Free «Coursework» Essay Sample

Introduction

The problem of managing workplace ethics is not new and has been around for as long as businesses have flourished in the world. Many working methods have been enforced in various small or large organizations to reduce this phenomenon and their administrations have been keeping a constant check on their employees. However, every now and again, cases emerge that make organizations look inefficient and the environment unappealing. So many working methodologies have been planned and designed, some of them with convenience, while others with force, but none of them seems to be  efficient as it should. For how long will we have to face this dilemma and when will those who go through the suffering get a relief? Let us look at one such case and employ Workplace Ethics to see how effective it really is (Hamilton, 2009).

Literature Review

In the beginning,  workplaces were dominated by the males, so they had their own issues to sortout. Not that a workplace was an ideal place to work but it was a very “manly” environment until a woman stepped in and began to interfere with things the way she believedwas right,and men were not at all amused. There were few aspects that women enjoyed more than man, such as  not being as much into workplace politics as men are. women  focuses solely on their job and not on extracurricular activities as they firmly believe in competition as opposed to men who are inclined to relax more often than not. What has been observed most is the efficiency of female employees which is nothing short of inspiring. This is an area where most men (not all of them) trail women. they do not look at the clock all the time waiting to get relieved from work. There are plenty more reasons why women perform better than men and results show an average work improvement of 28% to 35%, according to the recent data by Bureau of Statistics. Their efficiency becomes a hurdle for them because men have been found less efficient in work but more efficient at playing politics and other non-creative activities they occupied themselves while at work (Jones, 2009, 124).

Case

I was recently nominated team leader at Spencer Corporation having a wonderful track record behind her that facilitated her as a team leader. In this firm, I was the first female team leader who is incharge of an all male  team. Initially, things seem to be going smoothly without any hurdles. My team seemed cooperative and spontaneous in obeying my orders and suggestions.

Issue

After a few months, the manager seems uncomfortable with me as he kept pointing flaws out in my work in front of her team. This would have been acceptable for me if the manager had called me in his office and explained things in a polite manner, but  he seemed to enjoy my embarrassment. I was new on the job and never felt comfortable complaining about the manager so early in my new career but things were slipping out of my grasp. (Landy, 1995, 315)

Increasing dilemma

Nevertheless, I remained calm and tolerated a few other criticisms that kept multiplying. Sometimes Iwondered, was I really losing my efficiency and if there was something else the manager was not happy about. To look safeguard against any mistakes that I thought I might be committing during her work, I began my self-evaluation to find out what I was doing wrong that the manager did not like. This was a painful time for me since I was having a really hard time at the workplace (Chatman, 2010, 321)

This situation has become a norm for most working women around the world. There are so many unexplainable things that a female worker goes through every day that it is not appropriate to discuss it. From harassment to threats, from conflicts to competition, and so much more and Ikeeps moving on. I was an efficient and experienced employee who had always looked after the benefit of my team. I was so devoted that I requested for an increment in my working hours only for the sake the of company’s benefit. Yet, I was unable to find the reason behind my manager’s attitude which was becoming a jigsaw puzzle for me to solve.

A biased approach

It was on one such day that I had proposed a work plan which my team had to perform. I worked on it in a way that there was enough room for suggestions and improvements. Sort of a modular plan which had space for improvement which I deliberately left only to make my team members contribute more and more so they could feel a sense of pride and positivity of being constructive for their company. The manager called the meeting where I presented the plan. After completing the presentation, I invited my team members to share their opinions, andexpectedly, proposed some improvements and suggestions. Overall. the situation developed  as anticipated..

The presentation went off nicely and so did the suggestions until the manager stepped in. He began by pointing out the short comings of the plan and went on to enumerate the obstacles that were possible in case of implementation. It would have been acceptable for me if the manager had suggested some improvements but he went a step further. Not only did he criticize my performance as a team leader but he also criticized my work performance and shouted at me for no apparent reason as if I had donesomething horribly wrong. I was stunned, and  so was my team, and not because the manager criticized me but mostly because of the way he treated me in front of all the staff, and  particularly my own team (Weik, 2006, 1723).

Analysis and proposing solutions

The embarrassment I faced was too much to handle. On previous ocaasion,the manager also seemed to be hostile for some unknown reason but this time his behavior was unacceptable to me. It was a shocking day for me at work because I had never faced such an embarrassment during my entire career. I  was trying to come to terms with the situation to make it through the rest of the day when one of my subordinates stepped in and explained things which I had never known before. According to Josh (my team member), the manager never liked my appointment from the beginning and he even suggested another senior employee should be the team leader which the administration rejected. The second reason why the manager felt uncomfortable with me was my performance appreciation by the administration. Every time I got commended the managerfelt that in a matter of months, I might be chosen instead of him  

This explained the whole situation to me, and just why the manager’s behavior was such a mystery to me. I felt relieved that the administration was satisfied with me performance which was never admired, not strangely, by my manager. This is the case with most working women throughout the world but it was a new twist in my career as I had never looked at things the way my manager did. I was proficient enough to analyze the situation in hand and ways of tackling things from there on. I also handled my manager well by taking his fear into equation and things began to calm down for me from there on (Richard, 2010, 109).

Since the beginning of the 21^st century, women have gained a reputation for being harder workerthan men, more efficient than men and more goal oriented than men. The reason I mentioned these three things is because they help understand why women have gained such prestige and reputation by employers around the world and in doing so, they also gained critics and opponents.  From a small company in the neighborhood to a large multinational corporation, women are seen everywhere, and not because they look pretty, but because they work proficiently and do not indulge in activities that hold no value for their company or employers.

Dilemma or jealousy resolution

This proficiency is what has made them an ideal choice for employers around the world because they have excellent concentration levels which enable them to work flawlessly. Though not every woman has excellence, this generally is the observation by many professional business pundits who praise their performance.  Competition begins from educational level which was once dominated by men whowere the only ones to get excellent grades and graduate with distinction. But the situation had changed and now women have surpassed them to a great degree. How this professionalism increased in females is still a mystery but experts say that they were never given a fair chance in the past because this was considered a strictly male domain (Richard, 2010, 109).

Rationale

There are many questions that arise from this situation such as, how to address a male colleague who dislikes you for professional reasons? The answer lies in your behavior and patience. He will do so because he is insecure like most male workers but you have to reduce his insecurity by friendly behavior, make him feel comfortable keep a respectable distance because you might have behaved similarly, were you in his place. In many countries of Asia and Africa, women are still treated as sub-species of humans and are only entrusted with looking after the household activities. Bias is a part of professional life and with increasing competition among colleagues, it occurs naturally so it is better to avoid confrontation and get busy in being constructive.

Conclusion

These are wicked issues that a woman goes through during her employment. Wicked because they can hamper her reputation as a professional, harm her character since harassment is an ugly part of workplace environment despite being addressed repeatedly. These are needed to be addressed with professionalism and polite manner. Simple as you handle pressure situation in a calm manner. And lastly, healthy competition rarely exists among mix genders and naturally it shapes up as a working hurdle and jealousy which causes poor reputation to companies and their administrations while also affecting employees. A well maintained work environment is the order of the day which can only be achieved by proper training and management strategies and managers have to address this responsibility whole heartedly instead of feeling insecure against proficient female employees. I faced a biased behavior, a dilemma I was not sure about but after realization, I knew how to handle this case, patience and skill is required here, to a great deal, due to my rationality and acceptance that it is a male dominated environment after all.

Some men think we women behave irrationally and are more possessive than them but this is not the case every time with every woman. They find it hard to compete with a woman in the first place, that’s how I saw it and the resolution of the issue after I adjusted to things my way, was the proof that my assessment was correct. I took steps towards resolution, not confrontation. I tolerated his biased attitude of ridiculing me for no reason with my reasoning and understanding of the complexity of issue and his perplex dominant behavior. It was a test of my patience and skill oh handling things and it worked well. A healthy and motivated work environment not only work wonders for the company, it also produces a lot of skillful, satisfying and willful workers who take the initiative of moving ahead, taking their organization ahead of the competition. In case of not taking an appropriate action such managers, the organization may lose their asset of efficient workers in the longer run only due to the short sightedness of some insecure, conspiring few.