Hello,
I am working in a small IT company as an HR. Our company size is 25 employees. Their are two people who are the CEOs' of the company. One is in US and another one is in India.
The company is in the rule of dictatorship of these two CEOs'.
Now, when I had one on one discussion with my employees what I understood is their are mistake from the management side and creating problem for employees in accomplishing their task on time.
A small example - A team of 5 people are working on a project (A) which they have to deliver in a stipulated period of time. These people make plan accordingly and start working on it. What happens is, these CEOs' suddenly comes in the middle of the work, assigns some urgent task (Project B or C) to those people and they have to do it. Later on, when the CEOs' needs the Project (A), people needs extra time for completing it and then it create problems.
Example - A team of 4 - 5 people have assigned a project with all the details what they are required to do and everything based on client requirement. They start working on it properly, suddenly what happens is, these CEOs' comes in the middle of the work and gives some inputs which are not given earlier and then employees are required to rework on the tasks which they have already finished.
Problems -
1. Whenever we discussed this thing with the management, they don't accept their fault.
2. Because of dictatorship, their is no one who can contradict him.
3. Being a small organization, we don't have replacements if some urgent work comes from the CEOs'.
4. As the urgent work comes for the CEOs', employees have to do it.
5. Because of this problem, my employees efficiency is getting effected, they have to stay extra hours and complete the work.
Kindly help me with your valuable suggestions.
From India, Pune
3I am working in a small IT company as an HR. Our company size is 25 employees. Their are two people who are the CEOs' of the company. One is in US and another one is in India.
The company is in the rule of dictatorship of these two CEOs'.
Now, when I had one on one discussion with my employees what I understood is their are mistake from the management side and creating problem for employees in accomplishing their task on time.
A small example - A team of 5 people are working on a project (A) which they have to deliver in a stipulated period of time. These people make plan accordingly and start working on it. What happens is, these CEOs' suddenly comes in the middle of the work, assigns some urgent task (Project B or C) to those people and they have to do it. Later on, when the CEOs' needs the Project (A), people needs extra time for completing it and then it create problems.
Example - A team of 4 - 5 people have assigned a project with all the details what they are required to do and everything based on client requirement. They start working on it properly, suddenly what happens is, these CEOs' comes in the middle of the work and gives some inputs which are not given earlier and then employees are required to rework on the tasks which they have already finished.
Problems -
1. Whenever we discussed this thing with the management, they don't accept their fault.
2. Because of dictatorship, their is no one who can contradict him.
3. Being a small organization, we don't have replacements if some urgent work comes from the CEOs'.
4. As the urgent work comes for the CEOs', employees have to do it.
5. Because of this problem, my employees efficiency is getting effected, they have to stay extra hours and complete the work.
Kindly help me with your valuable suggestions.
From India, Pune
Dear Shwetavi,
It is not clear how old your organisation is ? However if it is new one then the so called management (CEO's) will try their best to create the good image in the market.They will try their best to satisfy and delight the customers and grab the new opportunities.........But the way of doing the same is not effective. Because of their way of working you will lose your good employees and ultimately they will carry the bad image of your organisation.
It seems that your employees are not more stable................
As a HR professional you try the following :
1 Collect the data of the left employees
2 Take the views of your employees about the management style.
3 What are their expectations regarding job and rewards.
4 Other crucial information
After analyzing the same you present your report to the CEOs. Try to convince them about the adverse consequences of such management style. Put forward practical examples about other organisations.
You know there is no dearth of jobs in the open market.
Also see whether you have sufficient manpower to handle the projects. Try to fill the gaps after convincing the CEOs.
With Best Wishes
From India, New Delhi
It is not clear how old your organisation is ? However if it is new one then the so called management (CEO's) will try their best to create the good image in the market.They will try their best to satisfy and delight the customers and grab the new opportunities.........But the way of doing the same is not effective. Because of their way of working you will lose your good employees and ultimately they will carry the bad image of your organisation.
It seems that your employees are not more stable................
As a HR professional you try the following :
1 Collect the data of the left employees
2 Take the views of your employees about the management style.
3 What are their expectations regarding job and rewards.
4 Other crucial information
After analyzing the same you present your report to the CEOs. Try to convince them about the adverse consequences of such management style. Put forward practical examples about other organisations.
You know there is no dearth of jobs in the open market.
Also see whether you have sufficient manpower to handle the projects. Try to fill the gaps after convincing the CEOs.
With Best Wishes
From India, New Delhi
Dear Shwetavi,
It Seems that their behavior most probably is a reflection of some deeper psychological issues that extend further than a typical workday.
Find a discrete way to inform them about the negative effects their unhelpful behavior is having on employees work Address these issues factually and in a relaxed manner, without questioning why they acted as they did.Remember, some managers have no idea that what they're doing is making employees unhappy at the workplace. This is when your feedback and good communication can be an essential prerequisite to them improving their behavior.make sure your tone is non accusative...
Regards
Sharat
From India
It Seems that their behavior most probably is a reflection of some deeper psychological issues that extend further than a typical workday.
Find a discrete way to inform them about the negative effects their unhelpful behavior is having on employees work Address these issues factually and in a relaxed manner, without questioning why they acted as they did.Remember, some managers have no idea that what they're doing is making employees unhappy at the workplace. This is when your feedback and good communication can be an essential prerequisite to them improving their behavior.make sure your tone is non accusative...
Regards
Sharat
From India
Dear Shweta,
From your narrative, it seems that both the C.E.Os have a tacit understanding about their roles in the organization, ie., one to procure assignments by staying abroad and the other to accomplish them in time by being here.Since theirs is an I.T Company,they should have'en more obsessed with time-bound delivery to satisfy the existing clients as well as to attract prospective ones as suggested by Mr.Bhardwaj. However, in the process dominated by haste and dictates of artificial time-limits, possibilities are abound that in the absence of unity of thought and direction among themselves, they lose sight of work difficulties faced by the people on the job.That is indicative of the fact in your post that quite often the C.E.Os forget that the purpose of control system is not to dominate people but to enable them to take appropriate action.Of course, it is a sordid state of affairs for a HR executive who has to act as a buffer.Since their disposition seems to be pretty autocratic, politely bring the difficulties faced by the members of staff in this regard to their knowledge when both are present and convince them that the growth of the enterprise is always in tandem with the development of the human resources.As C.E.Os its up to them...either to make the enterprise flourish with a contented and stable work-force or mar it!
From India, Salem
From your narrative, it seems that both the C.E.Os have a tacit understanding about their roles in the organization, ie., one to procure assignments by staying abroad and the other to accomplish them in time by being here.Since theirs is an I.T Company,they should have'en more obsessed with time-bound delivery to satisfy the existing clients as well as to attract prospective ones as suggested by Mr.Bhardwaj. However, in the process dominated by haste and dictates of artificial time-limits, possibilities are abound that in the absence of unity of thought and direction among themselves, they lose sight of work difficulties faced by the people on the job.That is indicative of the fact in your post that quite often the C.E.Os forget that the purpose of control system is not to dominate people but to enable them to take appropriate action.Of course, it is a sordid state of affairs for a HR executive who has to act as a buffer.Since their disposition seems to be pretty autocratic, politely bring the difficulties faced by the members of staff in this regard to their knowledge when both are present and convince them that the growth of the enterprise is always in tandem with the development of the human resources.As C.E.Os its up to them...either to make the enterprise flourish with a contented and stable work-force or mar it!
From India, Salem
Hello,
Thank you all for your valuable suggestions.
Well , this company is started 3 years back in September 2009. All the employees are very hard working, cooperative, stable and very dedicated towards their work. Yes, it is correctly said by Mr. Bhardwaj & Mr. Umakanthan that these CEOs' are trying to create good image in the market as well as identifying different sources for business development and satisfying the existing clients for generating the leads. In this process, they have more crucial and important things in their priority list because of that internal problems are ignored or neglected or diverted to other discussions.
Moreover this company is neither System Oriented nor People Oriented but focus is to make it Process Oriented and in this process, this is the flaw which we discussed above. Being in the position of HR, sometime it is difficult to understand the technicality part of the operations and inefficient to give inputs which I think might be a drawback.
From India, Pune
Thank you all for your valuable suggestions.
Well , this company is started 3 years back in September 2009. All the employees are very hard working, cooperative, stable and very dedicated towards their work. Yes, it is correctly said by Mr. Bhardwaj & Mr. Umakanthan that these CEOs' are trying to create good image in the market as well as identifying different sources for business development and satisfying the existing clients for generating the leads. In this process, they have more crucial and important things in their priority list because of that internal problems are ignored or neglected or diverted to other discussions.
Moreover this company is neither System Oriented nor People Oriented but focus is to make it Process Oriented and in this process, this is the flaw which we discussed above. Being in the position of HR, sometime it is difficult to understand the technicality part of the operations and inefficient to give inputs which I think might be a drawback.
From India, Pune
Dear Shweta
It will be agonizing for a HR to be in a position like yours. Between the devil and the deep sea. Mr.Umakantan, Bhardwaj and Sharat have given valid inputs as to how to deal with the situation. My thoughts on this are :
1) There is nothing wrong for CEO's of a company to aggressively drive business but what is important is the kind of leadership they bring to bear on pushing business. it is clearly a leadership issue. Their leadership style is not people oriented but task oriented. One needs to provide people orientation to their leadership style so as to give correct direction to it. The question is who will bell the cat. it should be done either by you as HR or some senior member of the team in the office.
2) To provide people orientation to their style, first they need to be made aware that their leadership style is lacking it and it may affect their business in the near future. Thus there is no other way but to arrange an open “communication” between the CEO’s and the employees, by stating that the employees desire to have a feedback session on smooth completion of projects. This may enthuse the CEOs as the message sounds that the employees are as much interested as the CEOs themselves. This is the weakness of task oriented leaders. They want to hear phrases like ‘work’ or ‘task’ or ‘time schedules’ more than phrases like ‘morale, motivation’ and ‘obstacles’ However the object is to bring them to the discussion table. Do not say that the employees want to express their views on the project working since task oriented leaders will not be habituated to listening to others.
3) So far as inputs supplied during the course of working on a project are concerned, I would like to mention that probably it cannot be avoidable since the clients must be changing plans or adding new plans even after assigning the project to your company and the CEOs may be merely transmitting them to the teams.
So brief the CEOs as to how their inputs are helping them to complete the projects but inform them tactfully the difficulties and hardships of dismantling a project and reworking on it when an input is received when a project is drawing close or after it’s competition and how it may affect the quality of the projects. Enquire with them whether its is possible to set a dead line for receiving inputs on particular project so as to ensure it’ s smooth competition.
4) While assuring CEOs that the teams are willing to stick to time lines in completing all projects but put to them tactfully that shifting a team from one project on which it has stated working and made progress, to another project, is affecting the quality of both the projects. Enquire with them (do not suggest to them) whether it is possible for them whether to visualize in advance the relative urgency of two projects so that the team can take up that project first which requires to be urgent.
5) Finally explain to them as to how some small adjustments can bring about telling results on the quality of projects.
Do not expect miracle to happen from next day as it takes time for one to change one’s nature. So be patient. If you cannot be patient, try looking for elsewhere at the earliest.
B.Saikumar
HR & Labour law Advisor
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
It will be agonizing for a HR to be in a position like yours. Between the devil and the deep sea. Mr.Umakantan, Bhardwaj and Sharat have given valid inputs as to how to deal with the situation. My thoughts on this are :
1) There is nothing wrong for CEO's of a company to aggressively drive business but what is important is the kind of leadership they bring to bear on pushing business. it is clearly a leadership issue. Their leadership style is not people oriented but task oriented. One needs to provide people orientation to their leadership style so as to give correct direction to it. The question is who will bell the cat. it should be done either by you as HR or some senior member of the team in the office.
2) To provide people orientation to their style, first they need to be made aware that their leadership style is lacking it and it may affect their business in the near future. Thus there is no other way but to arrange an open “communication” between the CEO’s and the employees, by stating that the employees desire to have a feedback session on smooth completion of projects. This may enthuse the CEOs as the message sounds that the employees are as much interested as the CEOs themselves. This is the weakness of task oriented leaders. They want to hear phrases like ‘work’ or ‘task’ or ‘time schedules’ more than phrases like ‘morale, motivation’ and ‘obstacles’ However the object is to bring them to the discussion table. Do not say that the employees want to express their views on the project working since task oriented leaders will not be habituated to listening to others.
3) So far as inputs supplied during the course of working on a project are concerned, I would like to mention that probably it cannot be avoidable since the clients must be changing plans or adding new plans even after assigning the project to your company and the CEOs may be merely transmitting them to the teams.
So brief the CEOs as to how their inputs are helping them to complete the projects but inform them tactfully the difficulties and hardships of dismantling a project and reworking on it when an input is received when a project is drawing close or after it’s competition and how it may affect the quality of the projects. Enquire with them whether its is possible to set a dead line for receiving inputs on particular project so as to ensure it’ s smooth competition.
4) While assuring CEOs that the teams are willing to stick to time lines in completing all projects but put to them tactfully that shifting a team from one project on which it has stated working and made progress, to another project, is affecting the quality of both the projects. Enquire with them (do not suggest to them) whether it is possible for them whether to visualize in advance the relative urgency of two projects so that the team can take up that project first which requires to be urgent.
5) Finally explain to them as to how some small adjustments can bring about telling results on the quality of projects.
Do not expect miracle to happen from next day as it takes time for one to change one’s nature. So be patient. If you cannot be patient, try looking for elsewhere at the earliest.
B.Saikumar
HR & Labour law Advisor
Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
Dear Shwetavi,
I'm based in the U.S. Here, the CEO is often unaware of unrest created with constant change.
Of course, your CEO may already be doing the assessment in his/her head without communicating his rationale to others, because the new changes may yield a higher return (income) for the company. If this is not the case, one way to address this matter is to quantify the impact of the CEO's interruptions on past and/or current projects.
Costs can be determined by number of hour worked and convert to actual company costs, employee turnover, employee availability...etc. If you go this route, be ready to make recommendations on how they can better assess whether or not they still need to make the interruption. It may require a brainstorming session with your CEO, management team or project team on what is required to make decisions.
If resources or people still need to be pulled, collaborating with the project team on alternatives to meet company objectives and communicating the company benefits can often help improve employee morale. You may consider flexing work schedules to accommodate the workload and provide time off when not busy (If you can do that in India). There are all sorts of good ideas that can come out of the brainstorming session.
I understand that there are some executives that are not concerned about employee workload, because they work a lot of hours themselves. Still, I have found that once provided with information that will help them improve the bottom line, they will change their position.
I hope this helps.
From United States, Parker
I'm based in the U.S. Here, the CEO is often unaware of unrest created with constant change.
Of course, your CEO may already be doing the assessment in his/her head without communicating his rationale to others, because the new changes may yield a higher return (income) for the company. If this is not the case, one way to address this matter is to quantify the impact of the CEO's interruptions on past and/or current projects.
Costs can be determined by number of hour worked and convert to actual company costs, employee turnover, employee availability...etc. If you go this route, be ready to make recommendations on how they can better assess whether or not they still need to make the interruption. It may require a brainstorming session with your CEO, management team or project team on what is required to make decisions.
If resources or people still need to be pulled, collaborating with the project team on alternatives to meet company objectives and communicating the company benefits can often help improve employee morale. You may consider flexing work schedules to accommodate the workload and provide time off when not busy (If you can do that in India). There are all sorts of good ideas that can come out of the brainstorming session.
I understand that there are some executives that are not concerned about employee workload, because they work a lot of hours themselves. Still, I have found that once provided with information that will help them improve the bottom line, they will change their position.
I hope this helps.
From United States, Parker
Hi!
Pointing fingers is not the solution, you have to take a diplomatic approach and work towards appointing more people after working on the time, cost and profitability. Consider yourself a profit centre head and find a solution that is amicable and profitable to the organization.
You can't please all, and HR exists cause they ain't ever happy with each other.
The situation is near perfect for an HR.
Remember Rule 1# Boss is never WRONG!
Rule 2# If he/she is wrong, follow Rule 1!
This is the time to manage the HUMAN RESOURCE at the best.
It includes the management and the employees.
You are the only one who can make and break the equilibrium between the two.
Regards
QUOTE=shwetavi;2050196]Hello,
I am working in a small IT company as an HR. Our company size is 25 employees. Their are two people who are the CEOs' of the company. One is in US and another one is in India.
The company is in the rule of dictatorship of these two CEOs'.
Now, when I had one on one discussion with my employees what I understood is their are mistake from the management side and creating problem for employees in accomplishing their task on time.
A small example - A team of 5 people are working on a project (A) which they have to deliver in a stipulated period of time. These people make plan accordingly and start working on it. What happens is, these CEOs' suddenly comes in the middle of the work, assigns some urgent task (Project B or C) to those people and they have to do it. Later on, when the CEOs' needs the Project (A), people needs extra time for completing it and then it create problems.
Example - A team of 4 - 5 people have assigned a project with all the details what they are required to do and everything based on client requirement. They start working on it properly, suddenly what happens is, these CEOs' comes in the middle of the work and gives some inputs which are not given earlier and then employees are required to rework on the tasks which they have already finished.
Problems -
1. Whenever we discussed this thing with the management, they don't accept their fault.
2. Because of dictatorship, their is no one who can contradict him.
3. Being a small organization, we don't have replacements if some urgent work comes from the CEOs'.
4. As the urgent work comes for the CEOs', employees have to do it.
5. Because of this problem, my employees efficiency is getting effected, they have to stay extra hours and complete the work.
Kindly help me with your valuable suggestions.[/QUOTE]
From India, Mumbai
Pointing fingers is not the solution, you have to take a diplomatic approach and work towards appointing more people after working on the time, cost and profitability. Consider yourself a profit centre head and find a solution that is amicable and profitable to the organization.
You can't please all, and HR exists cause they ain't ever happy with each other.
The situation is near perfect for an HR.
Remember Rule 1# Boss is never WRONG!
Rule 2# If he/she is wrong, follow Rule 1!
This is the time to manage the HUMAN RESOURCE at the best.
It includes the management and the employees.
You are the only one who can make and break the equilibrium between the two.
Regards
QUOTE=shwetavi;2050196]Hello,
I am working in a small IT company as an HR. Our company size is 25 employees. Their are two people who are the CEOs' of the company. One is in US and another one is in India.
The company is in the rule of dictatorship of these two CEOs'.
Now, when I had one on one discussion with my employees what I understood is their are mistake from the management side and creating problem for employees in accomplishing their task on time.
A small example - A team of 5 people are working on a project (A) which they have to deliver in a stipulated period of time. These people make plan accordingly and start working on it. What happens is, these CEOs' suddenly comes in the middle of the work, assigns some urgent task (Project B or C) to those people and they have to do it. Later on, when the CEOs' needs the Project (A), people needs extra time for completing it and then it create problems.
Example - A team of 4 - 5 people have assigned a project with all the details what they are required to do and everything based on client requirement. They start working on it properly, suddenly what happens is, these CEOs' comes in the middle of the work and gives some inputs which are not given earlier and then employees are required to rework on the tasks which they have already finished.
Problems -
1. Whenever we discussed this thing with the management, they don't accept their fault.
2. Because of dictatorship, their is no one who can contradict him.
3. Being a small organization, we don't have replacements if some urgent work comes from the CEOs'.
4. As the urgent work comes for the CEOs', employees have to do it.
5. Because of this problem, my employees efficiency is getting effected, they have to stay extra hours and complete the work.
Kindly help me with your valuable suggestions.[/QUOTE]
From India, Mumbai
It is quite easy to criticise a superior, which most of us do in our every day life frequently. What we don't understand, is the compulsions that the superior may have a perception that the superior may have of an issue, which is based on greater knowledge. most of us are aware of information in our domain, and make out decision or perception based on this knowledge, which may not be complete. it is very easy to say you should have given this information to me earlier, but there are times when the information has to be deliberately withheld or is available late to the receiver, which the subordinate does not understand. At times it is a late brainwave, which is the cause of this, but it is you who are working for him, not vice-versa.
I am not saying this is the case here. it is possible that the perception of Shwetavi is correct, but most of the times I have found it otherwise. the fast turnover in some industries, make it difficult for the boss to share all information at one go, which is quite justified. The solution is generally to gain the confidence of superior and then regularly provide a feedback on the progress of the project and seek any new inputs regularly.
Private companies owned by individuals suffer from this problem. I have spoken to both sides of the problem, but have not been able to find a workable solution (there are many theoritical solutions available).
So, Shwetavi, accept this flaw in the system and try to work around it, instead of complaining about it.
Manoj
From India, Delhi
I am not saying this is the case here. it is possible that the perception of Shwetavi is correct, but most of the times I have found it otherwise. the fast turnover in some industries, make it difficult for the boss to share all information at one go, which is quite justified. The solution is generally to gain the confidence of superior and then regularly provide a feedback on the progress of the project and seek any new inputs regularly.
Private companies owned by individuals suffer from this problem. I have spoken to both sides of the problem, but have not been able to find a workable solution (there are many theoritical solutions available).
So, Shwetavi, accept this flaw in the system and try to work around it, instead of complaining about it.
Manoj
From India, Delhi
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