The Man Who Mistook His Job for His Life by Naomi Shragai

Author:Naomi Shragai [Shragai, Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780753558331
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2021-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

The fault may not always lie entirely with the individuals involved. Managers need to ask themselves if the organisation’s culture breeds toxic behaviour, or even if their management style might unintentionally be creating an envious or paranoid environment. Leaders can improve matters by creating a climate of transparency. When managers make clear the reasons for their decisions, employees are less likely to allow their imaginations to create more sinister explanations. This is particularly the case for controversial ones regarding redundancies and restructuring. Remember also that excessive micromanaging can leave people believing they are being constantly judged and this can be interpreted as a threat rather than support.

It has to be stressed, however, that not all conflicts can be resolved and nor is it practical for organisations to go to the lengths of resolving particularly onerous ones. A cantankerous nightmare of an employee who causes unpleasant and unnecessary tensions might also be highly talented and make crucial contributions. In such cases, learning how best to manage the individual might be the sensible compromise for the overall good of the organisation.

This point is made vividly by Kerry Sulkowicz, the leading US psychoanalyst and adviser to corporate leaders. He advises managers that conflicts of a long duration may be indicative of something deeply embedded in the psyches of each individual and the dynamic they form.

‘It can be a sado-masochistic dynamic – where one is constantly trying to get the other to submit and the other pushes back but then continuously puts themselves in harm’s way and provokes the same kind of dominance-like behaviour,’ he says.

In such cases, for many organisations the solution will be structural rather than psychological, he says, simply because there is neither the time nor resources to investigate the dynamics involved in more depth. Transferring an individual to another department or in some scenarios negotiating their departure may be the best solution to an insurmountable conflict.

‘These deep-seated conflicts typically end with somebody leaving or at least changing roles … it’s worked out structurally rather than purely psychologically because it’s a systemic issue – you’re not dealing with one person in a vacuum.’

And he adds: ‘When [managers’] rational approaches don’t seem to help, one of my favourite things to say is, “Your problem is that you’re too rational.” Being rational is a good thing, yes, but it’s actually crazy to think you can solve everything rationally – or that people are going to be acting rationally all the time and therefore will just respond to rational suggestions. That’s actually irrational!’

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