TODAY'S FEATURED ARTICLE:
Breaking Through The Barrier Of Hardnosed Workers, Part 3Posted by on September 29, 2012 in: Leadership, Safety & Risk Control
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Turning The Corner
Admittedly, Part 1 and Part 2 of this series may be a bit discouraging to the solution-seeking reader. But as a wise professor states, "There is no implementation without, first, evaluation."

So what has our evaluation revealed?

First, the dysfunctional nature of the average hardnosed worker employed in traditionally change-resistant work sectors is representative of his greater employment family, both labor and management. It is not the portrait of an isolated employee or two. The nature is systemic, as are its crippling effects.

Second, the extent of potential behavioral dysfunction in hardnosers is staggering. The research data points past the occasional whimsical, inane antics of the passive-aggressive worker who simply annoys others. It directs us to the darkly devious behavior of someone, or a bevy of someones, who is self-destructive, emotionally unengaged, and constantly looking to jump off the ship after lighting the fuse that may blow it up.

Third, management has largely failed in its attempts to wrestle control of the workforce away from hardnosers. Traditional quick-action employee management strategies lack the foundational understanding of both the cause of defiant behavior and the dysfunctional team dynamics that it creates.

Last, management has often chosen the wrong method to seize control of hardnosers. The preferred tactic has been to tighten control through the repeated issuance of compliance standards. Such "what to do" and "how to do it" standards stiffen the hardnosed worker's resolve to reject management's ploys.

Engineering consultant Kevin Sorbello fittingly compares the change-resistant workforce to a dysfunctional family in which "those making the rules unconsciously see themselves as adults in charge of children." Conversely, he notes that workers of lower rank see themselves as being "treated like children by unfit elitists. The fact that this scenario is so ubiquitous," he says, "is disheartening."

In light of this stark portrayal, what can be done to heal a defiant and dysfunctional employment family?

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Breaking Through The Barrier Of Hardnosed Workers, Part 2 by

Righting The Ship Wrongly
For torturous purposes, let’s say that you are an executive manager who has inherited the type of hardnosed workforce described in Part 1 of this series.

Your laborers are largely emotionally repressed, unsympathetic, narcissistic, uncontrollable and prone to permanently go AWOL. Ditto for your supervisors and managers. Collectively, your work force constitutes a change-resistant barrier that thwarts every attempt at achieving continuous improvement.

As risk strategist Greg Pena suggests, you set about to correct the obstructionist nature of your workforce. Otherwise, your best management efforts are "doomed from the start."

Which quick-action strategy do you…

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Breaking Through The Barrier Of Hardnosed Workers, Part 1 by

Our 'Troubled Kids'
The tone of the general manager's phone call to the author of this series of articles revealed the deep defiance to authority that he sensed in his workers.

"Are you the camp program that helps troubled kids?" he asked gruffly.

"Yes," came the reply.

"Good. I have some for you — they're my employees."

The manager was desperate enough to ask help from the author's wilderness camp program that rehabilitated troubled youth. But he was also sincere in the belief that the hardnosed behavior of his employees closely resembled that of juvenile delinquents.

He proceeded to state that most of the…

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