1: Emotions and Work
Business is a work system, designed with a specific purpose: to transform a series of activities into products and services. The most important asset a business has is people. Its assets would produce nothing except for the effort of the employees.
People have their own reasons for contributing to a work system. Pay is generally at the heart of it, but no employer has a monopoly of compensation, and most don't offer significantly more or less than any other firm. Some people seek a different form of fulfillment from their jobs, whether personal or social. When that reward is not achieved, they seek employment elsewhere and generally have little trouble finding it.
But they don't leave instantly, or all at once. In an unfulfilling position, they abide some degree of tension and frustration before they reach a breaking point. This causes the work system to slow down and become less productive. And because all "parts" of an organization depend on one another, a single dysfunctional manager can bog down an entire work system.
The author asserts that, in his work in human resources, he is constantly hearing from workers who are getting less and less fulfillment from their jobs, at cites workplace surveys in which two factors strongly correlate with decreased workplace morale: heavy workload and issues with management.
Another study by Gallup surveyed nearly a million workers, and one of the key findings was that the relationship of workers with their immediate supervisor was "pivotal" in productivity.
Another study on a Web site that gathers stories about bad bosses found that 48% of respondents would fire their boss if they could and 23% would send their boss to management training. While the source is stilted, it does provide a glimpse into the frustration and anxiety people feel about their management.
The author notes that, in American culture, profession has much to do with personal identity. One of the first questions people ask of each other, even in social situations, is "What do you do?" And to many, their profession and the company for which they work are considered to be part of their self-esteem.
An aside: pay close attention to how a person reacts to that question. Do they answer quickly and enthusiastically? Do them smile? Or do they seem uncomfortable and attempt to dodge the question or change the subject quickly?
However, employees are actively discouraged from being honest about negative emotions regarding their employers: if you're not enthusiastic about your organization, your boss, and your position, then you're not a team player - and can expect to be further alienated or ostracized by the organization. This is especially true when communicating with their immediate boss: t question his rationale or his authority can cost a person his job.
As such, people are very tight-lipped and even disingenuous about their relationship with their employers, and project a positive image regardless of their true feelings on the matter. They stew silently, perhaps hoping someone else will notice and remedy the problem, meanwhile carrying on as if everything is just fine. Performance suffers, morale suffers, and eventually, the employee leaves.
The author presents a "case study" of an employee who was miserable under a bad boss, a micro-manager who loaded her down with work and demanded she sacrifice her personal life for the sake of the job. She struggled to cope, and to project a positive attitude because she was expecting a promotion. However, the effect this had on her performance, and especially the sick days she was taking to cool off after particularly bad confrontations, were likely among the reasons she was passed over for promotion and, upon learning this, she left the department.
Another point is that people act with a basic sense of right and wrong, and when we feel we are being treated unfairly, we react to it. Some have an immediate and intense emotional reaction. Others choke it down and their reaction takes place slowly, over an extended period of time, until they've finally had their fill. The author refers to this as the choice "to lash out, tune out, or get out."
As such, a first step to dealing with the emotions you have toward your employer, both in general and in the specific person of your boss, is in understanding the emotions themselves.
To that end, the author presents a number of word-pairs (angry or happy, stressed or carefree, energetic or depressed, left out or involved, etc.). The more negatively you feel, the more likely it is that you are unhappy with your employer - whether you choose to admit it or not.
Recognizing negative emotions is fairly simple - the more difficult task is to diffuse and deal with them, which is the subject of later chapters.