“What’s my job?”
That’s a question that many managers ask themselves, usually not out loud though for fear of looking like a fool. Nonetheless the question is a real one. It has been my experience in working with many companies in many different industries that employees are often uninformed about their roles and responsibilities. Yes, employees know their job specifics and often perform as well as they can. What they lack is context, that is, “Why am I doing what I am doing and how does it affect the organization?” Employees who are so uninformed are not dull headed lackeys; they are bright, energetic people whose management has not bothered to explain their value to the organization.
Expectations lost in the details
For example, employees in purchasing are constantly asked to implement a host of new parameters to conform to new rules and regulations, some spawned by the Sarbannes Oxley Act of 2002. Employees go by the rules, but they end up following procedures that feel more like trapdoors and blind alleys than an updated process. When suppliers complain, purchasing agents are powerless to make adjustments and do a poor job of communicating why. Suppliers end up frustrated and angry, and purchasers feel betrayed by a system they have been hired to implement. The net result is that the company loses experienced suppliers and alienates the very employees whose job it is to ensure conformity with established standards.
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