DEALING WITH MANAGEMENT – A CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE IN THE WORK PLACE
ILLUSTRATION
In the careless fashion of a young boy, while holding my nose, I asked the old man why in heck he put the cat’s litter box in the kitchen. He immediately straightened his 200 pound, six-foot two-inch frame and began counting his answers off, on the fingers of his gnarled right hand: “number one: it is a tile floor; number two: it is handy; and number three: that is where we had the litter box when I was a kid.” He made it very plain that his answer was the end of the discussion and that, from this moment on; I was at the top of his crap list.
That old man was the spitting image of almost every management structure I have ever experienced: paranoid, arrogant and incompetent. Well, that may be a bit strong but you get the idea.
In fact, I once pointed out to upper management, of this type, that they had failed to provide sufficient resources and time to accomplish the mission my organization had been given. My boss looked me straight in the eye and said: “yes, I am fully aware that you have insufficient resources. Still, if you fail it is your fault; but, if you succeed we are both a hero. So go and make us heroes!”
In the straight forwardness of that manager’s response rests the key to survival for a Christian in corporate America: support your boss. Remember, as a Christian we have been bought by Jesus and we now belong to Him. Look at it this way; Jesus hires us out to our employer 8 hour a day for five days a week. As our owner, Jesus expects us to be worthy of our hire and to be a good representative of the Body of Christ. The quality of our employer’s management structure is irrelevant; after all, most management is tailored after the exploitive mindset of corporate America. This is the reality of life, and as a Christian it is our obligation to support our boss … even if we are misused and underappreciated.
SERMON
THE CHALLENGE
I am sure there are corporations where exploitive-capitalist values do not dominate upper management; it is just that in more than 40 years of working with American businesses I have seldom found an un-exploitive management structure. I have also noticed that a greedy aristocratic attitude seems to pervade upper management, especially in the larger corporations. In my humble opinion, a malevolent spirit dominates most management structures in corporate America. Perhaps, that is why the rich continue to get richer while the working man continues to experience losses in the work place. I know that this sounds very negative but if you are not a part of the upper management structure there is a good probability you know what I am saying is true. Again, let me say that this does not hold true for all businesses, but far too many American corporations have a tendency to dishonored the poor and oppress them. (James 2:6)
I cannot explain why it is, but all management seems to have been cutout by the same cookie cutter. Only a few; a very few, seem to have the personal fortitude to rise above this common spirit of management. Thus, most workers are forced to labor under a management structure, which is shackled to this world by a spirit of greed and arrogance. This spirit can manifest itself across the entire spectrum of management: from the top to the bottom. I will admit that it is much more pronounced at the top but even the character of middle and lower management can be influenced the malignant spirit of corporate America. Some of the more common management attributes you will find are:
• Prejudgment – they think that they have the answer before they ever present the issue to subordinates;
• Over confidence – they think that because they are the boss they are right;
• Under confidence – they think that everyone is out to get their job;
• Shakey – they are afraid of their superior and they always back down even when only slightly challenged;
• Inconsistent – they say one thing and do something else;
• Never really listen – they ignore advice even though they may act like they are considering it;
• Micro-manage – they tell you to make a decision on your own but then they interfere in your decision cycle or just plain take over;
• Entrenched – they are locked into the past and the old ways of doing things;
• Self-focused – they take care of themselves and do not support or take care of the team;
• Isolated – they do not personally get involved in the day-by-day activities of the team; all they want to do is issue orders;
• Bully – they use their position to push others around and make them feel inferior; and
• Incompetent – they lack many of the technical skills associated with their position.
Your manager, most probably, will not manifest all these traits but there is a good probability you may find him or her somewhere in the above list.
So lays the corporate America management system. So lays your challenge. We need to be very honest about this challenge: the management system will not change just because we are unhappy. Greed and self-interest absolutely dominate the capitalist system, which is why capitalism will always out produce socialism and communism. Of course, socialism breeds in the workplace cesspool created by aristocratic and elitist capitalism. I think most Christians are capitalists, but we are not like the elitist who exploits the worker for personal gain. In America, the rich have become so oppressive that the poor are being driven down the road toward socialism, and the more the worker is oppressed the more they look to socialism as a solution. In an attempt to escape the overseer’s abusive hand the worker crawls under the protection of their new god … socialism, which is in the form of a federalist government. This is reality! What the Christian must learn to do is to accept reality; and thus, we must learn to live and work under the typical oppressive capitalistic management structure.
THE SOLUTION
A. ESTABLISH THE RIGHT PRIORITY
1. THE PROBLEM STARS WITH US. So, what is the Christian to do? To start with, we need to realize that our problem with management is rooted in our childish attitude of being miserable when we want, but do not get. We want a boss who is humble, confident and competent. We get a boss who is paranoid, arrogant and incompetent; we are miserable, so we constantly whine and cry to one another. Now, a child may get their way through whining and crying but that generally does not work in corporate America … unless you are someone special. Thus, the first thing we have got to do is to face the fact that our whining and crying will probably not change a thing.
2. WE NEED A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE. We need to take the time to remember just exactly who we are and what it is we are to focus on. We are first and foremost a Christian! As a born again Christian, we have been given the mission to live the message of reconciliation as an ambassador for Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17-2o) This means that our primary focus is on things above, where Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1-2) When we push the things of the world into second place, and focus our attention on our primary mission, our life will take on a totally new meaning. The fact that we have a boss who is paranoid, arrogant and incompetent becomes a minor inconvenience. In fact, we may look at our management structure as an opportunity to excel in serving Jesus.
Think about this for a moment, what if we set a Christian goal for ourselves, which is based on the sixth chapter of Ephesians. Wouldn’t this mean that we should endeavor to always support our boss and that we should never publically question or challenge his decision making? If we will maintain a positive attitude toward our boss it will help minimize the impact of his negative attributes; the impact on both us and on the team. I can almost guarantee that we will never improve management’s negative attributes by challenging them. Even when management makes our life in the workplace a living hell, we are not justified in making their job more difficult. Just remember that Jesus said: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45) Christian, we have got to get our mind right before anything will ever change in the workplace.
3. THE WORKPLACE IS OUR MISSION FIELD. If we are going to turn our attitude around we must focus on who we really are and what we are truly all about. We are Christians and as Christians we are obligated to support ourselves through earthly work. (2 Thessalonians 3:6-10) This does not mean that we are to build huge bank accounts here on earth. What we should be focused on is building for ourselves treasures in heaven. Remember, where your treasure is, is where your heart will also be. (Matthew 6:19-21) We exist for the single purpose of building on the foundation of Jesus with gold silver and precious stones. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15) This means that our workplace is our mission field! If we will first focus on being a spiritual-fruit producing Christian worker, the workplace and its oppressive management will take on a totally new perspective. (Galatians 5:22-23)
B. DEVELOP A CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARD MANAGEMENT
1. LOVE YOUR BOSS. We must come to accept the fact that our boss is part of our life and that he is human … he deserves our Christian love. Like all humans, bosses will have good points and they will have bad points: focus on the good points. It is foolish to try and correct their bad points without first having established a positive relationship through the good points.
Remember, people do not readily change! Therefore, it would be very foolish for us to think that our boss is going to immediately change just because we display Christian love … at least not in the near future. Our mission is not to change our boss; our mission is to display Christian love. This does not mean we have to kiss our bosses butt, but it does mean that we must care about our boss as one of God’s creation. Please note: our boss does not have to change in order for us to love them. Our mission is to love them just the way they are.
What does all this mean for the Christian? It is simple; we serve our earthly masters with as sincere a heart as we serve Christ. This does not mean that we are flaming butt-kissers; for we serve from the heart, rendering service with a good attitude because we know that in reality we are always working for the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4-8)
As a mature Christian we should realize that the world is far from perfect; we should also realize that management is almost always worldly; ergo, management is almost always far from perfect … very … very far from perfect. Thus, a Christian should not expect to find earthly happiness in serving under our normal crony-capitalist management structure. As a Christian, our mission is to endure reality and still display Christian love.
2. LOOK FOR POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES. Once we have adjusted our basic attitude toward management we need to look for their positive attributes. Often we do not realize it, but it is human nature to zero in on the faults of management, especially our boss. When we focus on the negative we feed energy to what is negative and it will grow in negativity. Negativity feeds off negative vibes, thus our negative attitude toward management only makes management worse. This is why it is so very important for us to search for positive management attributes and stop dwelling on the negative attributes.
I do not care what company you work for: no management is made up of only negative attributes. If nothing else, look for the lesser of your managements evils. Then, make it a point to concentrate on developing thought patterns and communication lines along these positive attributes. Perhaps management has reached out to the employees with some weak placating gesture. It would be so easy to mean-mouth their effort. Don’t do it. Instead, be a positive responder in the workplace and let management know their effort is appreciated. Who knows, your encouragement may move them to be even more responsive in the future, your positive attitude may very well be priming the pump, so to speak.
Look for common ground with management. Perhaps you share an interest in hunting, golfing, fishing, racing or some other activity. Use this common ground to form lines of communication with management. I am not advising you to invite your boss to go hunting … at least not right away. Instead, look for an opportune time to make a hunting related comment and use it to establish a positive exchange. It will be hard at first! But with time and a considerable amount of effort on our part we can build common ground into a positive relationship with management.
At the same time, we need to make it a point not to oppose management in those areas that really bother us. Remember, if we react to negative with negative the original negative will only get worse. That is why when we put effort into understanding our boss we will find the workplace far easier to endure than when we constantly challenge our bosses weak points.
3. DEAL WITH THE NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTES. Seeking positive points is a good start but we will eventually have to deal with the negative side of management. The best way to do this is to be proactive by minimizing the effect of negative attributes. I think one of the most common complaints is that management is ignoring us. What we forget, is that most people are more concerned with the alligator biting their butt than they are with the rest of the alligators in the swamp. This means that once the boss stops talking to you his mind switches to another alligator. We need to grow up and face the fact that we are just not the most important toad in the plant.
If we are to minimize negative management attributes we must first learn to broaden our understanding, see the entire swamp, and we need to learn how to communicate our concerns to management. When it comes to dealing with a negative management area, never give management a massive data dump. Feed management in small bites that they can rapidly digest. Be timely, accurate and consistent in communication. Approach management with a thorough understanding of our position and how our decision will impact other areas in the plant. A very important point is that we should not expect management to always provide instant solutions. It is our job to keep the lines of communication open, especially in negative areas. The only way to handle negative attributes is to increase our understanding and to carefully and patiently open line of communication.
One of the hardest things to deal with are negative personality traits. The boss is an arrogant idiot. Rest assured, we will not change this overnight. In some negative areas we have just got to suck it up and endure. Whatever we do, we must never react to a negative with a negative. Some negative management attributes must be dealt with through Christian love.
Once you have minimized one negative situation you need to move on to another negative situation. As you continue to apply Christian principles in minimizing negative issues you will find your lines of communication with the boss improving, this will make life much more bearable in the plant.
4. MANAGE YOUR OWN CAREER. All too often we think that our problems in the work place are all the bosses fault. The fact is, even under the worst of management structures, we are the primary source of our misery. We are a Christian, we should expect trials and tribulations; we should rejoice at the opportunity to excel under trials and tribulations. (James 1:2-4) Don’t be afraid to have a bad day and when we do have a bad day don’t dwell on what cannot be changed. If our boss is mean and obnoxious consider it a golden opportunity to love the unlovable. (Matthew 5:43-48) Don’t expect someone else to run interference between us and the boss; and, don’t be like Ensign Pulver, in the movie Mr. Roberts, and try to avoid the boss. Instead, make it a point to focus on his positive points and temper his negative points with Christian love. The more we open up lines of communication the easier it will be for us to begin understanding what it is the boss expects. Remember, the boss steers the ship … not us.
CONCLUSION
We will never change the fact that almost all management structures suffer from being paranoid, arrogant and incompetent. I am also of the opinion that these attributes stem from corporate America’s aristocratic attitude and from their insatiable greed. It is almost as if corporate America and the wealthy aristocrat, has undergone some form of brain washing. They all seem to have the same thought pattern: I am the center of the universe. Yes, I know this sound hard! I make this statement after many years in corporate America, of which over 10 were as a business consultant. I have worked with a multitude of corporations and I speak from experience.
As a result of this mental commonality, corporate America has and will continue to establish dysfunctional management structures. As a Christian you have just got to accept the fact that there are few, very few, ideal management structures. How well you survive in your current company is almost totally up to you, but don’t expect to make any major changes in the company itself. In most cases the change will come from you and your attitude toward management.
Corporate America breeds a management structure where: self-interests; inappropriate prejudgments; lack of knowledge; and poor team support are the norm. As a Christian, our mission is to seek out and grow the positive things while minimizing the negative. Don’t expect management structure changes but do expect to establish more positive lines of communication with our boss.
The best advice I can give, for those laboring under bad management, is to think long and hard before seeking other employment. It will probably be very difficult to find another job, and even if you do the odds are against your finding one with a good management system. Now, I am not advocating the ‘never quit or tough it out’ approach. There may be very good reasons for you to bail out, especially if you are in a situation that is unbearable. What I do think is a mistake is to quit under the belief that you are destined to find a job where the management structure is confident, humble and competent.
