Teamwork (RANT) Am I the bad apple? - Page 2 - PBX Info :: Your Free PBX, PABX and Telephone Information Resource

***Lmo*** · 06-07-2006, 12:04 PM

I hear you loud and clear. You are not wrong. Unfortunately, you had a cool idea (the bbq in the park) and the rest of the office found out about it and decided that they would invite themselves and their kids to your party. So now, instead of you and your friends doing it informally, it has become a required meeting for everyone, including some leeches. I am still wondering how she pulls that one; I take it the kids aren't invited to company meetings...?

Your biggest mistake was telling the office bunch what you were doing. As someone with multiple locations and a company vehicle, you should not have let that one slip. I realize they have GPS, but letting it slip that you're having a bbq is only going to draw people like your admin. Your second big mistake was doing it too close to the office.

Hourly paid people are very aware of when the clock is running and when it isnt-just as they should be. After all, the company is,when it comes to paying overtime, so employees need to be when it comes to donating overtime. I've been on both sides, and prefer the hourly route, personally. If it is a company function, you should be paid to attend. If you are not paid to attend, attendance should not be required.

Perhaps, since the bbq's are being funded by what sounds like the same few people, those folks need to 'be a little short' this week and not be able to do the shopping. Maybe the admin could do the shopping this week. Maybe the original bunch could start not showing up. Maybe they could quietly move the Q to another location...

monkeylizard · 06-07-2006, 12:19 PM

I was discussing this topic in a class recently (working on my MBA).

The "teamwork" idea tends to get forced on companies where it may not fit, because some retard admin read about it in a journal or something. Companies (and dpeartments within companies) each have their own culture. That will range from little to no contact with each other (work-at-home envelope stuffers for example) to full community where the lines between home and work are blurred at best. Apple and Microsoft are examples of this. The employees identify themselves by their company. Even in non-work related settings, Apple employees often refer to themselves as Apple people. Families are ALWAYS included in employee functions and often entire households are employed at the same firm.

Teams don't work in all of these cultures and are necessary in others. It sounds like your admin is trying to force teamwork on a culture that doesn't support it. If he really wants teams to work, he'll have to first go about changing the culture. A task that can take years to complete and can ruin a company if it fails.

monkeylizard · 06-07-2006, 12:28 PM

In other words, no you're not the bad apple. It's possible that management may want to change some culture, but it's most likely an admin making a decision without all the information.

monkeylizard · 06-07-2006, 12:33 PM

Motivational sayings/posters don't work. Studies have shown no impact on performance from them. I knew I'd come to work for the right place when I saw this "motivational" poster on the wall in the main hall outside the V.P.'s door. Nice matte job and big wooden frame. AWESOME!

http://www.despair.com/mis24x30prin.html

***MSYoung*** · 06-07-2006, 01:02 PM

We have a sales group that was working off site. To save money, they moved back into the company campus. They are big into motivational posters and pictures, they hung them all over the walls in their area. Even hung them in their offices.

I have to go by there every now and then and it is amusing that people walking by these pictures never look at them. They're like so much white noise.

This company does not promote teamwork with pictures or rah-rah meetings. It is generally done by the company culture. If there is going to be a barbeque at the beach it will be completely spontaneous. The company is big into volunteerism and will support it with company money.

I actually worked on a Habitat for Humanity project one weekend with several co-workers, none of whom I knew. My company bought the paint and provided the teeshirts for this project. That is how you build camaraderie and team work. It cannot be forced.

By the end of that weekend we were all friends and went back to work with a new zeal.

***papa-bear*** · 06-07-2006, 02:45 PM

If a group is disfunctional, you can't expect that to be fixed over a weekend or evening. Some other work needs to be done to at least make staff tolerate each other.

I am all for team building, even weekend retreats but it must offer something more to the team than just throwing them together hoping they will learn to function together. If not a nice place to go for a relaxing weekend with significant others (paid for by the company) allowed to come along or something that is a benefit for the employee making the time worth while. I don't agree with the unpaid only on free time thing. Work is work, there must be some compensation.

I had one manager who selected his team of people so they all fit together. We pretty much always went out at least once a week for dinner and drinks in a social environment and about half that was paid for by the company. One day, the manager moved up in the world and someone else started to hire. The group dynamics went into the shitter and people stopped socializing, little clique groups popped up which forced groups appart. I am happy to not be there any more.

***Ramjet*** · 06-07-2006, 03:11 PM

Slag , you are correct 100%. It's the same thing at our office with the team s--t. Not only the techs, but the csr's etc. Most of the tech's do a good job, but there are exceptions. Nuff said! I too am hourly, and when work is over, it's over. If you want me to hang around for some motivational crap, I will be on the clock.

***Archibald J. Cox*** · 06-07-2006, 04:53 PM

I hang out with a few of my coworkers after hours, not for teambuilding or work-related stuff, just because we like to drink and do other assorted activites.

If you're going to force me to hang out with my coworkers, there had better be free alcohol involved -- and a lot of it.

***Lmo*** · 06-07-2006, 05:17 PM

Since your little bbq has turned into a company function--maybe the company ought to pop for the food.
How long do these last? If it's your lunch hour, you should not be required to participate- ESPECIALLY IF YOUR COMPANY IS ONE THAT DOES NOT DO PAID LUNCHES. Of course, if work on a Friday grinds to a halt around noon when everyone goes for the bbq, and the BBQ lasts 3 hrs (paid), then I guess it's team building and the company should still pop for food.

I'm still thinking about the admin with the 5 kids and how she somehow feels that it is ok to do what she's doing. Is she, by any chance, the person that cleans it all up? Not that it would make it ok, but is she under the impression that she is cleaning up and getting rid of leftovers? 5 kids rolling up for lunch doesnt give me that impression, but who knows? If someone has a party here, there is a certain person that is responsible for making sure the breakroom is clean at the end of the day. (Too many messes still around on Monday or Tues. after parties on Friday.) If there is food left, she generally puts it in the fridge and tries to give it away on Monday. Maybe your admin thinks her kids are the garbage disposal.

slagburn · 06-07-2006, 10:37 PM

Company pop for food??? This is government there is no popping for anything when it comes to them. Lunch at the park might go a tad over the alotted hour but not by much and it's usually a float lunch where the guys will come and go with their hour.

I think the biggest problem is that there is no problem except the one that the boss seems to thinks exisits; he comes from a little 5 person interconnect as a field tech and I guess they all hung out together and were real tight on their free time so he feels that we should be the same way. As a team on the few occasions that we have to work together there never has been a problem beyond everyone wanting to be in charge - once that gets cleared up everything goes smooth and we go home.

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