted to Let Her Down

Retail clerk in a clothing store: “The store manager was really into supporting her people. She was great about letting us basically be in charge of the store and that worked because she had every reason to trust us. She was also really into pleasing the customer, making the customers feel special. And she instilled that in all of us. She had this almost cheerleader-like way of talking about making customers feel special, like that was the only thing that mattered. She would come up to me and say, ‘Tell me something you did today to make a customer feel special.’ That was constant… We all got into it to different degrees. I was pretty into it, especially because that was about the only thing she pushed. Like even if you made a mistake, her only question was, ‘How did that impact the customer?’ If it did, she would let you know that she was disappointed.

“Her other big thing was that she supported her people and we were in charge of the store. She didn’t check what time we got there or what time we left. While we were there she trusted us to check inventory and make sure that merchandise was stocked and presented in a way that was attractive. We had a lot of leeway on that too. She loved it if you took extra time setting up a display to make it look good. She trusted us at the cash register. She never had to remind us to clean up at the end of the day. It felt like the store ran itself, but that’s because we all stepped up and did what we were supposed to do. Nobody wanted to let her down.”

CASE D1 — He Couldn’t Even Delegate the Most Minor Things

Support-staff person in a trade association: “My manager would have his hands all over everything. He would ask me to do something, say compose a letter.… I would do it and he would have corrections or additions. But that process would keep happening.… He would keep changing his mind, want more words changed. We would spend an hour getting out a routine letter—less than three-quarters of a page.

“Another example? Once we were putting together a binder for a trade show. It was a pretty straightforward thing, lists of names and times and some other information. Anyone with a bit of initiative and a little common sense could put together a fine product that would far exceed what was necessary. But this manager just couldn’t really bring himself to delegate anything. Even with this, he ultimately did it himself and took twice as much time by involving me in it.

“Involving me in routine tasks like composing a letter or putting together a notebook of information is supposed to save my manager valuable time. But because he couldn’t even delegate the most minor things, it became counterproductive to even have me involved, because we would just go back and forth on everything.”

CASE D2 — He Lets Me Do the Job He Hired Me to Do

Business development manager for a large consumer-products company: “My manager doesn’t lean over my shoulder wanting to know what I am doing every minute of every day. It is very clear what I have to produce, and my manager trusts me to be professional in getting my results. He lets me do the job he hired me to do, lets me make the day-to-day decisions that I need to make, and doesn’t try to baby-sit me. That gives me room to do my work the way I want to do it; it means I am approaching things my own way, and that makes me a whole lot more productive.”

CASE E1 — She Wouldn’t Believe Me Until She Tried It Herself

Research scientist at a major university: “If I reported that an experiment didn’t work, my research director wouldn’t believe me until she tried it herself. So I would spend weeks trying to do an experiment and then go to her to explain that it would not work. Finally she would get mad and try it herself. Then, of course, she would say, ‘You were right, it didn’t work.’ One time, after a situation like this, I heard her saying to a bunch of people that she didn’t believe a word I said until she tried the experiment herself. Why have me there at all?”

CASE E2 — I Can Manage My Own Time

Consultant in a management consulting firm: “The manager sets an agenda at the first meeting and sets a series of dates by which certain goals have to be met. Other than that, we are left alone to decide on the specifics of the general problem. In between these dates, unless I want further guidance and seek it out, I don’t have to see my manager at all. I know what I need to do within a certain date, and I can manage my time any way I want as long as I deliver what it is that I am responsible to deliver. That means I can approach problems in a way that brings out my best work.”

CASE F1 — I Don’t Have a Good Way of Working with Someone Who Flips Out

Kitchen worker in a restaurant: “I didn’t get too much feedback until one night when I almost lost it because I took the brunt of somebody else’s mistake. The food is in the window, where the waiters pick it up. One of the waiters came up and started pulling orders off the window and shoving them back through and was getting all pissed off because the garnishes weren’t just right or whatever. That’s fine, I mean, I was just learning to do the job and I was glad somebody was telling me, ‘Hey this isn’t quite right.’ Then one of the managers came in to see what was wrong, which again wasn’t so bad, you know, he was just doing his job. But the cook was very upset, and he got the manager all worked up, and they both just started started yelling and swearing. I didn’t overreact, but I just don’t have a good way of working with someone who flips out that way. From what I heard, this cook had a reputation of flipping out big time and I just didn’t need that situation. You know, I walked across the street and got another job.”

CASE F2 — Our Training Really Mattered

Temporary employee speaking of assignment as graphic designer in an advertising agency, which turned into a full-time job: “Even though I was there as a temp, the head of the art department was all over getting me trained up to how things are done here. I was familiar with the software and I’ve worked as a graphic designer before, but there are a lot of little things. Also in terms of who was who, my boss went out of his way to get me introduced around. I was there for three months or so and I definitely wanted to get on staff. Before that I had told myself I was going to freelance and temp as much as I could and that way I wouldn’t be tied to any one place… It was the atmosphere that I found so attractive. They really give you time to learn. We were talking about training resources and my boss made an off-hand comment about the one training resource that there is almost never enough of is time. That really made an impact on me, especially because it was so clear that he meant it. You need time to really learn something and giving us time was how he showed us that our training really mattered.”

CASE G1 — The Manager Might as Well Do the Whole Thing on His Own

Business development associate in an entertainment company: “My manager has difficulty delegating and developing trust in the people who are working for him. In anything that really matters, he is totally involved with it and has his hands all over it. The weird thing is that he tends to focus on spelling mistakes and typos instead of being a more visionary-type guy. That makes you kind of wonder about his ultimate value to the company. If I know that my manager is going to go over every detail, rewrite every word on the page, that provides me with a huge disincentive to do a good job, to really do the best job that I can do. Why? Because I know that it really doesn’t matter, because the manager is going to make the thing his own and totally rewrite it, no matter how good of a job I do.…

“Of course, the contrast is the manager who from the start conveys that a piece of work is going to be my responsibility—that if I don’t do a great job, there isn’t going to be anybody covering my back. It’s me or no one. That is the best incentive to do a good job because I know the whole thing is riding on me. If a manager conveys to me that he doesn’t trust my work, why the hell should I work hard for him? I’m not saying that there should be no quality check. But, let me take a stab at it. I don’t mind failing and learning from that if I can have a chance to do a good job and have it matter.”

CASE G2 — I Feel Good Not Having to Punch In

Loan specialist in a mortgage brokerage: “I like the job because there is quite a bit of freedom in terms of setting my own schedule. I appreciate that a lot because I am responsible and it is nice to be trusted enough to do my job. I feel good not having to punch in. It’s a more comfortable way for me to work and it makes me a more independent entity in the company. I am expected to close a certain number of loans, and when it is busy, I am here as late as I need to be.

“What works well for me is that I can make these determinations and I can decide when to be here working at the times when I am going to be most productive. If I am super busy, it only makes sense for me to be working when I can produce at an efficient pace.”

CASE H1 — She Yelled at Me the Way No One Should Ever Yell at Anybody

Assistant account executive in an advertising firm: “She yelled at me the way no one should ever yell at anybody, and for really stupid things. There was something the matter with her. If something went wrong or if I did something not exactly the way she wanted, she would yell and scream, ‘How could you do that? You should know that! How could you not know this?’ Always for something that was really a matter of opinion or that there was no way I could know about it. I would have tears in my eyes because she would make feel like I had done these terrible, awful things, when really they were just stupid little things.

“One time we were having a conference call and my manager turns to me and says, ‘Do you have that mini tape recorder? Can you bring it down?’ The conference call had already started. I went really fast, grabbed the tape recorder, and I even had blank tapes. I brought it right back down to her. She asked if I had tested the tape recorder. I started to say I had tested the batteries and she completely freaked out—started yelling and screaming at me. I just thought to myself, wow, the tape recorder is fine, but she should get her batteries tested.”

CASE H2 — It Is Kind of an Honor System

Researcher in an investment information service: “The job is flexible in terms of taking time off and switching hours. You can come in when you want, just as long as you put in your work. It is kind of an honor system, and people are expected to put in their time, especially since the management is so cool about trusting us to do the work. The system gives me the flexibility to attend to certain things in my life when it works best for me, which makes me feel a lot better about being at work when I am here. I put in more time if anything, but I also choose when I am going to be here. That means I want to be at work when I am here, so I feel good about my job. I feel like they are trusting us and they are flexible in the face of people’s different scheduling needs. There is a lot of mutual respect because of that.”

CASE I1 — It Was Like an Abusive Family Situation

Employee in a cable television company: “The manager developed a pattern where he would yell at people and get them scared of him and then smooth it over, once they were scared of him. He would go nuclear, yell at us, kick us out of his office, come around and yell at us individually. Then, ten minutes later, he would come out smiling and chatting as if nothing had happened. It was a little like an abusive family situation. The people who stayed there would complain like crazy one day, and then the next day, they would say, ‘He’s not so bad.’ Like abused children, they would find fault with themselves or with extraneous situations, so as not to have to blame the manager. On the other hand, I thought the guy was so bad that I loved watching him screw up.”

CASE I2 — I Can Hang Out a Sign That Says “Gone Fishing”

Account manager for a consumer products firm: “My current manager gives me my goals for what I am going to produce, and then he leaves me alone. If I produce a weekly goal in a day, a monthly goal in a week, a yearly goal in a month, I can hang out a sign that says ‘Gone fishing.’ It is an incentive to produce and it makes me feel like the time is mine, like I am my own boss. And, it’s a whole lot better working for yourself than working for someone else.”

CASE J1 — It Makes You Feel Like a Bull in a China Shop

Information systems manager in a consumer goods company: “This manager is extremely controlling in a really sick and twisted way. Maybe she had a ‘painful childhood.’ She looks for things to be wrong, like staples instead of paperclips, or the other way around.… Basically I am always just waiting for her to chew me out. Her style is so cruel that morale is really low. It makes you feel like a bull in a china shop. Making mistakes that would seem small to anyone else are, in our small world, pretty grave. Everyone here can tell you how they learned to do something ‘right’ by getting ‘burned’ for doing it wrong. People are really tired of it, and they are out of here like there is a revolving door. We have been working on an ongoing project for two years already, which has at least another year to go. There is a big learning curve, so it is very costly to have high turnover.”

CASE J2 — The Decision That Goes Out of This Agency Is Basically Mine

Staff person in a federal agency in Washington, DC: “This is one of the few jobs where my opinion really counts. My manager is responsible for the ultimate decision of the agency, but he takes his cues from me. That gives me a lot of power and has a big impact on the way I approach my work. I am creating the final product—the decision that goes out of this agency is basically mine. I take real pride in the decisions, and I work hard enough to make sure my decisions are better than the vast majority of decisions that come out of this agency.”

CASE K1 — I Suffer from Anxiety Attacks

Associate at a mid-sized law firm: “Nobody ever lets me know how I am doing. I would leave this job tomorrow if I could because I don’t feel stable here. I am not sure how my work is, or if I am producing enough work fast enough, or anything. I am afraid of getting fired—like my job is always in danger. I suffer from anxiety attacks at work, which, of course, blocks my work incredibly. I keep feeling that maybe I am just no good at this. If somebody told me I was doing a good job, if they even said, ‘Just keep working hard, you’re doing OK,’ I would be less likely to be thinking so much about leaving.”

CASE K2 — I Meet with My Manager Immediately after the Results Meeting

Junior account executive in a PR firm: “The firm has a ‘results meeting’ every Monday morning. We discuss the results achieved for each client the previous week. Immediately after the results meeting, I meet with my manager to plan our own agenda for the coming week. We keep identical notebooks with headings for each client on a separate page and the specific tasks that are to be accomplished by each of us for each client. We arrive at the list by reviewing the previous week’s list together, seeing what each one of us has accomplished, and what needs followup; then we set the agenda of new tasks for each client.”

CASE L1 — Nobody Ever Gave Me a Pat on the Back

Delivery truck driver for a package delivery service: “We are the ones who are out there making the deliveries happen on time. I’ll get a call from tracking when I am on the road… Those are the people you call when your package isn’t delivered and they can see where it is because every package has a tracking number. One time I guess it was a pretty big account and this office manager is telling tracking and customer service that they are never going to use us again if we don’t find this package. Plus, the package is insured and supposedly for a lot. Anyway, so I am getting this message, which is, ‘Find this package.’ Not like I could just stop what I was doing… I had a lot of other packages to deliver. So I change my route and go back to the distribution center instead of having lunch and we found the package. Great. I thought that was great that I did that and it worked out. Come to find out that this customer is so psyched she sends a letter to the head of customer service about the people in customer service and tracking who found her package and what a great job they did and how they should be rewarded. I don’t blame the customer for doing that. She didn’t know I was the one who found the package. What I’m pissed off about is that I had to hear about this through the back door because nobody ever even told me, nobody ever sent me a copy of the letter, and nobody ever gave me a pat on the back or a letter in my file. That really burns my ass. Why should I kill myself again? You can’t find your package? Huh. That sucks for you. Whatever.”

CASE L2 — Some Chance to Have Responsibility and a Bit of Freedom

Telemarketer in a phone bank: “What I really respect about my boss is that she makes it very clear what we are supposed to do, what the goal is. But then it’s up to me how to get the job done. My job can be pretty boring and tedious and she knows that and she goes out of her way to give us some chance to have responsibility for our own work and a bit of freedom. Nobody is glaring at me if I go get a soda or go to the bathroom. If I get on my headset and work straight through and knock out my calls and get the results we need from those calls, that’s all she really cares about. I think it’s really important because I have worked in other telemarketing companies and they were run like a sweat shop… My boss here just makes it very clear what needs to get done, how she wants certain calls made, and we sit with a trainer and go through the script for fifteen or twenty minutes before we get on the phone. After that, it’s up to me.”

CASE M1 — It Was the Manager Who Got All the Credit

Analyst at a market research company: “They take all the credit if the work goes right and none of the responsibility if it goes wrong. These managers would get mentioned at a company meeting—their work was recognized in a big way. That was demoralizing for the people below who were really doing all the work. We couldn’t believe that senior management didn’t know what was going on, who was really doing the work. That was a big motivation killer.”

CASE M2 — He Spent a Lot of Time Making Sure I Understood Things

Staff person in planning department of a car company: “My manager worked very closely with me, like personal tutoring on the job. He spent time making sure that I understood things. The more I learned and the more my ability grew, the more he let me take responsibility. Every time I had a question, … he would take the time to explain, not answer it superficially. I was able to learn a lot by working very closely and observing. It was a good feeling. I felt like part of the team and like anything I did was a contribution. It made me want to take more and more responsibility and work hard for this company. Everybody was on board.”

CASE N1 — The Reasons Were Never Really Explained to the Employees

Electrical design engineer: “The real turning point was when I started feeling like I worked for the company instead of being part of the company. Management did a complete reorganization of everyone’s work life without ever consulting us at all, without getting input, without explaining what was happening or why. We were not included in any way at all. It did a lot of harm to morale, and everyone’s productivity dropped quite a bit. For myself, I had been putting in a lot of effort, a lot of extra time and effort. My interest in doing a great job kind of dissipated because there was such a loss of control. It made me feel like the work wasn’t really my problem anymore.”

CASE N2 — I Admire Him Because He Can Explain a Problem

Associate in a large law firm: “There is one partner I admire because he can explain a problem in simple and understandable terms. He is very articulate, speaks slowly and clearly, and seems to comprehend what an associate at my level might have been exposed to at this point in his or her career.

“First of all, he tells me clearly what he wants. He will listen to any questions I have about an assignment. He is generally approachable for further questions. He is also willing to admit that he may not fully understand something, which shows me that he is still human. He will also ask me in a case like that if maybe I can help him understand.”

CASE O1 — It Was Like a Metaphor for the Whole Company

Bond trader: “You had to sign off on supplies, they charged for coffee, you paid your own phone bill, they were very cost-cutting on everything and cheap. People were always complaining about money, that they were underpaid, that they were getting screwed. We had to pay for our own Christmas party. Collecting the $56 for the Christmas party was a real hassle. Everybody moaned and groaned and complained about the money. It was like a metaphor for the whole company. The edict of the company is that everybody is replaceable—they pay nothing for loyalty, they think that it is not a legitimate cost. They attracted mediocrity, because they underpaid people and didn’t treat them well. That meant they were always hiring people who were down on their luck, usually people who were fired somewhere else for good reason.”

CASE O2 — The Things She Says to Me Really Stick

Research assistant in a public interest organization:
“My new manager is someone I think of as a mentor and someone who can teach me a lot. She is very demanding, but she is very willing to let me express my views and she pushes me to ask questions. If she is telling me something and I am nodding, she will stop and ask me, ‘Are you sure you understand what I just said?’ She is able to size up when I am struggling, when she needs to check in with me and help me understand. She always takes the time to spell things out, not in a condescending way, but in a way that is intended to make sure I genuinely understand. The things she says to me really stick. She has my respect and I gladly work hard for her.”

CASE P1 — Just Tell Me, If I Do Something Wrong, How You Want Me To Do It

Retail clerk: “Oh, I get plenty of feedback when I do something wrong. If a customer isn’t happy, they’ll just chew you right out and complain to the manager, and then the manager will just chew you right out too. We have an employee of the month plaque, although we all joke that they just take turns and make someone the employee of the month. Like, everyone gets their turn, but nobody can figure out why it’s them one month instead of another month…

It would make a big difference if they used mistakes to really help you learn how they want things done. Plus there are plenty of times I’ve thought I was doing something just fine and did it that way for quite a while before somebody noticed, and then got chewed out for that, too. Just being more level headed about the whole thing would make a big difference. Just tell me, if I am doing something wrong, how you want me to do it. Go ahead and tell me if I’m doing it right too. That wouldn’t be a bad thing now and then.”

CASE P2 — If You Want Input in the Schedule, You Show Up to the Meeting

Counter clerk in a fast-food restaurant: “The first manager I worked for was really bad even when it came to people switching hours. It was stupid. A bunch of us quit. Where I work now, my manager is great about the schedule. He owns the store and he really cares if we are happy. We have a little meeting every other Monday afternoon and, if you want to have any input in the schedule, you show up to the meeting. If you don’t show up, you get the hours nobody else wants. It takes at least an hour, but we pretty much make the schedule. He just starts filling up shifts by having us raise our hands. Then he gives us ten minutes to trade shifts on certain days if we want or give each other days if someone wants to work a little more or a little less one week. Then we go around one more time and the schedule is done. If we really need to, we can trade in the middle of the week, but he definitely encourages us to get it all worked out in advance. You can really tell the difference because at my last job people were always complaining and would blow off work and just quit by not showing up. People don’t really do that where I work now.”

CASE Q1 — It Became a Question of Who Was Going to Win Out

Paralegal: “Two different lawyers were fighting over me. Each of them would take me aside and tell me that I work for him and give me a whole bunch of work. I didn’t know which one to approach or how to approach them, and I was working too many hours and too many days. I was very annoyed, not at all impressed with their lack of maturity. I thought it was a very macho mentality. It went beyond how much work there was to do and became a question of who was going to win out. I was the casualty with the way it was going. I was going to quit if the problem couldn’t be resolved. Of course, eventually, because neither one of them would give in, the paralegal supervisor had to hire another paralegal to keep me from quitting.”

CASE Q2 — The Next Time, I Would Be the One to Solve That Problem

Information systems consultant: “There was one manager who was the best manager I have ever had anywhere. He was smart, he really knew what he was talking about, he cared and was very compassionate about the people that worked for him.

“One night I was at work at about 10 p.m., and I had been there beating my head against the wall for at least a couple of hours, working on a bear of a problem. It was during game two of the NBA finals, and I remember it well because I had to miss that game because I was working so hard. He knew I was a big basketball fan. This manager was great. He pulled up a chair and we talked a little bit about the basketball game we were missing. Then he said, ‘Let’s see if we can get past this problem,’ and we worked on it together for about an hour, until we finally got it. He dug right into it with me, and we got it worked out and he showed me how to deal with that kind of problem.

“That experience told me a lot about this manager, and it tells you a lot about him. He was a real teacher. He knew that the next time that problem came up, I would be the guy to solve it.”

CASE R1 — Don’t You Dare Leave This Company

Information systems consultant: “The first thing out of this manager’s mouth was, ‘Don’t you dare leave this company in the first two years because I will lose money on you.’ He told us that the company loses money on new employees and we had to stay around for more than two years, so that he could start making money on us. It turned me off to him a great deal. There were two other people with me, who talked about it with me after. Let’s just say that the first opportunity that came, when the headhunters started to call … let’s just say that I had no loyalty to him.”

CASE R2 — Input from Everyone on Everything

Analyst in a small investment bank: “My boss always asks for input from everyone on everything. For example, we are making an office move right now. And he is so concerned about all of our commutes and how it is going to affect us. Another example: when we hired an office manager, he asked each of us for input, and afterward he asked each of us how we thought she was working out. He always wants to know what we think. Of course, that makes me feel more like I am an important part of the team.”

CASE S1 — Nobody Takes the Review Seriously

Retail department manager in a department store:
“We have annual reviews, but basically the only unknown is how much my raise is going to be. The review itself is just a rehash, everybody covering their ass. It’s just something they have to do. Nobody takes it seriously really except that everybody wants to know how much their raise is going to be.”

CASE S2 — He Gave Me the Credit and That Really Breeds Loyalty

Administrative assistant at an insurance company:
“This one time I got a call from my boss’s manager saying that a client was very bent out of shape and I had better track down my boss right away or he was going to be in deep trouble. I knew he was gone, not just for a little while, but it was Friday after lunch and I knew he had sort of slipped out for the weekend. I called him at home and we worked it out over the phone and I called the client myself, sent off the paperwork, called the benefits person who needed to follow up, and then I called my boss back and was like, ‘mission accomplished.’ So he called his manager to let him know that everything was okay, but he totally gave me the credit and he really didn’t have to do that. But his manager even called me to say thanks and to tell me he really appreciated that I was the one to put out that fire. That really breeds loyalty.”

CASE T1 — Welcome to the Neighborhood

Fraud control manager for a major telecommunications company: “I dealt with a lot of hostility because I was a new person in the company and because I am black. It was just one big bowl of problems. I feel that upper management supported the attitude of the lower managers in treating me like an outsider. On one of my performance reviews, the manager actually wrote that I did not make an effort to bond with the other people at my level. It would be like if I were new in a neighborhood that wanted to keep me out and I was supposed to go around and knock on each door and say, ‘Hi, I am new in the neighborhood. Welcome to the neighborhood. If there is ever anything I need, should I just feel free to call you?’ How am I supposed to work in a situation like that?”

CASE T2 — No One Feels They Get Left Out

Admissions director in a nonprofit educational organization: “The executive director is always trying to make sure that other people are included in making decisions. Even if it is a decision that he is going to make, he includes the people that should be there. Like with a budget: everyone knows full well that he is going to decide what the budget will be and that he has his own financial considerations which might end up making the decision. But, he will still include the people who are involved with the decision. No one feels they get left out.”

CASE U1 — Zero Women Were Promoted

Sales associate in a retail electronics store: “I was recently up for promotion. My sales figures were higher than anyone else’s and I had received very positive reviews. But I wasn’t promoted. Seventeen men were promoted and zero women. I never thought I would encounter that. I mean it’s the ’90s. That makes me feel very discouraged and upset. I just wanted to say, ‘Screw you—I’m going to leave.’ But I didn’t want to have sour grapes. I am very nervous about bringing up this issue because I don’t want them to think I am falling back on being a woman. I want to be promoted because I am competent and capable, but I also want to be on the same playing field with the men in this company.”

CASE U2 — I Could Focus My Energy on Something Else for a Little While

Marketing manager at a publishing company: “The company has a health center with a full gym and a whole schedule of activities like aerobics, weight training, meditation, tai chi. We were allowed an hour out of each workday to go exercise.… Not only was it a good break, but it made the job very upbeat.… I could focus my energy on something else for a little while and meet other people in the company. Being in an aerobics class, or whatever, with other people from the company, I got to see what other things were going on in other parts of the company. Not to mention, when you have seen the VP struggling to lift weights, all of a sudden he is a little less intimidating than he used to be, and that makes it easier to work for him.…

“The company did not believe in sick days, at least they didn’t call them sick days. I had vacation time and personal time, but no sick time. They don’t believe in sick people, just healthy people with personal needs.”

CASE V1 — He Has a Problem with Women

Lawyer in a city law department: “After I was there for a while, four or five of the women lawyers came into my office, independent of each other, and told me how unhappy they were about the division chief. The general idea was that he clicks better with the guys and so they move up. He doesn’t click as well with the women, so they are held back and don’t get the kind of advanced work they should be getting and which they need to be getting to prove themselves. That was discouraging to me because it meant that morale was obviously really low among the women .… When I got there I thought, wow, this is going to be a team, this is the public sector. And yet, I now think that I was a little bit idealistic about the whole thing. That is discouraging.”

CASE V2 — Every Team Gets a Fun Budget

Associate in an investment bank: “At this firm, 25% of a manager’s bonus was tied to case-team happiness, which was measured internally by an outside firm. There is also a big emphasis on fun. Every month every team gets a fun budget, which the project team gets to decide together how to use. Usually the junior people decide what to do with the fun budget, plan something, and then do it. This company is a much more profitable company and people are much happier and more productive than those at other investment banks where I have worked.”

CASE W1 — She Would Always Tell Me, “You Don’t Need to Know”

Assistant account executive at an advertising agency: “She would say, ‘You don’t need to know what’s going on.’ Here is where the problem would come in: a lot of times something else would come up for my manager and she would just say, ‘Cover for me,’ and all of this in a frantic environment, while she is running around. So, I would try to cover her obligation and … have no answers for anyone because she would not have included me at all, just assured me that I couldn’t be useful in a situation like that.

“Also, there would be times when some action was needed but my manager’s boss couldn’t find my manager—then she would come to me and expect me to know about the situation and be able to help. But all I could say was, ‘Well, I wasn’t really involved with that.’ I hate having to say that because it made me seem useless. They must have wondered, ‘What is she doing here all day?’ And there I am, working like crazy, but then I look stupid because my manager won’t clue me in.

“After a while, whenever I went in to put something on my manager’s chair, I would try to quickly read all the other stuff on her chair so I could learn what was going on. So much of what I learned was from reading all the stuff on her chair.”

CASE W2 — We Develop an Incredible Bond as a Team

Audit staff person in a global industrial giant: “It is sort of like AA: we are all experiencing the same thing and we all lean on each other. Everyone in this job has wanted to quit many times because there are long days, difficult challenges. But as a team, we help each other through those difficult times and help each other stay in this program. We develop an incredible bond and become a real support network for each other, which is good, because we are also a source of stress for each other.

“I rely on all of these people to leverage their experience, to give advice and help, because these are people of all nationalities and all backgrounds, and tapping into their knowledge helps me do better work. Also, I can always find someone that I can lean on, vent my frustrations to, and share whatever personal problem I might be having, which helps a lot.”

CASE X1 — I Have Tons of Questions I Feel I Cannot Ask

Associate at a large law firm: “A lot of my colleagues say he gives very little direction. I would never want him as my lawyer. He delegates work to people but doesn’t fulfill his responsibility to supervise. Imagine being a client and having him delegate the work to someone really junior who doesn’t really know what he is doing and has no guidance. That means the work is not being done competently. There were times when I had tons of questions and I felt that I couldn’t ask them. If I were able to ask key questions at the right times, it would cut down my time tremendously and make my work 10 times more efficient, and if they really have a time crunch, it just seems to make more sense to do that.”

CASE X2 — He Is Very Specific, So I Know Which Things I Am Doing Well

Associate in a large law firm: “This guy makes an effort to say thank you, and it is kind of interesting to me that it actually makes a difference. It makes a huge difference to me, especially because he is very specific when he says thank you, so you really know that he means it, and also it helps that he is so specific because I know which things I am doing well. It just feels like I have his respect and appreciation.”

CASE Y1 — I Don’t Have Time for That Right Now

Staff person in a nonprofit foundation: “My manager always has some other place to be: ‘I just don’t have time for that right now.’ Or, ‘You’re right to mention that, but that’s a can of worms. Good, OK, here are the things we need to talk about right now, a, b, c, d.’ Then, with a minute left, he will say, ‘Is there anything else?’ If I mention something he doesn’t want to talk about, he just says there isn’t enough time. ‘Good seeing you, don’t have time for that right now.’ This is the ‘too-busy tactic.’”

CASE Y2 — Getting Feedback the Next Day, We Knew When We Were on Target

Research assistant in a public interest organization:
“We would turn out a product and then we would get feedback the next day, often based on the reaction to the product or the news on an issue.… We would even hear, through our manager, when the president of the organization was particularly happy with something. That also made it a lot easier to take the negative feedback when things didn’t work out as well. At least, we knew when we were still on target because we were getting it right most of the time.”

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