In this life, it can be very dangerous to expect fairness, urgency, competence, openness, accountability, empathy, reliability, gratitude, and logic as well as a host of virtues and qualities. They often require effort, great effort, and the task of providing them can be easy to elude. This is especially so if people are rewarded for the opposite forms of conduct.
I've yet to encounter a large organization that is immune from such negative practices. They are like the flu. Prevention requires periodic inoculations.
2 comments:
I understand the point and don't disagree. Expectations exceeding reality is a sure formula for disappointment.
But there is a leadership angle many don't appreciate, that subordinates measure their performance against the expectations of the boss or organization where they work.
When I started work in a cafeteria environment where employees earned near or just slightly above minimum wage, I was shocked to find people earning two and three weeks paid vacation because they had been there so long. And their job performance was impressive -- cooks, bakers, dishwashers and butchers whose production handled over a thousand meals each for lunch and dinner. It all rested on the expectations of the company and its management. Performance like this was not unique to one location -- it was part of the corporate culture. And it was not uncommon to find two or three generations employed at the same address for decades.
Those types of operations are no longer widespread (if they ever were) but even now, in my retirement, I am aware of several individuals whom I hired over thirty years ago still working with that same organization.
John,
That's an interesting example.
A leader should convey an expectation of decent treatment and work to promote it and yet avoid a personal expectation that the system or organization will be that way. As a management scholar once put it: "Organizations aren't loyal. People are."
So much of our experiences in organizations come from the good, bad or mediocre conduct of those around us and especially that of our immediate boss.
You can find people working in organizations that aren't that great but they stay in their jobs because they like their co-workers and supervisors.
Michael
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