On 17 Jun 96 at 21:50, Ben Compton wrote:
> Yes, we're seeing two sides of the same coin. Don't
> misunderstand my message, I'm not suggesting that
> people who indulge in divergent or even belligerent thinking
> and communication should be automatically
> excommunicated from an organizational community.
I think we need to be careful to distinguish between divergent
thinking and divergent, disruptive behaviour. Our "thing" relates to
teaching people to communicate in cooperative ways rather than ways
that are confrontational, hurtful or otherwise cause the communicator
to not be heard.
It's clear that alternate ways of thinking are important for org. and
even personal growth. Non-cooperative behaviour almost ensures that
any good, different ideas will not be heard, so it tends to be
self-defeating. I think it is key that organizations build a climate
where it is clear that abusive behaviour, (even subtle) is not
acceptable. With specific problem people, then, it is a development
issue that is probably best addressed through multiple paths.
> However, there is a point -- when I'm not sure -- that a
> persons behavior begins to seriously and negatively impact
> business performance. How long should a person be given
> to improve their behavior before official action is taken?
> How much feedback should be provided before the
> manager says "enough is enough"?
I think the answers can be found only through some kind of look at
costs/benefits, not necessarily in an economic way, but in terms of
organizaton and personal health. Obviously each situation is
different.
I don't know.
> One of the reasons we've tolerated the situation as long as
> we have is that we value divergent thinking, and we don't
> want to send any signals that people will be punished for
> expressing their opinions.
I think people can understand the difference between unconventional
thinking and abusive, dysfunctional behaviour. In my c onsulting
practice I have seem far more problems occur from NOT dealing with
the situation, than dealing with it.
> And this leads me to another question (again, which I don't
> know the answer to): What do you do when you have an
> exceptionally belligerent employ who constantly refuses to
> conform to clearly established social expectations?
Personally, I can't answer this without knowing the people, what has
been tried, how it has been tried, what has been said to whom, and
how it was said, the team structure and task structures. The range of
possibilities include:
coaching, offer of counselling (EAP), training, task restructuring,
use of logical consequences, formal appraisals, 360 appraisal
Robert Bacal, CEO, Institute For Cooperative Communication
dbt359@freenet.mb.ca, Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
(204 888-9290.
--"Robert Bacal" <dbt359@freenet.mb.ca>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>