Problems in an Organization

Problems in an Organization

Ruben Lemus Jr

South Texas College

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Problems in an Organization

I have had many jobs in my life, and I have run into many different types of problems. It

is hard to pick one. The problem I see the most damaging is people undervaluing the work of

others and overvaluing their work. Some people tend to be self-important and feel their job or

duty is either the most important or higher quality than the rest. This is the problem I would like

to analyze in this paper. I will break down the problem, come up with a solution, think about

possible criticisms, and respond to those criticisms. In the end, I hope to have a reliable solution

to this problem.

I have run into a few people in every job that would always find something to complain

about. One of the complaints I would hear repeatedly was that the individual was doing so

much, and everyone else was doing so little. The first time I listened to this complaint was my

first job at a dry cleaner. My coworker was upset because "the morning staff left all the work for

us, the closing crew." I was just happy to have a job, and it was not that much work, so I just

kept on working. My coworker was always asking me what they were doing all day and why is

there so much work left to do when we walked in, "We have to finish tagging all the close and

clean-up," "they get to start fresh in the morning if they could keep up with their work we would

not have so much in the evening." I listened to the complaints and continued to work. Again, I

was happy to have my first job, and it was not that hard. Then, during summer vacation, the

manager asks if I would work a few mornings. I said, of course. I noticed the morning shift had

a lot more customers dropping off clothes to get cleaned then we would get in the evening. It was

not more or less work, just different work. Some morning people were also complaining about

the night crew not organizing correctly and leaving a mess for "us to clean up."
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I noticed situations like this working in a bank, retail, and restaurants. Morning crew vs.

night crew, this department vs. department, kitchen vs. wait-staff, there was always some

animosity between who was doing what. I am a pretty easy going individual, and I try not to say

no when a supervisor asks me to do something, so I worked in multiple areas in most of my jobs.

I worked open shifts, mid-shifts, closing shifts, cashier, drive-thru, different departments,

kitchen, and wait-staff, and do you know what I realized? They all have about the same amount

of work, just different types of work—the same amount of issues, slightly different types of

problems. It was not like one area was working like crazy, and the other was clowning around

all day. When I would hear someone complain about another area, I would tell them they are

busy too (I know because I worked that department, area, or shift), and they would ignore me

and continue to complain.

This might seem like people complaining, and people always complain, but the negativity

was contagious. The groups would build resentment towards each other. It would hinder

teamwork. It was as Hobbs (1968) would call it "warre." The groups' splintering would

negatively affect productivity, people would have a "with us or against us" mentality, and it

would be felt through the organization. There was a lot of dysfunction, and it would spread,

especially to the new employees.

What I think organizations should do is have much more cross-training. Many of the

issues would arise from not knowing what the others were doing, "out of sight out of mind."

Cross-trained people would see that the different positions in the organization also had a job to

do, and it was just as important as theirs. Cross-training would allow others to "walk a mile in

their shoes" and see what they were dealing with. This solution would allow people to

appreciate the work their coworkers were doing and increase teamwork. It would minimize the
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negativity that often turns to dysfunction. It will also help the organization because other people

would be able to go over and permit a specific department if the need arises.

Some of the criticisms that may arise with my solution of Cross-training would come

from Immanuel Kant. He is big on people being self-governing beings. In his writings, he

states, “I also set aside those actions which conform to duty, but to which men have no direct

inclination, performing them because they are impelled thereto by some other inclination (Kant

1998)”. He would be against people doing something for the sake of duty, especially the ones

that are only doing it for the sake of duty. Many people do not have a negative opinion of other

departments in an organization, many are fine doing their job/duty, and you do yours. They

never question whether the other person is doing their job, and someone like Kant would ask,

forcing this individual to cross-train. Although many people had an issue of undervaluing others'

work, this was by no means the norm. Nietzsche would also question why the sin of the few

would affect the many. He wrote about the definition of good and bad, how it was defined and

who defined it (Nietzsche 1989). He also was a strong proponent of people doing things for

themselves, not the group or collective (Nietzsche 1989). My solution would come under

significant criticism because of this.

Despite the criticism against mandatory cross-training, I feel it is a good idea. It would

benefit the organization as a whole, and someone like John Stuart Mills should agree. It would

be best if you acted in a way that does the most good for the most people (Mills 2014), and I feel

Cross-training fit this ideology. In the Utilitarian way of thinking, I would not be forcing people

to cross-train. People should want to cross-train because that would be the most good for the

most people. Hobbes (1968) says, "Common-wealths,) is the foresight of their preservation, and

a more contented life thereby" the more the organization prospers, the more you prosper.
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Undervaluing others is not the only issue in an organization. Still, it is an issue in

organizations that I have first-hand knowledge in and one that leads to dysfunction. In an

organization, a leader should keep an eye on and eliminate dysfunction when they see it. In my

experience, the organizations that take a proactive approach were a more pleasant environment.

Every organization should strive to be a more pleasant environment. This will not only benefit

their members but the organization as a whole.

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References

Plato. (1943). Plato's The Republic. New York: Books, Inc.,

Aristotle, Ross, W. D., & Brown, L. (2009). The Nicomachean ethics. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Hobbes, T. 1588-1679 (1968). Leviathan. Baltimore: Penguin Books.

Kant, I., & Gregor, M. J. (1998). Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. Cambridge, U.K:

Cambridge University Press.

Mills, J. S. (2014). Utilitarianism. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press.

Nietzsche, F. W. (1989). On the genealogy of morals. New York: Vintage Books.