Lost In Corporate America
Recent scandals have shed a light on unethical business dealings within corporate America. The corporate world is met with the challenge of ensuring accountability of their business philosophy, policies and procedures. It’s not uncommon for employees to routinely ignore corporate rules, standards, expectations and policy. A problem that typically plagues business is the general disdain that employees sometimes have for the business environment they are part of. Getting people on the same team and sharing the same goals can be a daunting task since so many employees are just there for a paycheck. Even the most motivated employee can be guilty of looking out for their own interests rather than that of the company, or even worse, the consumer and customer. The competitive business world is sometimes responsible however for creating this monster.
Many businesses quickly lose the faith of even the most dedicated of employees by creating a questionable work environment. It may not take long for a new hire to realize their employer is mired with office politics. Perhaps they favor certain employees, promote family members ahead of those more deserving and do not fairly or equally compensate their workers on merit. The corporate world often houses egocentric management who do not properly credit their employees, treating people as nothing more than part of an expendable machine.
Corporate leaders are sometimes guilty of managing their operation through their hires, while never leaving the chair behind their desk. People can not feel like they are part of a team when the leaders are invisible. Upper management needs to mingle, make themselves visible to their employees, and even get to know their employees on a more personal level. It may be a time consuming commitment, but the pay off should be worth it. Work morale will likely improve and with that comes increased productivity, better service and employee retention.
One suggestion to any struggling corporate entity is to conduct an employee attitude audit to get a feel for their perception of their job and employer. Sometimes an outside organization or consultant will conduct these. Think of the Bobs from the movie “Office Space”. Your identity will be kept confidential, but your opinions and views go directly to the big shots in the corporate office. The bottom line is accountability needs to be accepted by those in power and the corporate structure may need to be reorganized for the ship to steer in the right direction. The above are just some suggestions to improve worker morale and encourage professionalism and ethics in business dealings. The corporate world just as any other entity that involves groups of people needs to have a soft side as well as a structured one. It is important that employees feel more than a robotic worker, but understand the guidelines and rules of the business.
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