þÿ<!-- * Author: Dr. Lynn Friedman * Copyright. 2006-8 Dr. Lynn Friedman. 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By examining workplace dynamics -- hirings, firings, narcissistic bosses and passive aggressive employees, the office scapegoat and the bosses pet, corporate dysfunction and corporate health, happy employees and miserable ones -- Friedman puts "Corporations on the Couch" in her widely popular column by that name. The psychoanalyst, psychologist, Johns Hopkins faculty member, organizational consultant and executive coach explains, in frank and often funny terms, how corporate cultures and corporate leaders support and sustain (albeit inadvertently) the surprising, strange and truly bizarre array of workplace behaviors. And, like any good therapist, Friedman helps readers to get off the couch, build healthy relationships and end bad ones."> <meta name="keywords" content="retire, retirement, retire in place, Dr. Lynn Friedman, Lynn V. Friedman, corporations on the couch - organizational dynamics - organizational dynamic - corporate - corporations -coach -career -couch - what is the meaning of psychoanalysis - applied psychoanalysis - The Washington Psychoanalyst -Dr. Lynn Friedman - psychoanalyst - clinical psychologist - psychologist - psychoanalytic - psychoanalysis - psychoanalyst - washington - d.c. - dc - maryland - bethesda - chevy chase - silver spring - rockville - northern virginia - arlington - virginia - fairfax - baltimore - johns hopkins - psychotherapy - work-life - johns hopkins - lynne - lynn - friedman -freedman -friedman - washington psychoanalyst - apsa - american psychoanalytic-friendship heights- washington post,"> <meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en-us"> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta http-equiv="expires" content="0" /> <meta http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache"> </head> <!-- The first four attributes of the body tag are specific to IE and the last two are specific to Netscape. --> <body topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" rightmargin="0" bottommargin="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr bgcolor="003366"> <td rowspan="2" class="barBG">&nbsp;</td> <td rowspan="2" class="barBG" width="158px" align="left"><img src="../../graphic/navigationBar/logo.gif" width="166px" height="58px" alt="Logo" border="0" /></td> <td width="582px" height="30px" align="right">&nbsp;</td> <td rowspan="2" class="barBG">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="003366" valign="bottom"> <td class="barBG" align="right"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="90%"> <tr> </tr> </table> </td> <tr> <td colspan="4" bgcolor="666699">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> </body> </html> <ul><p><h1><a href="http://www.corporationsonthecouch.com" target="_blank">Corporations on the Couch</a></h1></p></ul> <ul><p><h3><a href="http://www.drlynnfriedman.com/about.html" target="_blank">Lynn Friedman, Ph.D., Psychoanalyst, Clinical Psychologist and Executive Coach</a></h3></p></ul> <ul><p><h3>A monthly column published in the Washington Business Journal</h3></p></ul> <!-- Body of Text Begins Here --> <p align=center> <table cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0 border=1 width=700> <tr><td valign=top bgcolor="#dddddd"><FONT SIZE="3" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <b>'Retiring in place' may point to management issues</b></font> </td></tr> <tr><td valign=top><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <p>Steve hasn't done his job for years. While at first this caused real difficulties, over time, superiors, co-workers and subordinates simply learned to work around him, completing his essential tasks themselves or persuading others to pick up his slack.</p> <p>He is, as they say, "retired in place." No one counts on him, ever. Unless of course, you count not counting on him as a form of counting on him.</p> <p>His boss, Ed, hasn't helped matters, either. Busy slaying his own dragons, he hasn't personally been troubled by Steve's sloth -- in fact, he's benefited from it. He's never had to worry that Steve might displace him. So, the setup has worked out pretty well, or at least adequately. Adequately for everyone except for Jane, the junior-level employee who has been informally carrying out Ed's managerial functions -- with neither recognition nor compensation -- for years.</p> <p>As the senior executive, you were completely oblivious to the matter -- because it was occurring fairly far down the food chain until you needed something -- and Jane served it up with aplomb. Wanting to recognize her impressive performance, you discovered she was not actually doing her own job but rather was doing Steve's work.</p> <p>As you studied the matter further, you learned that this long-standing pattern had persisted for many years, never having been addressed by anyone. The gender divide here did not escape your attention. In fact, the inherent inequity chafes at your sense of fairness, not to mention your view that someone, or some ones, have been ripping off the organization.</p> <p>You are angry. You feel a bit betrayed. Your first impulse is that heads should role. But whose head? Or heads? You wonder if you should fire anyone and, if so, whom?</p> <p>On the face of things, it may seem obvious to some that Steve or Ed should be separated from the organization. But, as you call your human resources department or legal counsel, ask yourself why (and how) Steve got Jane to do his job, and what does this reflect about your organizational culture?</p> <p>Answering this question will undoubtedly inform your decision as to what to do about it.</p> <p>This is not a simple question. Focusing on Steve for a moment, it's important to clarify why he wasn't doing his job. Did he lack the requisite skills? Was he unclear as to what was expected of him? Or was he, should we say, otherwise professionally occupied while at work?</p> <p>If he has a skills deficit, then what stopped him from seeking training to overcome it? If expectations were unclear, then what factors led to his lack of clarity? Beyond this, consider what stopped his boss from identifying Steve's difficulties and developing an effective staff-development plan for addressing them. And if he was using work time for other pursuits, to what was he devoting his time, and how did he get away with it?</p> <p>In each of these scenarios, Steve wasn't given feedback that his performance was problematic. Before firing Steve, it might be important to know whether he might respond effectively to constructive feedback.</p> <p>He might be told what is expected of him and -- in the case where he lacks essential skills -- he might be helped with an effective staff-development program.</p> <p>You can fire Steve, but if he's never been given constructive feedback, you may be, in effect, scapegoating him. Scapegoating is problematic in that it attributes the blame for organizational dysfunction to one source. Scapegoating is dysfunctional in that it fails to examine all of the organizational factors that contribute to dysfunction. Firing Steve doesn't change the underlying cause of the organizational dysfunction. Rather, it merely provides a Band-Aid solution, and the phenomenon is likely to be repeated elsewhere in the organization.</p> <p>If you fire Steve without first coaching him, then you may be sending a message, albeit an inadvertent one, that employees -- not their supervisors -- will be held responsible for missteps. Such an approach could lead employees to cover up their deficits and uncertainties.</p> <p>Ideally, after receiving feedback and training, Steve will change his ways. However, if he doesn't or can't, retaining him sends a message of a most demoralizing sort.</p> <p>Now, what about Jane? She diligently carried out Steve's duties without well-earned recognition or compensation.</p> <p>Consider what stopped Jane from making someone in authority aware of her plight. Assess whether she tried to address her concerns and with whom. If she tried and her effort proved ineffective, try to understand what got in the way. This is serious because Steve's behavior, Ed's tolerance of it and the fact that everyone seems to be aware of it, leaves the organization vulnerable to lawsuits.</p> <p><i>Lynn Friedman, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and executive coach in Chevy Chase. She is on the associate faculty in the Organizational Development/Human Resource Management Program at the Johns Hopkins University. Web site: www.drlynnfriedman.com She can be reached at: 301-656-9650.</i></p> <p><b>This article, <a href="http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/10/29/smallb11.html?page=2 " target="new window">"'Retiring in Place' may point to management issues" by Dr. Lynn Friedman, clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and work-life consultant, is reprinted with permission from the Washington Business Journal.</a> (Find the original article here.)</p> </font> </td></tr> </table> </p> </font> <!-- End of text page --> <!-- Body of Text Begins Here --> <p align=center> <table cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0 border=1 width=700> <tr><td valign=top bgcolor="#dddddd"><FONT SIZE="3" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <b><a href="http://www.drlynnfriedman.com/about.html"target="_blank">Connect with Dr. Lynn Friedman, psychoanalyst, psychologist, work-life coach</b></font> </td></tr> <tr><td valign=top><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <i>Dr. Lynn Friedman provides organizational consultation and works with professionals and professionals-in-the-making to help them to achieve their work-life goals. </i> <br><br> <li>Is your career off-track? Are you unhappy at work? Do you find it impossible to follow through on the suggestions of career books and coaches? <a href="http://www.drlynnfriedman.com/careerassessment.pdf" target="_blank">Download Dr. Lynn Friedman's pdf file </a> examining the kinds of help that might be useful.</p> <li><a href="http://www.drlynnfriedman.com/about.html" target="_blank">If you'd like to schedule an appointment</a> with Dr. Lynn Friedman, feel free to give her a call at: 301-656-9650 <li><a href="feed://drlynnfriedman.typepad.com/dr_lynn_friedmans_blog_al/index.rdf">Subscribe to Dr. Lynn Friedman's blog feed, "All Things Psychoanalytic"</a></font> <li><a href="http://www.corporationsonthecouch.com" target="_blank">Corporations on the Couch</a> Read Dr. Lynn Friedman's monthly, Washington Business Journal, column on understanding workplace dynamics. <li>For your questions about relationships, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, check out Dr. Lynn Friedman's new website, <a href="http://www.washingtonpsychoanalyst.com" target="_blank"> The Washington Psychoanalyst.</a></li> </font> </td></tr> </table> </p> </font> <!-- End of text page --> <!-- Body of Text Begins Here --> <p align=center> <table cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0 border=1 width=700> <tr><td valign=top bgcolor="#dddddd"><FONT SIZE="3" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <b>Would you like to read, "Corporations on the Couch" in your home town? <a href="http://www.corporationsonthecouch.com"target_blank></td></tr> <tr><td valign=top><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <li><a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/subscription/index.html?market=washington" target="_blank">Working in Washington, D.C.? Subscribe here.</a> <li>Would you like to read, Corporations on the Couch, in your locale? It's nationally syndicated. Contact your local editor and request it. <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/" target="_blank"> Find your market here.</a> </ul> </font> </td></tr> </table> <!-- Body of Text Begins Here --> <p align=center> <table cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0 border=1 width=700> <tr><td valign=top bgcolor="#dddddd"><FONT SIZE="3" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <b>People who read this article also enjoyed these columns by <a href="http://www.drlynnfriedman.com/about.html"target="_blank">Dr. Lynn Friedman, psychoanalyst, psychologist and work-life coach.</a></b></font> </td></tr> <tr><td valign=top><FONT SIZE="-1" FACE="verdana, arial, helvetica"> <li><a href="http://www.corporationsonthecouch.com/reversedelegation.html" target="_blank">Don't let your subordinates delegate work to you</a> <li><a href="http://www.corporationsonthecouch.com/retiringinplace.html"target="_blank">Retiring in Place may point to management issues</a> </ul> </font> </td></tr> </table> <br><br> <!-- Main heading bar --> <table COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" cellspacing="1" border="0"> <td BGCOLOR="navy"><font face="Arial,Helvetica" color=purple size=+2></font></td> </tr> </table> <br><br> <a name="1"> <hr noshade size=1> <center> &copy; &nbsp; <i> Copyright © 2006 Lynn Friedman, Ph.D. All rights reserved. </i></center> <font size="-3"> <p>This material is copyrighted. This blog is offered as a community service. You may transmit them free-of-charge. Feel free to forward these columns to anyone who you think might be interested, so long as not a single word is changed, added or deleted, inlcuding contact information. However, I ask that you adhere to copyright laws by providing, along with any column, all attached copyright information. It is a violation of copyright law to copy this column for commercial use and/or financial gain, to cut-and-paste this column or to use it without appropriate citation. I'll be glad to send these columns to anyone else who sends me email asking to be added to the dlist. While I invite you to link to this site, you may NOT reprint the material on a web site without my express written permission. Reprint permission will be freely granted, upon request, to student newspapers, universities and other non-profit educational organizations. Beyond this, advance written permission must be obtained prior to reprinting any of this material in modified or altered form. Thank you for your consideration.</p> <p>A final word, nothing published in this blog should be construed as a substitute for clinical, consultative or supervisory advice. If you have a mental health concern, or require consultation or supervision, please seek a consultation from a knowledgeable, well-trained, clinician. If it is an emergency seek treatment at your local emergency room.</p> <p><font face="times" size=-3><font size="-3"> </font></p> </center></font> <br><br></p> <c>Copyright Lynn Friedman, Ph.D. (2005)</c> </td> </tr> <!-- Below enter recommended readings. --> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td> <span class="text_2"> </span> </td> </tr> </span> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>