Workplace Strategies and Business Planning Repackaged

Working in an office for an extensive period becomes a blur of new strategies to inspire and optimize team performance. But having worked for the civil service for over ten years, a certain amount of cynicism starts to creep in with each new idea. Repacked and with buzzwords, one begins to think it’s all been done before. Once upon a time, small team working was all the rage. Subsequent business evolutions have occurred, but has anything really changed? I decided to inject a little of my experiences working in an office for my writing project, but one with a cynical edge.

Useful Strategies in Offices

Edward de Bono’s Six Colored Hats

And now for an old method of problem-solving that might have been dressed up and repackaged as a new business idea that have been incorporated into brainstorming, thought-showers, the Socratic method and others.

The six thinking hats model as proposed by Edward de Bono (1985) symbolizes the different ways of approaching a problem in the workplace. Each ‘hat’ represents a distinctive way of thinking. Collectively, the six hats can find comprehensive ideas for finding improvements and solutions. Some people naturally wear a particular hat or hats. Others might try a different one on, if not accustomed to a certain way of thinking.

White hat: the ‘control.’ This hat has all the information and the facts.

Red hat: the emotional hat, red is intuitive and all about gut instinct.

Black hat: the pessimistic, cautious hat, conservative, critiquing and discerning.

Yellow hat: the optimistic hat, this hat looks at the bright side, seeking benefits and positives.

Green hat: the creative hat, looking for new ideas, the latent thinker.

Blue hat: is the conductor of the meeting and decides how the discussion progresses, as a referee or chair.

The Workplace in Fiction

Although the basis for these ‘new’ ideologies’ is old, none are as old as the ugly underworld of office politics: mind games, office gossip and hidden agendas. I decided to satirize the office environment in order to bring forth a truly cynical way of viewing the corporate environment for a key character in my novel. In this way, we can see the stark contrast between the corporate 'image' as presented to the public, and the less than perfect reality of what goes on behind those glass doors. After all, team workers are still just people.

Story about an Office

Luke has worked his way to the top; he knows about the six hats, small team working, LEAN and P &I. To the outsider, he would appear to be the quintessential leader, but look beyond the suit and his thoughts are tainted with condescension and irony, as can be seen from the following excerpt describing what happened between Luke and his secretary, Cerys.

  Luke entered the alcove area, grabbed a plastic up and inserted change.

He turned sensing a presence nearby. Cerys was standing at the sink exuding a generous glob of phlegm into David Leek’s coffee. David’s cup was distinctive for its slogan: ‘I got rat-arsed, what’s your excuse?’ David was a yes-man, a Malteser-headed proprietor of a personalized number plate: DAV 5X. Luke had noticed David delegate work that wasn’t his to delegate and Cerys had worked overtime as a result.

  Once the phlegm had made its transit into David’s cup, Cerys looked up. Her expression froze.

Moments later, Cerys enters Luke’s office to explain herself.

  Cerys loitered at the door. ‘I…I feel I need to explain what you saw earlier.’

  Luke waited, reclining in his seat.

  ‘I…I don’t want you to think I do that thing you saw because I don’t. Something came over me. I’m not excusing myself or anything, it’s just….I’ve been under a lot of pressure recently and Dave Leeks has been…’ Her eyes brushed against Luke’s and darted away. ‘He’s been pestering me, criticizing my work and asking me into his office for petty reasons.’ Her voice grew hoarse. ‘Please don’t tell anyone what I did!'

  ‘Luke pinched his pen between thumb and forefinger. ‘I am unsure of why you need to explain yourself to me, Cerys.’

  Cery’s cheeks purpled. Her lips fluttered. ‘Because…’

  ‘So far as I am aware, you were simply making coffee.’

  Cerys’s brow furrowed.

  ‘Perhaps if you made his coffee more…cappuccino, he might be more appreciative.’

  Words evaded her.

  ‘Perhaps if you encouraged everyone else to do the same, he might consider making his own coffee in future.’ Luke gave her a small smile. He imagined it to be ghastly.

The Underbelly of the Workplace

The corporate office can hide a grubby reality. The Utopian stratagems for a perfect and productive working environment cannot stamp out office politics. In my novel, I wanted to present the sardonic and careworn viewpoint of someone who has worked through the corporate system and lived through a regurgitation of ideas. Regardless of the new practices and approaches brought to bear, some things never change in the office. Only after working in such an environment for a number of years does this truth become clear.

Expert from Falling Awake by Charles J Harwood

Copyright is asserted © 2012

Other themes relating to this novel

Unique experience of an insomniac

Gambling addiction and operant conditioning

Great themes in literature and Maslow's model

Taboo themes in novels

Physical sensations of being in debt

Other articles

Interesting psychopaths in fiction

What if human behavior had a voice?

References:

Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition; Oxford English Dictionary

Edward de Bono (1985). Six Thinking Hats: An Essential Approach to Business Management. Little, Brown, & Company

What is Lean Manufacturing? wiseGEEK.

Image credit: Nashville, TN, May 5, 2010 -- Residents of Bellevue (Davidson County) collect information from the "White Board" inside the Bellevue Community disaster assistance center; David Fine (Wikimedia Commons)

Two types of workers will emerge in the workplace: those wide-eyed, ambitious, fire-in-the belly upstarts who embrace new policies. And the cynics who have seen it all before. With new innovations within the workplace from business consultants comes a feeling of regurgitation. After all, the ideas are hardly new – only the way it is packaged.Leadership, Performance and Innovation Working Group 

Take one of the newest policies to emerge, the P and I (performance and innovate) ideology. This approach aims to make improvements in cost, quality and service whilst always keeping the client in focus. P & I is part of a new LEAN management system (Eric Ries, 2008), meaning hygienic working practices and continuous workflow without ‘waste.’ Waste comes in different forms, such as logistical, Work-in-progress or product defects. Getting it right first time is the goal of lean manufacturing. Hardly a realistic aim, but isn’t this an old ideal anyway?

Small Team Working Good or Not?

Not so long ago, small team working revolutionized the office. Small teams enabled workflow to be completed within an enclosed business substructure rather than separate centralized departments on different floors. Small teams work closely together on any project and learn something from each other. A team leader, project manager, coach, facilitator and shadow will become familiar terms. Focus groups and team workshops use the Socratic Method (putting forward opposing viewpoints to stimulate critical thinking) to keep small teams on the ball.

Great though this may be, many corporations have now gone back to the old system after cracks started to appear. Apparently some small teams become cliquey or disruptive; some individuals get withdrawn or bossy. Others are simply not cut out to be a team player.

Bruce Tuckman’s Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing

Relevant to small team working, the small team evolution model might be familiar in corporate handbooks. Proposed by Bruce Tuckman (1965) outlining the evolutionary phases of any group of people in the workplace. In each stage, we see a response to problems and changes.

Forming: A ‘bonding’ stage of a team, individuals will avoid conflict and get on with their work. A drive to be accepted by the other team players takes precedence.

Storming: The ‘make or break’ stage, individuals will try to compete for the leadership role and others will become withdrawn. Friends and adversaries will be made, confrontations will occur as a result of power clashes.

Norming: A phase of agreements and compromises with increasing trust where some individuals will give up their ideas for others. Some complacency may occur where the team loses its creative edge.

Performing: Considered the most productive phase, individuals become highly motivated and know what is expected of them. Some teams go through each stage again in a response to circumstances.

A final stage, Adjourning and Transforming (sometimes called Mourning) marks the breakup of the team. Some members may hold fond memories, but could be a symptom of rose tinted glasses.