Dealing With Workplace Dysfunction
Every workplace has some degree of dysfunction, of course. Often the ones that are the healthiest think they’re the worst, and vice versa.
But dysfunction — in any form and any degree — comes at a cost, keeping us from effective outcomes, efficient results and successful conclusions.
At its worst, it can bring down an entire organization.
The first step is recognizing the problem.
Do any of these sound like your workplace? If so, you may need help getting the culture back on track.
1. Letting personal problems overwhelm effectiveness. Life throws us all our share of curve balls, and you sometimes they arrive when we’re at work. But personal distractions should be the exception, not the norm.
2. Withdrawing support. The workplace should be a place where you can rely on being treated fairly and with respect. But if a significant number of workers violate the principle of mutual support, deterioration follows.
3. Hiding resources or withholding information. Those who refuse to share knowledge — either by playing dumb or being evasive — are working only to better themselves, not for the good of the team.
4. Ongoing turf wars. In the ideal professional world, all co-workers get along. But in reality, it’s not uncommon for colleagues to dislike each other. Arguments, rifts and mean-spirited rivalries may follow. And in the worst cases, dislike and rivalry can develop into a full-blown office war.
5. Pouting and yelling. Sometimes people engage in plain old-fashioned bad behavior. If not addressed, it can become chronic — and contagious.
6. Taking undue credit. Those with low self-esteem need to toot their own horn and take credit for work they didn’t do. The bottom line is that they hunger for recognition, but their behavior can quickly wreck even a strong team.
7. Misrepresented roles. Low self-esteem may also lead people to misrepresent their position or title. Without the faith it takes to risk working toward a better position, they instead pretend they’ve already arrived.
8. Frequent and senseless reorganizations. Sometimes people in leadership think that constant tinkering with an organization’s structure is the way to fix any issues. Unfortunately, the uncertainty of frequent restructuring actually makes problems worse.
READ MORE AT 50 Forms of Dysfunction in the Workplace | Inc.com
