Signs you work for a bad company.
Sign No. 1: Conspicuously posted vision or value statements are filled with vague but important-sounding words like "excellence" and "quality"
Sign No. 2: Bringing up a problem is considered more as evidence of a personality defect rather than as an actual observation of reality
Sign No. 3: If by chance there are problems, the usual solution is a motivational seminar Attitude is everything, especially in places where facts are embarrassing or inconvenient.
Sign No. 4: Double messages are delivered with a straight face. Quality and quantity are both job one.
Sign No. 5: History is regularly edited to make executive decisions more correct, and correct decisions more executive than they actually were
Sign No. 6: People are discouraged from putting things in writing
Sign No. 7: Directions are ambiguous and often vaguely threatening
Sign No. 8: Internal competition is encouraged and rewarded. The word "teamwork" may be batted around like a softball at a company picnic, but in a dysfunctional company the star players are the only ones who get recognition and big bucks.
Sign No. 9: Decisions are made at the highest level possible
Sign No. 10: Delegating means telling somebody to do something, not giving them the power to do it
Sign No. 11: Management approaches from the latest bestseller are regularly misunderstood to mean what we're doing already is right on the mark. "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," "Good to Great" and "Who Moved My Cheese?" all seem to boil down to, "quit griping and do more with less." (Anyone remember The Oz Principle)
Sign No. 12: Resources are tightly controlled
Sign No. 13: You are expected to feel lucky to have a job and know you could lose it if you don't toe the line. Dysfunctional companies maintain control using the threat of punishment. Most will maintain that they also use positive rewards ... like your paycheck. A few people are actually fired, but most of those who go are driven to quit.
Sign No. 14: Rules are enforced based on who you are rather than what you do. In a dysfunctional company, there are clearly insiders and outsiders and everyone knows who belongs in each group. Accountability has different meanings depending on which group you're in.
Sign No. 15: The company fails the Dilbert Test. Dysfunctional organizations have no sense of humor.
Sign No. 1: Conspicuously posted vision or value statements are filled with vague but important-sounding words like "excellence" and "quality"
Sign No. 2: Bringing up a problem is considered more as evidence of a personality defect rather than as an actual observation of reality
Sign No. 3: If by chance there are problems, the usual solution is a motivational seminar Attitude is everything, especially in places where facts are embarrassing or inconvenient.
Sign No. 4: Double messages are delivered with a straight face. Quality and quantity are both job one.
Sign No. 5: History is regularly edited to make executive decisions more correct, and correct decisions more executive than they actually were
Sign No. 6: People are discouraged from putting things in writing
Sign No. 7: Directions are ambiguous and often vaguely threatening
Sign No. 8: Internal competition is encouraged and rewarded. The word "teamwork" may be batted around like a softball at a company picnic, but in a dysfunctional company the star players are the only ones who get recognition and big bucks.
Sign No. 9: Decisions are made at the highest level possible
Sign No. 10: Delegating means telling somebody to do something, not giving them the power to do it
Sign No. 11: Management approaches from the latest bestseller are regularly misunderstood to mean what we're doing already is right on the mark. "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," "Good to Great" and "Who Moved My Cheese?" all seem to boil down to, "quit griping and do more with less." (Anyone remember The Oz Principle)
Sign No. 12: Resources are tightly controlled
Sign No. 13: You are expected to feel lucky to have a job and know you could lose it if you don't toe the line. Dysfunctional companies maintain control using the threat of punishment. Most will maintain that they also use positive rewards ... like your paycheck. A few people are actually fired, but most of those who go are driven to quit.
Sign No. 14: Rules are enforced based on who you are rather than what you do. In a dysfunctional company, there are clearly insiders and outsiders and everyone knows who belongs in each group. Accountability has different meanings depending on which group you're in.
Sign No. 15: The company fails the Dilbert Test. Dysfunctional organizations have no sense of humor.