The Withering Impact of Management's Apparent Sense of Entitlement: Obstacles to Engagement #4
Is it too easy to beat on British Petroleum right now? Perhaps, yet the saga unfolding is more than an environmental catastrophe, and it certainly is that. This is not merely the story of one company behaving badly; this is the comeuppance of a context. We might name the context "Management's Apparent Sense of Entitlement." On a larger scale we may even see it as the comeuppance of a national culture of entitlement; our own.It is important to see ourselves in everything taking place in this set of events.
I know there is a lot of "piling on" taking place right now, most of it well justified, some typically politically motivated, some pre-emptive in an attempt to shed responsibility for the blame which will eventually be spread far and wide. It may be particularly hard to see the lessons to be learned for all the noise and emotion. However, rather than be concerned strictly about and for the actions of BP let's take a look at the similarities between what we are seeing in the public behaviors of this international giant , those of previously similarly embattled corporate "citizens" and our own actions at times as managers. If you are a manager I'd ask that you pay particular attention this week.
In order to get the full benefit (if I can call it that) from the tragedy being played out in front of us in this disaster we need to be able to see ourselves in the behaviors of the BP spokespeople and executives. From the very beginning there has been plenty of evidence that BP was going to spend a lot of energy deflecting and limiting its responsibility in the matter, as did TransOcean and Haliburton, the other major antagonists in this multi-act spectacle. But is what we are seeing so different really from the behavior of Enron executives several years ago? How about in the collapse of Global Crossing?
In the case of each of these events someplace in the back-story there is a justification on someone’s part, an interpretation that allowed otherwise “good” people to behave badly. I am calling this phenomenon Management’s Apparent Sense of Entitlement and I want to stress “apparent” because no matter what the real motivation it sure looks like someone thought they were entitled to act the way they did. And, this behavior, played out repeatedly to a lesser degree daily in our places of work has a withering effect on employee engagement. In the same way that repeated exposure to radiation would poison the body, repeated exposure to a lack of accountability and inauthenticity on the part of our managers poisons the soul. On the grand scale of the Deepwater Horizon disaster it has the effect of calling into question our very way of life.
What we are witness to has been played out on a lesser scale countless times before just not so much on the world wide stage. There is a sense of entitlement, a right to not be held to account that has been repeatedly asserted by corporate leadership for many years now.
Whether we are apt to admit it or not, as often as we observe and condemn behavior similar to that we are seeing on the part of BP representatives, we are all infected by the virus that thrives in this context.
Just focus on your work place for the moment. Have you ever participated in an employee meeting where a question to an executive was met with an “I’ll have to get back to you on that” response and you felt the spirit in the room droop as a collective experience of disillusionment took place? There would be no "getting back later". How about the director who is repeatedly late for her own meetings and always arrives with a handy excuse? Or, the manager who routinely schedules last minute meetings expecting their staff to dismiss whatever other commitments have been made to attend? Thankfully these examples are not a Deepwater Horizon equivalent event. However, I assert that they are justified from the very same context, “management has its privileges.” Until we can see ourselves in the BP disaster we are not going to be able to develop either an appropriate response in ourselves or consciously correct our own behavior.
In no way do I mean to condemn all management or all corporate activities. It is the insidiousness of the assertion of a categorical right to not be held to account by many leaders of larger organizations that fouls the water for all of us.
- Where are you opting to not account for yourself with your reports?
Nice, Mike. I especially like the "withering" part;). Seriously, though, I think the idea that "because I have so much more responsibility than other folks" frees managers from the tethers that other folks are bound by is one dynamic. Another is that managers are viewed as somehow better because of their position (cultural in nature?), they can opt out as well. And, thanks for keeping this blog going, hey?
Duane