Basic HTML Version
54
Geotechnical News • March 2013
www.geotechnicalnews.com
ASFE NEWS
monly a small, closed system where
recognition, promotions, and raises are
in great demand but extremely short
supply. In other words, no matter how
effective a firm’s leaders believe their
management systems may be, people
and their different personalities, ethics,
and outlooks create situations that
make it impossible to minimize con-
flict.
NOT
! In fact, effective manage-
ment
can
reduce conflict, and – that
being the case – one can surmise that
employee conflict can be a sign of
ineffective management, frequently
associated with the following issues.
Centralized functions
like HR, IT, and
marketing can create conflicts because
they put all the related resource eggs
in one basket. Try to put enough eggs
in the basket to meet all usual needs,
or possibly consider an alternative or
supplementary resource-distribution
method.
Lack of accountability
can leave
people lost, resulting in finger-point-
ing, backstabbing, and other forms
of conflict. (“She got the promotion I
should have gotten, because….”) Lack
of accountability commonly manifests
itself when poorly defined objec-
tives and/or metrics result in poorly
constructed bonus, compensation, and
promotion programs.
Shared or unclear responsibilities
are
blueprints for conflict. If responsi-
bilities are to be shared, they must be
clearly circumscribed: In fact, who is
responsible for what? For that matter,
any responsibility should be closely
delineated, to help prevent people
from stepping on one another’s toes.
Unstructured compensation and
review systems
are perennial conflict
creators, because employees have little
knowledge of: how they’re regarded
by superiors, peers, and other cowork-
ers; what they need to do to improve;
the objectives management would
like them to achieve in the upcoming
months. Unstructured systems take
on a veneer of structure by rewarding
tenure rather than merit or embrac-
ing criteria that are vague and subject
to interpretation, resulting in more
exceptions than rules.
Overly structured compensation and
review systems
can be just as prob-
lematical, especially when their lack
of flexibility prevents managers from
recognizing rising stars by giving
them a career ladder that helps them
rise faster.
Poorly managed growth
can create
conflict when it results in an orga-
nization holding on to fundamental
processes – like those associated with
forecasting, operational and strategic
planning, and budgeting – that worked
well for the smaller organization that
used to exist, but no longer does.
The “Peter Principle” holds that some
people get promoted to a position they
are not qualified for, and they stay in
that position until they finally get it
right. Which they usually never do.
The result? Qualified individuals get
stuck working for a boss or coworker
they disrespect, creating conflicts
between the qualified and the unquali-
fied, as well as the decision-makers
who, for whatever reason, are unwill-
ing to replace the unqualified with
those who are capable.
Human resources management
The temperature in your office is too
hot. It’s also too cold. At least that’s
what one should infer, it seems, from
a CareerBuilder.com survey of 4,285
full-time, nongovernment U.S. work-
ers. While more than half – 54% –
said the office temperature was “just
right,” 29% said it was too hot and
19% said it was too cold. Who cares?
You should, because numerous studies
show that temperatures that are too hot
or too cold cause a productivity drop-
off. They can also lead to conflict: Ten
percent of the respondents said they
had fought with a co-worker over the
office temperature. If the temperature
setting could be a problem, try these
tactics:
• Set To Please:
Identify which ther-
mostats affect which areas. Ask
workers in each affected area what
a preferred setting or range would
be. Seek compromise.
• Encourage Layers:
When one set-
ting cannot please all, encourage
layering, so workers can add or
subtract layers to help achieve har-
mony with the indoor environment
as the day progresses.
• Be Flexible:
If a particular space,
time of day, or combination of the
two creates conditions that are too
hot or too cold, encourage those af-
fected to speak up. It may be pos-
sible to find an area (like a confer-
ence room) that works better, or
possibly the answer could be tele-
commuting.
Editorial
The world is run by those who show
up. Geoprofessionals – along with
most other scientists and engineers
– don’t show up. Oh, they’re there
all right, behind closed doors, hiding
from the limelight for fear, perhaps,
the limelight may be a form of kryp-
tonite. And that would be something
for them to fear, because – in real-
ity – they
are
super. Take away their
contributions to American society and
what do you have? A populace living
in mud huts with a life expectancy of
42. Is there any wonder why our infra-
structure is rotting into oblivion? It’s
because those in the best position to
make waves about it do not
ever
rock
the boat. Not that they could: They
don’t show up. And is there any won-
der why we are finding it so difficult
to populate the ranks of engineers and
scientists, given that their next genera-
tion, as the current and those before it,
seems to live where the sun – or the
limelight, at least – doesn’t shine, and
likes it just that way.
A few years ago, a group of ASFE
past presidents and this editor started
an organization called
Engineers’
Leadership Foundation
, which, in turn,
established a program called Engi-
neering Better Readers. The goal: Get
engineers involved in the community
– in the limelight – via an innova-
tive (and, so far, highly successful)