Legally Actionable or Bad Behavior

Legally Actionable or Bad Behavior 

by Lizz Chambers, CHA, CHE

 

When a day at work can be described in the following terms: walking on egg shells, living in fear, never knowing when the quake will strike, expecting sabotage, stress levels soaring the minute you walk through the hotel doors (with stress comes the likelihood of stress related illness, missed time a work and decreased productivity)…then you more than likely work for an abusive manager.

Why would a company keep a manager like this on the payroll? I have heard everything from "Look at the numbers" (this always proves to be short term) or "They're so dependable" (How could this be a good thing. The more they are at work the more your workforce suffers) or the most recent excuse… 'Today's workforce is just too sensitive'.

Although these managers may blame others usually they are the ones creating most of their own issues. They abuse their associates in one form or another. It is amazing to think that abusive supervisors and mangers are still around and thriving in some hotel environments. From the supervisor who yells at employees and demeans them either privately or in front of their peers to the executive who goes on a periodic tirade and lashes out at staff members who are organizationally less powerful, these managers are a detriment to your organization?

Sometimes, the abuse is passive. A manager becomes angry with an employee for disagreeing and withholds information, excludes the associate from special assignments, or rescinds invitations to special events. This does create a hostile work environment. However, bad behavior is not legally actionable because the majority of the time discrimination is not at the heart of the abuse just a general disagreement with an egomaniacal executive who feels justified because he/she can not tolerate mutiny under his/her realm of power.

I am amazed at how many people I talk with have worked or still work with an abusive manager in some capacity. Still others have heard stories in hallway conversations or exit interviews. Some people even deny that these behaviors are abusive. This is business, after all, and people should not take these things personally. But this type of abuse can and does happen to people regardless of race, age, or gender, and it hurts not only the associate, but the organization as a whole.

It creates a hostile work environment, damages self-esteem and makes people fearful. When associates are afraid to say what's on their minds, when they are afraid to make mistakes, share their ideas, or tell the emperor that he has no clothes, they cannot do what's right for the business.

When you manage hotels all over the country how do you recognize that this behavior is taking place? Exit interviews equate to closing the barn door after you have lost your prize bull. You need to assess the status of that door before costly losses begin to affect your entire operation

In our company, we conduct an electronic 'On-Boarding Survey' ninety days after hire. We have developed fifteen key questions we ask the incoming manager about his 'On-Boarding' experience with our company and fifteen questions we ask associates as to their opinion of how well our incoming manager is embracing our culture and values. I have conducted these surveys with excellent results and at other times I have been disappointed to find that the person I hired has not only refused to embrace our culture but has actually shown signs of being an abusive manager.

We share the results with the managers and where abuse rears its ugly head we counsel the manager in question, create an action plan and in some cases require them to attended sensitivity workshops. If we do not see a change we must then admit that we have made a bad hiring decision and sever the business relationship. Abusive managers will only stop when we acknowledge that it is wrong. So, starting today, let's take a stand against it. Start by calling it what it is. If you manage other managers, make it clear that abusive behavior is unacceptable and that there will be consequences for these behaviors. Then give them alternative outlets for their stress and anger.

Bad management/behavior may not be legally actionable and there may be no law against it. But let's fight it anyway.