In the recent past, have been listening to lot of my friends lampooning their workplace, and then starting to vent out their frustrations on their inability to make their bosses feel satisfied or happy with their work. This is despite them putting in monstrous efforts and pulling out magic tricks after tricks to meet the unrealistically set target. I felt sorry for them, but still I was wondering if my friends are exaggerating certain things.
A relatively dispassionate analysis of the workplace ethics made me draw certain conclusions which is what this blog post is all about. I believe, most times, the reasons for many employees leaving an organisation or working unhappily at the workplace, is primarily attributable to the kind of bosses they report to, more than the type of work they get. After all, every work is ultimately repetitive, and hence monotonous. The only difference being the time period over which such monotony sets in.
Most bosses do indulge themselves in all kinds of activities to assert their authority and "control" the lives of their subordinates, using whatever means they deem fit or they are good at. It is their effort at getting "control" at all cost that really boils down to high levels of employee dissatisfaction and the resultant attrition. I believe they try to exercise or gain control over their subordinates in any of the following ways or in a combination of them.
Control Through Fear
Most common tool used for controlling the employees or subordinates is "fear". There is a constant pressure being created to either do it or quit. And it doesn't even end there. With the intimidation comes yet another statement that the subordinate will be in the streets if he quits. This threat keeps on reminding him that he is at the mercy of the boss, and therefore his family is also at his (boss) mercy. Any type of assertion which would contest or doubt the judgement of the boss is deemed insubordination, and the threat once again continues.
This constant threat or ultimatum has only two result if the subordinate is not internally strong. Continue taking the heat and endure the suffering, hoping for some respite some time some how. If there is little or no strength, you'd find the person surrendering to his suicidal tendencies, where a strong willed person would have walked out for a better life outside.
They have this exacting habit of giving targets which are doomed to be unaccomplished, and then bombard the subordinate with further iterations of fear post the deadline.
Some of the other iterations of such "Control through Fear" could be "Control through Ridicule", or "Control through Verbal Abuse"
Control Through Superiority
Some six seven years back I had visited a Company for a consultancy work, when I had requested the Manager for some data, which had to be extracted from their SAP system. He called up his subordinate, asking him to get the data immediately. The subordinate patiently listened to the exact requirement from us and said to his boss that it will take around four days maximum to extract the data. The boss typically responded. "Oh... Okay. I will give you two days."
That was without even bothering to ask why it would take four days, what are the challenges, what kind of support the subordinate is expecting. Just one bloody instruction cum order, without bothering to hear out his subordinate. How did he arrive at the "two days"? Simple. It was half of what the subordinate mentioned. May be, indirectly meaning, I would extract that within that time. So you also try to do the same.
This is yet another way of controlling the subordinates by constantly reminding them that as a boss, I am superior to you in almost every aspect. Typically, such boss would start off any discourse on why something went wrong with a statement "I would have done this way or that way". They give you this typical "I Know It All You Know Nothing" kind of look, that often the subordinate would end up believing it to be true. And by virtue of this superiority they literally run the lives of the subordinates beneath them to meet whatever motives they deem fit.
That was without even bothering to ask why it would take four days, what are the challenges, what kind of support the subordinate is expecting. Just one bloody instruction cum order, without bothering to hear out his subordinate. How did he arrive at the "two days"? Simple. It was half of what the subordinate mentioned. May be, indirectly meaning, I would extract that within that time. So you also try to do the same.
This is yet another way of controlling the subordinates by constantly reminding them that as a boss, I am superior to you in almost every aspect. Typically, such boss would start off any discourse on why something went wrong with a statement "I would have done this way or that way". They give you this typical "I Know It All You Know Nothing" kind of look, that often the subordinate would end up believing it to be true. And by virtue of this superiority they literally run the lives of the subordinates beneath them to meet whatever motives they deem fit.
Control through Guilt.
Now, this type is a proper leper and a living parasite. You can argue with other types of bosses, but not with this one. You won't feel like. You won't even realize that you are under his control unless you withdraw yourself from the workplace / environment and take a dispassionate and objective view of the superior.
They throw all the emotional weapons at their subordinates, and behave like a wimp quoting all possible good things they had done to the subordinate in the past. They constantly try to evoke that moral obligation for the subordinate to do things correctly and still get the stick right in their asshole. The net impact of any interaction with such people is that the subordinate is emotionally drained, and burdened with the responsibility of having to do something far more than what he is paid for or bargained for.
Such bosses would make the it extremely difficult for the subordinate to ask for a day off for attending some function of an extremely important and close friend. They would have just said that they have given an all important family function a complete miss to concentrate on the office work. And they do it every now and then. And that works out as a moral check on any person even remotely thinking of a day off, by pushing office work to the back seat.
And that's not all. Such bosses constantly remind the subordinate that as a boss boss they have done more than what the subordinate did in return. Typical statements made to gain or retain control would be "I went out of my way to help you", "I personally made it a point that you get the role that you enjoyed", "I ensured that you are paid more than what you would otherwise be paid".
Control through Ridicule.
They throw all the emotional weapons at their subordinates, and behave like a wimp quoting all possible good things they had done to the subordinate in the past. They constantly try to evoke that moral obligation for the subordinate to do things correctly and still get the stick right in their asshole. The net impact of any interaction with such people is that the subordinate is emotionally drained, and burdened with the responsibility of having to do something far more than what he is paid for or bargained for.
Such bosses would make the it extremely difficult for the subordinate to ask for a day off for attending some function of an extremely important and close friend. They would have just said that they have given an all important family function a complete miss to concentrate on the office work. And they do it every now and then. And that works out as a moral check on any person even remotely thinking of a day off, by pushing office work to the back seat.
And that's not all. Such bosses constantly remind the subordinate that as a boss boss they have done more than what the subordinate did in return. Typical statements made to gain or retain control would be "I went out of my way to help you", "I personally made it a point that you get the role that you enjoyed", "I ensured that you are paid more than what you would otherwise be paid".
Control through Ridicule.
There are yet another type of boss whose sarcastic remarks border on outright insult on the subordinate's abilities, and all your good work is treated as shit if it doesn't meet the boss's lofty expectations which were, in the first place, not defined.
The small mistakes of the subordinates are responded with derogatory remarks of the highest order. An incomplete communication of the exact requirement from the superior to the subordinate is responded with the subordinate branded having comprehending difficulties or hearing disability. A different take on the same issue by the subordinate is rarely received well, and instead branded juvenile.
Any logical reasoning proposed by the subordinate is equated to some comedian's drunken rambling. A rather forceful reasoning is countered by some story about rabbit and tortoise. A slightly excited and fun loving subordinate would be called immature and lacking in experience and tact.
And all these observations would be made pretty much in public view in front of known people. In front of friends. In front of the subordinate's secret admirers. In front of people the subordinate was secretly admiring.
Control through Verbal Abuse
Verbal abuse is often equated with interaction among male friends, where the men in the group swear at each other, without actually intending any hurt. It is all in good humour. How often people come across abusive language being used in work place? If people think that such verbal abuse is an exclusive "lets have fun male group", one can only laugh at their ignorance.
Countless workplaces exist where use of abusive language is part of required management skill. Bastards, Fuckers (all possible variants), Organ Suckers, Sodomites, Pimps, etc. are some of the words that are constantly thrown at the subordinate. And pretty loudly on them. The few who stand up against such boss is usually sent home. The others fearing such abuse, invariably go by whatever the boss says and do whatever he says irrespective of whether such subordinate is actually supposed to do any of them.
Control through Money and Rewards
Yet another type of boss a subordinate comes across every now and then. And very few organisations are without such an approach. There is this carrot called money or other rewards, which a boss constantly dangles in front of the naive subordinate to make him surrender to the wishes of the boss.
Sometimes the boss does fulfill his part of the promise. But many times, he does not. Promise of an offsite posting for a software engineer, promise of a drinks party for a marketing executive, promise of a better bonus plan for the stock broker, promise of a better team with more pretty girls for the project leaders etc. are some of the well known carrots.
The object of such promise is not to get the work done, but to control the employees. Focus isn't on employee's career development, but the personal development of the boss within the organisation. Typical model deployed by many bosses include influencing the subordinate to a particular life style which demands more amount of salary, and thereby making him feel the need for more money and rewards.
An occasional offer of financial support by the bosses to the subordinate is also part of such operation, where the subordinate feels indebted to the boss for reasons other than the monetary support.
The small mistakes of the subordinates are responded with derogatory remarks of the highest order. An incomplete communication of the exact requirement from the superior to the subordinate is responded with the subordinate branded having comprehending difficulties or hearing disability. A different take on the same issue by the subordinate is rarely received well, and instead branded juvenile.
Any logical reasoning proposed by the subordinate is equated to some comedian's drunken rambling. A rather forceful reasoning is countered by some story about rabbit and tortoise. A slightly excited and fun loving subordinate would be called immature and lacking in experience and tact.
And all these observations would be made pretty much in public view in front of known people. In front of friends. In front of the subordinate's secret admirers. In front of people the subordinate was secretly admiring.
Control through Verbal Abuse
Verbal abuse is often equated with interaction among male friends, where the men in the group swear at each other, without actually intending any hurt. It is all in good humour. How often people come across abusive language being used in work place? If people think that such verbal abuse is an exclusive "lets have fun male group", one can only laugh at their ignorance.
Countless workplaces exist where use of abusive language is part of required management skill. Bastards, Fuckers (all possible variants), Organ Suckers, Sodomites, Pimps, etc. are some of the words that are constantly thrown at the subordinate. And pretty loudly on them. The few who stand up against such boss is usually sent home. The others fearing such abuse, invariably go by whatever the boss says and do whatever he says irrespective of whether such subordinate is actually supposed to do any of them.
Control through Money and Rewards
Yet another type of boss a subordinate comes across every now and then. And very few organisations are without such an approach. There is this carrot called money or other rewards, which a boss constantly dangles in front of the naive subordinate to make him surrender to the wishes of the boss.
Sometimes the boss does fulfill his part of the promise. But many times, he does not. Promise of an offsite posting for a software engineer, promise of a drinks party for a marketing executive, promise of a better bonus plan for the stock broker, promise of a better team with more pretty girls for the project leaders etc. are some of the well known carrots.
The object of such promise is not to get the work done, but to control the employees. Focus isn't on employee's career development, but the personal development of the boss within the organisation. Typical model deployed by many bosses include influencing the subordinate to a particular life style which demands more amount of salary, and thereby making him feel the need for more money and rewards.
An occasional offer of financial support by the bosses to the subordinate is also part of such operation, where the subordinate feels indebted to the boss for reasons other than the monetary support.
Final Words
There could be other types of control that one might come across in a work place. The above are the few that I could think of. I was contemplating to include "Control through Abuse of Authority" in the above list, but decided against the same since it is generally covered by Control through Fear. On a more relevant note, what is important is not whether one knows the various types control that can exist in the work place, but whether his boss is out there to control his life through any of the above means.
Note: As a boss to a few people, I have realized that I too have indulged in one of the above ugly models of control. To be precise more often "Control through Superiority". And may be, one of the other types as well. In hindsight, it feels pretty stupid, shameful and disgusting to have resorted to that. I find it my duty to record this as part of this post.
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