Discipline in the Work Place
Overall, I think that constructive criticism is important in the work place: it enables workers to complete the task assigned in the best way possible. Additionally, if managers or leaders do not specify the expectations for assignments, it makes it nearly impossible for employees to be able to complete the task to the best of their ability. Therefore, clear communication and expectations is a necessity for a productive collaborative environment.
This past summer I had a remote internship. I was a data analyst, so I mainly dealt with organizing data and identifying trends in the successes and failures of the marketing team. Overall, I think I had a good experience. My boss set the expectations for what I should do very clearly, and whenever a chart or analysis powerpoint was not up to her expectation, I was notified immediately. I greatly appreciated this clear form of communication, and I respected her input. I knew that I had not taken part in similar activities before, so I listened to her advice.
However, whenever we would have joint meetings with the marketing team, I noticed the tensions rise. Whenever someone would create a new method or advertisement and the leader of that team did not like, she really made that person feel bad in front of everyone. I specifically remember one meeting when she asked the person to tell her what was wrong with their idea. On multiple occasions, she would express how "it's my fault I actually expected you to do the work". At the same time, whenever the interns would ask for specific instructions on the advertisements or promotions they should create, she never specified and explained how she wanted creativity. Throughout the 12 weeks I worked for this company, the marketing manager never once was content with what the interns had created.
Contrasting the marketing team to the data analytics team, I think it is important to not be passive aggressive with communicating rules or expectations. Because the data analyst leader demonstrated that she had experience and clear expectations, I had intrinsic motivation to complete the tasks assigned to the best of my ability. Because she expressed respect towards me, I feel that we created a stronger bond and mutual respect.
In lecture we discussed being naive with bargaining, and in an interesting way, I think that concept applies to this situation. Many interns feel that they do not have experience, so they are naive and adhere to exactly what their boss says. I know that analyzing data creatively is something that is very important, especially with big data's recent trend. At the same time, bosses do need interns to complete specific tasks, and since they have more experience than interns, it is important that interns complete what is assigned. I am not sure if there is a precise definition of a good intern, but I think it must involve some form of respect and understanding for bosses with creativity.
In the case of the marketing team, it is nearly impossible to apply these basic concepts: it really was a dysfunctional group with an unhelpful boss. With this, I think it is important to have leaders who instill discipline or advice in ways that are actually effective. Constant criticism with no way to improve is useless.
All in all, I think that forms of discipline from authoritative figures require basic elements in order to be successful. Mutual respect and understanding are essential: if people do not see any value in the leader's input, they really have no incentive to obey their rules. Also, constructive criticism is necessary: providing ways to improve in a genuine way is the best way for anyone to improve in really any area in life. This concept can be applied to sports teams, companies, university functions, group projects, and any collaborative organization.
This past summer I had a remote internship. I was a data analyst, so I mainly dealt with organizing data and identifying trends in the successes and failures of the marketing team. Overall, I think I had a good experience. My boss set the expectations for what I should do very clearly, and whenever a chart or analysis powerpoint was not up to her expectation, I was notified immediately. I greatly appreciated this clear form of communication, and I respected her input. I knew that I had not taken part in similar activities before, so I listened to her advice.
However, whenever we would have joint meetings with the marketing team, I noticed the tensions rise. Whenever someone would create a new method or advertisement and the leader of that team did not like, she really made that person feel bad in front of everyone. I specifically remember one meeting when she asked the person to tell her what was wrong with their idea. On multiple occasions, she would express how "it's my fault I actually expected you to do the work". At the same time, whenever the interns would ask for specific instructions on the advertisements or promotions they should create, she never specified and explained how she wanted creativity. Throughout the 12 weeks I worked for this company, the marketing manager never once was content with what the interns had created.
Contrasting the marketing team to the data analytics team, I think it is important to not be passive aggressive with communicating rules or expectations. Because the data analyst leader demonstrated that she had experience and clear expectations, I had intrinsic motivation to complete the tasks assigned to the best of my ability. Because she expressed respect towards me, I feel that we created a stronger bond and mutual respect.
In lecture we discussed being naive with bargaining, and in an interesting way, I think that concept applies to this situation. Many interns feel that they do not have experience, so they are naive and adhere to exactly what their boss says. I know that analyzing data creatively is something that is very important, especially with big data's recent trend. At the same time, bosses do need interns to complete specific tasks, and since they have more experience than interns, it is important that interns complete what is assigned. I am not sure if there is a precise definition of a good intern, but I think it must involve some form of respect and understanding for bosses with creativity.
In the case of the marketing team, it is nearly impossible to apply these basic concepts: it really was a dysfunctional group with an unhelpful boss. With this, I think it is important to have leaders who instill discipline or advice in ways that are actually effective. Constant criticism with no way to improve is useless.
All in all, I think that forms of discipline from authoritative figures require basic elements in order to be successful. Mutual respect and understanding are essential: if people do not see any value in the leader's input, they really have no incentive to obey their rules. Also, constructive criticism is necessary: providing ways to improve in a genuine way is the best way for anyone to improve in really any area in life. This concept can be applied to sports teams, companies, university functions, group projects, and any collaborative organization.
The little I know of you based on your work in our class, I can see that your thinking the boss should give clear directives as being quite important, and that the performance measures are such where good performance and bad performance are readily measured.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't think life is that easy and I want to encourage you to get out of your stereotype, so consider this example. We did a version of Akerlof's Market for Lemons in the Excel homework on insurance with private information. When Akerlof won the Nobel Prize in Economics, that was one of his major contributions cited for winning the prize. What you probably don't know, is that when he first submitted the paper, I believe to the American Economic Review, the paper got rejected. The means the referees of the paper and the editor in charge of reviewing the paper didn't think it was worthy of publication. The AER uses top-notch economists to peer review the research submitted to them. How could the referees make such a mistake, given the expertise that they possessed?
Now in your story, I doubt that the manager of the marketing group was a latter day Akerlof. There are very few people in the world who have Akerlof's type of insights, while arrogance, in contrast, is fairly common. Nonetheless, it is possible to be somewhat creative and be frustrated with a too how-the-system-works approach. I felt that way when I was in the campus IT organization. So...
The situation you described seem ripe to me for a one-on-one meeting between your manager and the manager of the marketing team, to hash things out and if that wasn't possible then to bring in their bosses to arbitrate some tolerable solution. Why the interns were exposed to this, didn't make much sense to me.
Now let's say one more thing. You didn't talk about the possibility that there was a full time employee who had been there for a while who reported to the same manager as you did. In that case, should the criticism come from the manager or the co-worker? Does that make a difference? It's something to ponder.
I agree with your conclusion, I really do like clear instructions and expectations. I think it is the way most of my teachers have taught, and I like knowing that I am doing the job correctly. As you mentioned, I completely agree -- taking risks with assignments is important and one of the few ways in which we can truly advance as society.
DeleteI think that when we decide to accept or reject people, there are a lot of factors that are taken into account, including many variables that have nothing to do with the work of the candidate. In my experience, applying for internships has a bunch of variables that have nothing to do with my qualifications. For example, just a week ago I went to Chicago for an interview, and they told me that they actually do not want to hire people for the summer yet; they want to recruit in March. This was interesting to me because they were willing to pay for me and a couple potential candidates to come to Chicago, yet they decided not to make a decision yet. There are different factors with companies and publishing companies as you mentioned that play into results.
I agree that the Marketing team manager was pretty arrogant and unapproachable. I know that the marketing manager was in the company longer than my data manager, and perhaps, the data manager felt lower in the importance ladder and did not want to discuss this problem. Additionally, I think that discussing problems with someone at the same level as you is much more comfortable. I know I was personally intimidated by my manager at times. She was a very nice lady, but the fact that she had more experience and ability than me made me feel the need to respect her. However, even though she was very qualified, she still did not speak with the marketing manager. There may have been internal tension. At the same time, it is interesting that the marketing manager's boss did not step in. Maybe no one reported her behavior. Overall, I think who the feedback and constructive criticism makes a huge difference in the likelihood of behavior and collaboration efforts changing.