I am a civil engineer posted as a Management Trainee in a reputed Steel Company, on the 25th of Jul last year. The training program ended this July.
On being sent to the site, I found out that a lot of unethical construction practices were being followed by our contractor, with the tacit support of the management. Any problem that occurred due to this was avoided by my manager by saying that it was actually done under my supervision, a trainee's, without my knowledge. After a while I had enough of it, so I took some photographs of the site and sent an elaborate mail to the corporate office, describing the situation here and the need for action.
I was promptly applauded by our VP( Corporate HR) for this and he promised to take action. But for some unknown reason, nothing was done and the matter was hushed up. The VP requested me to keep it a secret, so only me and the GM know about it.
Now the effect of that is showing in my appraisal. He made a very bad appraisal that the HR considered it better to extend my training to another 6 months.HE says that I am an introverted person and that my equation with the team members hasn't been good and that is the reason for this appraisal.
To be honest I am an introvert but I put in lots of hard work this one year. I worked such hours as the asked me to. I worked in the night shift for 5 weeks in a row.This is vendetta on his part. By his own admission, my GM has never tried to talk to me about my shortcomings. In fact for the last 4 months, he says he even doesn't know Where I was working.
I am worried as to what effect this would have on my career. My talk with him has been futile.Please guide me on how to deal with this.
From India, Selam
On being sent to the site, I found out that a lot of unethical construction practices were being followed by our contractor, with the tacit support of the management. Any problem that occurred due to this was avoided by my manager by saying that it was actually done under my supervision, a trainee's, without my knowledge. After a while I had enough of it, so I took some photographs of the site and sent an elaborate mail to the corporate office, describing the situation here and the need for action.
I was promptly applauded by our VP( Corporate HR) for this and he promised to take action. But for some unknown reason, nothing was done and the matter was hushed up. The VP requested me to keep it a secret, so only me and the GM know about it.
Now the effect of that is showing in my appraisal. He made a very bad appraisal that the HR considered it better to extend my training to another 6 months.HE says that I am an introverted person and that my equation with the team members hasn't been good and that is the reason for this appraisal.
To be honest I am an introvert but I put in lots of hard work this one year. I worked such hours as the asked me to. I worked in the night shift for 5 weeks in a row.This is vendetta on his part. By his own admission, my GM has never tried to talk to me about my shortcomings. In fact for the last 4 months, he says he even doesn't know Where I was working.
I am worried as to what effect this would have on my career. My talk with him has been futile.Please guide me on how to deal with this.
From India, Selam
Dear Kiran,
Are you from Public Sector Undertaking or Private Sector? You could have clarified that. If you are from former then you can raise redress your grievance. There is proper mechanism for this. If you are from latter, then I would say that you did little bit haste. You should have waited for your training to complete.
Now you have two options. One is to completed this extended training period. Don't expose any corruption now. Second option is put up application for review of the decision for the extension of training. You can write that extension of the training is more because of the exposure of the malpractices and not because of you being introvert. Introversion or extroversion does not matter for performance unless you handle specific jobs likes sales where extroverts have edge over introverts.
If you exercise second option, you may risk your employment. Are you prepared for this? Because for senior managers, it is so easy to fix some junior chap who sticks his neck out.
Therefore, weigh the options carefully and decide. Think whether you have still better option at hand. In the meanwhile, you continue to gather evidence of malpractices. This should be your covert activity and not overt.
Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
7881Are you from Public Sector Undertaking or Private Sector? You could have clarified that. If you are from former then you can raise redress your grievance. There is proper mechanism for this. If you are from latter, then I would say that you did little bit haste. You should have waited for your training to complete.
Now you have two options. One is to completed this extended training period. Don't expose any corruption now. Second option is put up application for review of the decision for the extension of training. You can write that extension of the training is more because of the exposure of the malpractices and not because of you being introvert. Introversion or extroversion does not matter for performance unless you handle specific jobs likes sales where extroverts have edge over introverts.
If you exercise second option, you may risk your employment. Are you prepared for this? Because for senior managers, it is so easy to fix some junior chap who sticks his neck out.
Therefore, weigh the options carefully and decide. Think whether you have still better option at hand. In the meanwhile, you continue to gather evidence of malpractices. This should be your covert activity and not overt.
Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Hello kiranmnit,
Concurring what Dinesh V Divekar mentioned, you DID get into a hurry--sometimes it helps to allow the 'head' to operate than the 'heart'. This is in no way to justify what happened mind you--just a different way of looking @ the situation w.r.t. the 'if', 'how' & 'when' to blow the whistle. And pl don't forget that you are only a Management Trainee--even if you went to the MD/CMD of the company, it will be 'your' word against 'theirs' [assuming the MD/CMD isn't involved--funny thinking @ the times we live in].
When you realized that what was happening was 'with the tacit support of the management', you should have checked-out the situation from a broader perspective--of who were involved, who would be the best person within the organization to be approached, etc. For all I know [and I won't be surprised] everyone @ the top may be having their 'cuts' in it. Aren't we seeing such situations all over the place/country?
Coming to the courses of action open to you now, frankly, I think you are a 'marked man' now--not sure if you realize it or not. In the medium-to-long term, I think the only option available to you is to change the company--SMOOTHLY [else your BC would get effected for sure]. You haven't mentioned if you have a Bond--usually MTs have it. Pl confirm on this.
I am not so sure if I would go with Dinesh's suggestion ".....you continue to gather evidence of malpractices....". Overt or Covert, such category of people [corrupt, i.e.] are usually FAR MORE ALERT than normal guys like us. It would be only a matter of time that you WOULD be found out--which COULDlead to quite dangerous [to say the least] situations.
Coming to the extension of your training, pl note that the reason being 'mentioned' & the 'unsaid' reason is, IN ALL PROBABILITY, different. It most likely is an opportunity being given to you to make amends to what you did [from their perspective]--either you 'become' like them or just face the music--with THEM deciding what the 'music' will be.
Suggest pl clarify the following points--also mentioned by Dinesh--so that better options may be suggested by the members:
1] Are you from Public Sector Undertaking or Private Sector?
2] Do you have a Bond?
3] Based on your OBSERVATIONS around you @ the site, do/did you get a 'feeling' of being 'observed' by anyone? You mentioned that 'only me and the GM know about it'. I am not so sure. Let's not assume that others don't have eyes, ears & heads--only they may not have opened their mouths, like you did. Hope you get the point.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
Concurring what Dinesh V Divekar mentioned, you DID get into a hurry--sometimes it helps to allow the 'head' to operate than the 'heart'. This is in no way to justify what happened mind you--just a different way of looking @ the situation w.r.t. the 'if', 'how' & 'when' to blow the whistle. And pl don't forget that you are only a Management Trainee--even if you went to the MD/CMD of the company, it will be 'your' word against 'theirs' [assuming the MD/CMD isn't involved--funny thinking @ the times we live in].
When you realized that what was happening was 'with the tacit support of the management', you should have checked-out the situation from a broader perspective--of who were involved, who would be the best person within the organization to be approached, etc. For all I know [and I won't be surprised] everyone @ the top may be having their 'cuts' in it. Aren't we seeing such situations all over the place/country?
Coming to the courses of action open to you now, frankly, I think you are a 'marked man' now--not sure if you realize it or not. In the medium-to-long term, I think the only option available to you is to change the company--SMOOTHLY [else your BC would get effected for sure]. You haven't mentioned if you have a Bond--usually MTs have it. Pl confirm on this.
I am not so sure if I would go with Dinesh's suggestion ".....you continue to gather evidence of malpractices....". Overt or Covert, such category of people [corrupt, i.e.] are usually FAR MORE ALERT than normal guys like us. It would be only a matter of time that you WOULD be found out--which COULDlead to quite dangerous [to say the least] situations.
Coming to the extension of your training, pl note that the reason being 'mentioned' & the 'unsaid' reason is, IN ALL PROBABILITY, different. It most likely is an opportunity being given to you to make amends to what you did [from their perspective]--either you 'become' like them or just face the music--with THEM deciding what the 'music' will be.
Suggest pl clarify the following points--also mentioned by Dinesh--so that better options may be suggested by the members:
1] Are you from Public Sector Undertaking or Private Sector?
2] Do you have a Bond?
3] Based on your OBSERVATIONS around you @ the site, do/did you get a 'feeling' of being 'observed' by anyone? You mentioned that 'only me and the GM know about it'. I am not so sure. Let's not assume that others don't have eyes, ears & heads--only they may not have opened their mouths, like you did. Hope you get the point.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
I support TS's views.Please see Shanmughan Manjunath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia to understand what could happen in a worst case scenario.
From United Kingdom
From United Kingdom
Thank you for the suggestion.
From India, Selam
- I work in a Private company.
- No there is no Bond.
- I never had such a feeling but the mail did have it s effects on the site. Works quality started get some emphasis since the incident and shady transactions between the contractor and management came to a halt.
From India, Selam
Hello kiranmnit,
Let's start with your Last point First,
3. I never had such a feeling but the mail did have it s effects on the site. Works quality started get some emphasis since the incident and shady transactions between the contractor and management came to a halt.
My Comments/Remarks:
A] This doesn't really jell with your earlier remark/observation: '.....nothing was done and the matter was hushed up....'. Usually correction measures do take time to get implemented/effective. Looks like you mistook the delay as 'lack of action'.
B] Based on what you mention, looks like the corruption you noticed is very much @ A LOCAL LEVEL. Else [meaning--IF the ones @ the top in Corporate office too had been involved], you would surely have been 'under observation' of some sort [others @ the working spot ignoring/avoiding you being one of them].
C] This would also 'indicate' that your initial 'feeling/surmise'--and this could be important to YOU--that your 'bad appraisal' is linked with this issue COULD BE WRONG & MAY BE ACTUALLY RELATED to your being an introvert. While this is NOT a 'right/wrong' issue at all, there are some job roles that need one to be an introvert [like staff/desk jobs, R&D, etc] & some roles where being an extrovert is a must/preferred [like Sales, supervision, etc].
Suggest work on this aspect of your nature--it's quite possible to change.
2. No there is no Bond.
Though this is surprising [since the general trend is for some sort of a Bond for Trainees], frankly you should consider yourself LUCKY for getting such a job WITHOUT a Bond.
While this would definitely enable you to KEEP ALL YOUR OPTIONS OPEN, I don't think that will be necessary--given that you seem to be on the way up the ladder in this company [at least, that's my reading].
1. I work in a Private company.
Tolerance for corrupt practices is very less in Private companies. So from this angle too, I don't think you have a reason to worry. However, if you sub-consciously wish to be rewarded [nothing wrong in it per se] for highlighting the corruption, it may not be realistic--many organizations do take corrective measures to root it out, but hesitate to announce it for many other reasons.
From an overall perspective, I think your career in this company looks bright--if you take care to make your own set of corrections.
And yes--suggest keep one old saying in mind from now on-- 'Act in haste, Repent at leisure' :-). That's the lesson from this situation I guess--aka 'experience'.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
Let's start with your Last point First,
3. I never had such a feeling but the mail did have it s effects on the site. Works quality started get some emphasis since the incident and shady transactions between the contractor and management came to a halt.
My Comments/Remarks:
A] This doesn't really jell with your earlier remark/observation: '.....nothing was done and the matter was hushed up....'. Usually correction measures do take time to get implemented/effective. Looks like you mistook the delay as 'lack of action'.
B] Based on what you mention, looks like the corruption you noticed is very much @ A LOCAL LEVEL. Else [meaning--IF the ones @ the top in Corporate office too had been involved], you would surely have been 'under observation' of some sort [others @ the working spot ignoring/avoiding you being one of them].
C] This would also 'indicate' that your initial 'feeling/surmise'--and this could be important to YOU--that your 'bad appraisal' is linked with this issue COULD BE WRONG & MAY BE ACTUALLY RELATED to your being an introvert. While this is NOT a 'right/wrong' issue at all, there are some job roles that need one to be an introvert [like staff/desk jobs, R&D, etc] & some roles where being an extrovert is a must/preferred [like Sales, supervision, etc].
Suggest work on this aspect of your nature--it's quite possible to change.
2. No there is no Bond.
Though this is surprising [since the general trend is for some sort of a Bond for Trainees], frankly you should consider yourself LUCKY for getting such a job WITHOUT a Bond.
While this would definitely enable you to KEEP ALL YOUR OPTIONS OPEN, I don't think that will be necessary--given that you seem to be on the way up the ladder in this company [at least, that's my reading].
1. I work in a Private company.
Tolerance for corrupt practices is very less in Private companies. So from this angle too, I don't think you have a reason to worry. However, if you sub-consciously wish to be rewarded [nothing wrong in it per se] for highlighting the corruption, it may not be realistic--many organizations do take corrective measures to root it out, but hesitate to announce it for many other reasons.
From an overall perspective, I think your career in this company looks bright--if you take care to make your own set of corrections.
And yes--suggest keep one old saying in mind from now on-- 'Act in haste, Repent at leisure' :-). That's the lesson from this situation I guess--aka 'experience'.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
Thanks once again,
What I meant by saying that it did have an effect was that it could strike some fear on my manager's and GM's minds.
I have another doubt. Now that my training is going to be extended, will it be a better move to change job during this 6 month period? Because it will be evident from my reliving letter that I couldn't complete my one yr training. Are such candidates favored by companies while hiring?
From India, Selam
What I meant by saying that it did have an effect was that it could strike some fear on my manager's and GM's minds.
I have another doubt. Now that my training is going to be extended, will it be a better move to change job during this 6 month period? Because it will be evident from my reliving letter that I couldn't complete my one yr training. Are such candidates favored by companies while hiring?
From India, Selam
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