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Enjoying Your Work
Richard Brislin
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Plans for future behaviors often go astray
After three months on the job as president of a company that prepared and sold frozen foods, Nolan Slye called a meeting of all 300 of his employees.
At the meeting, he outlined his goals for the future of the company, which included the addition of various ethnic foods to its product line and the expansion of markets to other countries. He promised that he would have an open-door policy and that any employee could drop into his office if they had concerns.
"I believe that I can get to know each of you personally," he continued, "and that we can all work together to make this a place where people look forward to coming to work."
He also promised that in one year, he would ask people to participate in a 360-degree evaluation of himself. This meant that he would seek opinions concerning his job performance from many different sources.
Evaluators would include workers in the company, suppliers, customers, and homeowners who lived near the company.
Over the following year, Nolan became increasingly busy. He was asked to become involved in community events such as the yearly fund-raiser for local charities. He became active in a professional organization that dealt with food processing and accepted a position on board of directors.
He found that he had to hire two new managers from outside rather than from inside the company and that he was spending more time with them than he had planned.
At the end of the year, the plan for a 360-degree evaluation was put on the back burner. Nolan did not discuss plans for a self-evaluation at staff meetings, and no one in the company felt comfortable enough to remind him of his promise.
Nolan has experienced a problem captured in the old adage, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." People often make commitments that they find themselves unable to keep. Everyday examples include promises to give up smoking, cut down on trips to Las Vegas because of gambling losses, and be more patient with one's teenaged children.
Why do these plans go astray?
One reason is the difference between verbal statements and actual behavior.
It is much, much easier to make statements about one's future behavior than to actually carry out one's plans.
Another reason is that people are not skillful at predicting possible unforeseen events that will interfere with their verbal plans. In the case of smoking, people are rarely able to foresee stressful events that will tempt them to search for a pack of cigarettes. In the gambling example, people are unable to predict their reactions when they hear that their high school reunion will be meeting in Las Vegas.
In addition to poor prediction of unforeseen events, people are also inept at predicting their future emotions associated with their current plans. In Nolan's case, he promised a 360-degree evaluation of himself in one year.
So the year is up! Where is the evaluation?
Nolan might not feel like having an evaluation of himself. After a year, there will certainly be some negative commentary, and not everyone enjoys hearing such feedback.
For example, Nolan hired two outside managers. Candidates from inside the company are undoubtedly disappointed, and Nolan knows that they could use the evaluation process to vent their feelings.
In addition, Nolan may have become quite comfortable with the power that accompanies his position as president of a company. He has become active in community affairs and in a national organization.
He may feel that it is beneath his self-assessed dignity to seek feedback from people who have not risen to his current level in the status hierarchy.
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The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Given the amount of time people spend at work, job satisfaction should ideally be high and it should contribute to general life happiness. Enjoyment can increase as people learn more about workplace psychology, communication, and group influences.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration, University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the College Relations Office:
cro@cba.hawaii.edu