Bullying III: Useless Government Agencies
If you haven’t already read Bullying I and II, you might want to catch up before continuing. Just click on the Bullying category in the left menu.
People have asked before if I ever ran into Bullying in the workplace myself. The answer is of course an emphatic yes.
It happens that when I moved to Hawai`i I worked for a large non-profit organization here as the MIS Director. It was, and is a very fine organization as far as its mission is concerned, they work with troubled teenaged boys and so far have had success working with the community to help keep these boys out of jail and to move on to being productive members of society. So much for their mission. Organizationally, they suck.
Many of the examples I’ve used in previous "tongue-in-cheek" articles about HR practices are taken directly from my observations of them here. While they may seem funny on paper, they certainly aren’t funny to the people these practices are used on in reality. The reason they are there in the first place is because it’s allowed in the business place.
Please remember… I was a Director, and reported directly to the VP/CFO, and in his absence to the Pres./CEO. As a Director I felt comfortable in objecting to the treatment of both potential and future employees, both my own as well as others. Directors are like that, you know? You would figure that a company would hire professionals and value their opinions.
Unfortunately that just isn’t the case. Sometimes (all too often) you run into an organization that’s like "The Good Old Boy Club" squared. Over a period of time people have worked themselves into a position of responsibility who probably shouldn’t be in that position. Sometimes it happens. In the beginning certain talents are needed and non-profit organizations just don’t have the money to shop around too much. Mostly they have to take the talent that’s available. If any of these people are in the position to hire employees it’s only natural for them to hire others just like themselves.