05/ 03/ 2004
Many times a department manager or long-time employee can become so powerfully entrenched that they stifle new ideas within their department, or hinder operations between their department and others. This, clearly, may lead to problems that can retard the growth and flexibility of the entire organization. In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses offers suggestions for discovering and relieving this problem.
Territoriality is a fact of life that influences behavior both in the lower species and among human beings. Many species of animals spend more time fighting to protect their "turf" than they do in productive activities such as finding or storing food. The same can be true with managers and employees who become so embedded within a department and so habituated to having complete control that they resist any change -- and even view change as a threat. Such individuals can cause impediments between the coordination of various units or departments within a company.
These managers or senior employees may be hard for upper management to spot unless they work with the department closely on a day-to-day basis. However, there are specific tell-tale signs that should not be overlooked. These include:
- Managers of other departments mention that a certain person is "difficult to work with," or "doesn't cooperate with other departments."
- Other managers report that the person "doesn't implement new procedures as directed," thereby hindering the efforts of other departments or the cooperation between departments.
- Employees within the department comment that their suggestions always fall on deaf ears. Or that they have to do everything precisely as instructed by the manager or risk criticism -- or even loss of their job.
- Bottlenecks within the company's overall operation can be traced to a particular department.
There are numerous reasons that managers and employees begin to think of their activities as their "turf." Often it's simply that they feel more important when they call the shots completely. But sometimes they know that they won't receive credit for contributions they make to other managers, or will be held accountable for errors made by other departments. For this reason, upper management must always be cognizant of who does what, who is responsible for what, and who should be held accountable for successes and failures of specific departments.
Sales staff, in particular, may feel that their territories are "theirs and theirs alone." It's common for salespeople to farm a particular territory for years, increasing sales just to the point of being able to make a comfortable living. When management realizes that such territories have greater potential, the salespeople may balk at having their "turf" divided up. At some point in such situations, management has to make a difficult decision: either leave the territory as it is, or insist that the salesperson work harmoniously with new sales staff assigned to the territory.
Many entrenched managers and senior employees become so used to their level of authority that they "lord over" others in their department, making the working environment uncomfortable for others. These particular individuals may not change their habitual mode of activity even when directly instructed to do so by upper management. In this case, severe reprimands or even de-motion within the company may be in order to restore smooth cooperation between departments.
In a small company, such an individual can be extremely disruptive to the spirit of cooperation so vital between employees. Managers and owners should always be aware that their longest and seemingly most valued employees maybe getting territorial, and are undermining the overall harmony of the company.
