Poor Morale at Fribley
The dining hall has always offered unpredictable service, but only recently has the HR simulation project increased my awareness towards morale problems in Fribley. While waiting in line for stir-fry, I overheard employees grumbling about their lack of motivation and criticizing the work hours and environment. I don’t have enough facts, so it’s near impossible to analyze the reasons for the rampant employee apathy. I’ve noticed that it’s more prevalent at jobs requiring lower skill levels, but not always. Textbooks give the usual examples for low morale, like low wages or poor direction, but even perfectly managed companies have problems similar to Fribley’s.
Comments
Posted by: William Moses
Posted on: October 13, 2006 07:47 PM
I agree that the dining hall employees have a great deal of empathy. However it seems like the management is so disconnect from their employees that they don’t realize the problems. The last thing they are worried about is their employees. I feel that the more I learn about management, the more I notice problems in the world around me.
Posted by: Trish
Posted on: October 13, 2006 07:56 PM
Empathy? I think you mean apathy.
I don't eat at Fribley (I'm staff), but I eat at Tomlinson a lot. I make small talk with the grill cook and the regular checkout folks--a lot of staff members do. They seem pretty content and I think feeling like they are part of a community helps.
Posted by: Heidi Cool
Posted on: October 17, 2006 05:24 PM
I've seen empathy happen at a variety of employment levels. In my experience it happened most when employees weren't treated with respect or empowered to make the decisions necessary to do their jobs effectively. I worked at a small company that was bought out by a bigger company which was then bought out by an even bigger company.
Given this steady turmoil, over the course of 5 years, morale ebbed and flowed like the tide. Yet when management, often new management, listened to the workers and took their counsel, morale would improve. When managers with little experience in a certain skill started ordering people about, then morale sank again. (I worked for a fellow once who kept returning everyone's reports because they weren't all created in the same font. Production lagged because everyone spent time reformatting, then waiting for another 30 days to get projects approved. Needless to say the tribe got pretty disenchanted.)
I've never eaten in Fribley either, so I can't speak to the situation here, but I have seen that two departments in the same division can experience very different levels of employee satisfaction based simply on the attitudes of managers and team leaders.
Posted by: Sara
Posted on: November 7, 2006 12:06 AM
I have worked many low-level jobs, so maybe I can help you out. From every angle, you are treated sub-human when you work these types of jobs. Customers often see you as less than human--"the customer is always right" and other such ideas. They cease to care about you as a person and only about how you can satiate their often ridiculous desires. I personally believe that it is the case with many people that, the moment they pull out their wallets, the golden rule becomes obsolete. With employers, they will sometimes view their employees simply as cogs in a machine that must operate well in order for them to receive their next holiday bonus. Or so it can feel that way. Also, when there is absolutely no creative or intellectual outlet within a job, the employee is likely to feel like they are being regarded as a machine whose brain is considered useless and that is very emotionally damaging. I suspect that this is an often overlooked reason for low morale. Even uniforms. Going to a job everyday that explicitly denies you any credit for having intelligence or personality is the pits. I am glad that you are taking notice of these things in your management studies. A good dose of sociology never hurt anyone. :) Good luck.
Posted by: Nathan
Posted on: December 17, 2006 04:15 PM
It's a fact that an employee's day to day interaction with their direct manager or supervisor is key to morale. No matter what the corporation's intentions, it is the front line management that makes or breaks morale. Jerome Alexander makes a great point of this in his book "160 Degrees of Deviation." This is a must read for both employees and top corporate leaders. Certain middle managers will despise it as it unmasks their personal agendas and inadequacies.