{"id":1112,"date":"2014-11-17T11:17:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T16:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=1112"},"modified":"2014-11-17T11:26:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T16:26:59","slug":"the-organizational-skill-compathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-organizational-skill-compathy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Organizational Skill: COMPATHY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note from the Editor: \u00a0This is the first of \u00a0series of \u00a06 articles written by the author, Vardar\u00a0\u00c7obano\u011flu. \u00a0The full series is a\u00a0compelling piece on\u00a0Organizational Behavior, Human Resources, and Corporate Management. \u00a0You can\u00a0find the author’s other articles here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

\"co-workers-294266_640\"F.J. Roethlisberger<\/strong> addressed his audience at his Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture for the Institute of General Semantics, in New York April 24, 1953 and subsequently wrote his HBR article of the same year based on this lecture. The case, \u201cMr. Hart and Bing\u201d (names and places disguised) he had used in his article, was adapted from a case in the files of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Based on the present author\u2019s live observations as a corporate executive and consultant as well as others\u2019 similar experiences, this case still bears relevance with the depth and wealth of its content in terms of both the apparent problem<\/em> <\/strong>and the hidden facts<\/em><\/strong>. This is why it is regarded as a classic case in management studies. A brief review of the case, with some inclusions <\/em>in 1979 by the Organizational Behavior professor F. Bartolom\u00e9<\/strong> at INSEAD based on the original text, would be useful in providing a point of departure.<\/p>\n

A Case of Misunderstanding, Only?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The shop situation reported in this case occurred in a work group of four men and three women who were engaged in testing and inspecting panels for electronic equipment. The employees were paid on a piecework incentive basis. The personnel organization of the company included a counselor whose duty it was to become acquainted with the workers and talk over any problems which they wished to discuss with him. The summarized statements of \u201cBing\u201d, the employee, and Mr. Hart, the supervisor, are excerpts from five interviews the counselor had with each of them within a period of about two weeks. <\/em><\/p>\n

A summarized statement of how \u201cBing\u201d felt: \u201c<\/em><\/strong>According to the system \u2018round here, as I understand it, I am allowed so much \u2018set-up\u2019 time to get these panels from the racks, carry them over here to the bench and place them in this jig here, which holds them in position while I inspect them. For convenience\u2019 sake and also to save time, I sometimes manage to carry two or three over at the same time and inspect them all at the same time. <\/em>This is a perfectly legal thing to do. We\u2019ve always been doing it. Mr. Hart, the supervisor, has other ideas about it, though; he claims it\u2019s cheating the company. He came over to the bench a day or two ago and let me know just how he felt about the matter. Boy, did we go at it! It wasn\u2019t so much the fact that he called me down on it, but more the way in which he did it. He\u2019s a sarcastic bastard. I\u2019ve never seen anyone like him. He\u2019s not content just to say in a manlike way what\u2019s on his mind, but he prefers to do it in a way that makes you want to crawl inside a crack in the floor. What a guy! I don\u2019t mind being called down by a supervisor, but I like to be treated like a man, and not humiliated like schoolteacher does a naughty kid. He\u2019s been pullin\u2019 this stuff ever since he\u2019s been a super-visor. I knew him when he was just one of us, but since he\u2019s been promoted he\u2019s lost his friendly way and seems to be havin\u2019 some difficulty in knowin\u2019 how to manage us employees.\u00a0In fact, I\u2019ve noticed that he\u2019s been more this way with us fellows since he\u2019s gotten married. I dunno whether there\u2019s any connection there, but I do know<\/em> he\u2019s a changed man over what he used to be like when he was a worker on the bench with us several years ago.<\/p>\n

When he pulled this kind of stuff on me the other day, I got so damn mad I called in the union representative. I knew that the thing I was doing was permitted by the contract, but I was just intent on making some trouble for Mr. Hart, just because he persists in this sarcastic way of handling me. I\u2019m about fed up with the whole damn situation. I\u2019m tryin\u2019 every means I can to get myself transferred out of his group. If I don\u2019t succeed and I\u2019m forced to stay on here, I\u2019m going to screw him every way I can. He\u2019s not gonna pull this kind of kid stuff any longer on me. When the union representative questioned him on the case, he finally had to back down, \u2018cause accord-ing to the contract an employee can use any timesaving method or device in order to speed up the process as long as the quality standards of the job are met. During the discussion with me and the union representative, Mr. Hart charged that it was a dishonest practice and threatened to \u2018take it up the line\u2019 unless the union would curb me on this practice. But this was just an idle threat, \u2018cause the most he can do is get me transferred out of here, which is actually what I want anyway. <\/em><\/p>\n

You see, he knows that I do professional singing on the outside. He hears me singin\u2019 here on the job, and he hears the people talkin\u2019 about my career in music. I guess he figures I can be so cocky because I have another means of earning some money. Actually, the employees here enjoy havin\u2019 me sing while we work, but he thinks I\u2019m disturbing them and causing them to \u2018goof off\u2019 from their work.It\u2019s funny, but for some reason I think he\u2019s partial to the three female employees in our group. He\u2019s the same with all us guys as he is to me, but with the girls he acts more decent. I don\u2019t know what his object is.<\/em> Occasionally, I leave the job a few minutes early and go down to the washroom to wash up before lunch. Sometimes several others in the group will accompany me, and so Mr. Hart automatically thinks I\u2019m the leader and usually bawls me out for the whole thing.<\/p>\n

So, you can see, I\u2019m a marked man around here. He keeps watchin\u2019 me like a hawk. Naturally this makes me very uncomfortable. That\u2019s why I\u2019m sure a transfer would be the best thing. I\u2019ve asked him for it, but he didn\u2019t give me any satisfaction at the time. While I remain here I\u2019m gonna keep my nose clean, but whenever I get the chance I\u2019m gonna slip it to him, but good.\u201d<\/p>\n

A summarized statement of how Mr. Hart felt: <\/strong>\u201cSay, I think you should be in on this. My dear little friend \u2018Bing\u2019 is heading himself into a showdown with me. Recently it was brought to my attention by the quality control checker<\/em> \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>that \u2018Bing\u2019 has been taking double and triple setup time for panels which he is actually inspecting at one time. In effect, that\u2019s cheatin\u2019, and I\u2019ve called him down on it several times before. A few days ago it was brought to my attention again, and so this time I really let him have it in no uncertain terms. He\u2019s been getting away with this for too long and I\u2019m gonna put an end to it once and for all. I know he didn\u2019t like my calling him on it because a few hours later he had the union representative breathin\u2019 down my back. But you know what talkin\u2019 to those people is like; they\u2019ll sometimes defend an employee, even though they think he\u2019s takin\u2019 advantage of the company.<\/em> Well, anyway, I let them both know I\u2019ll not tolerate the practice any longer, and I let \u2018Bing\u2019 know that if he continues to do this kind of thing, I\u2019m gonna take official action with my boss to have the guy fired or penalized somehow. This kind of thing has to be curbed. Actually, I\u2019m inclined to think the guy\u2019s mentally deficient, because talking to him has actually no meaning to him whatsoever. I\u2019ve tried just about every approach to jar some sense into that guy\u2019s head, and I\u2019ve just about given it up as a bad deal. I just can\u2019t seem to make any kind of impression upon him. It\u2019s an unpleasant situation for everyone concerned, but I\u2019m at a loss to know what more I can do about it.<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what it is about the guy, but I think he\u2019s harboring some deep feelings against me. For what, I don\u2019t know, \u2019cause I\u2019ve tried to handle that bird with kid gloves. But his whole attitude around here on the job is one of indifference, and he certainly isn\u2019t a good influence on the rest of my group. Frankly, I think he purposely tries to agitate them against me at times, too. It seems to me he may be suffering from illusions of grandeur, \u2018cause all he does all day long is sit over there and croon his fool head off. Thinks he\u2019s a Frank Sinatra! No kidding! I understand he takes singin\u2019 lessons and he\u2019s working with some of the local bands in the city. All of which is O.K. by me; but when his outside interests start interfering with his efficiency on the job, then I\u2019ve gotta start paying closer attention to the situation. For this reason I\u2019ve been keeping an eye on that bird and if he steps out of line any more, he and I are gonna part ways.<\/p>\n

I feel quite safe in saying that I\u2019ve done all I can rightfully be expected to do by way of trying to show him what\u2019s expected of him.<\/em> You know there\u2019s an old saying, \u2018You can\u2019t make a purse out of a sow\u2019s ear.\u2019 The guy is simply unscrupulous. He feels no obligation to do a real day\u2019s work. Yet I know the guy can do a good job, because for a long time he did. But in recent months, he\u2019s slipped for some reason and his whole attitude on the job has changed. Why, it\u2019s even getting to the point now where I think he\u2019s inducing other employees to\u2019goof off\u2019 a few minutes before the lunch whistle and go down to the washrooms and clean up on company time. I\u2019ve called him on it several times, but words just don\u2019t seem to make any lasting impression on him. Well, if he keeps it up much longer, he\u2019s gonna find himself on the way out. He\u2019s asked me for a transfer, so I know he wants to go. But I didn\u2019t give him an answer when he asked me, \u2018cause I was steamin\u2019 mad at the time, and I may have told him to go somewhere else.<\/p>\n

I think it would be good for you to talk with him frequently. It\u2019ll give him a chance to think the matter through a little more carefully. There may be something that\u2019s troubling him in his personal life, although I\u2019ve made every effort to find out if there was such a thing, and I\u2019ve been unsuccessful. Maybe you\u2019ll have better luck.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note from the Editor: \u00a0This is the first of \u00a0series of \u00a06 articles written by the author, Vardar\u00a0\u00c7obano\u011flu. \u00a0The full series is a\u00a0compelling piece on\u00a0Organizational Behavior, Human Resources, and Corporate Management. \u00a0You can\u00a0find the author’s other articles here. * * * * F.J. Roethlisberger addressed his audience at his Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture for the… The Organizational Skill: COMPATHY<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[527,530,526,528,529],"class_list":["post-1112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organization","tag-apparent-problem","tag-compathy","tag-f-j-roethlisberger","tag-hidden-fact","tag-organizational-behavior"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1117,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112\/revisions\/1117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}