Self-Awareness in Management & Leadership

Todd's Story

 

Situation

I work for a national construction company and a General Manager is in charge of the Brisbane office. For the past 6 months, I have notice he is very aggressive towards me, dismissive of my comments and abrupt in his tone with me. For a while now I thought that he does not like me. This was confirmed the other day when I was having a disagreement with another employee and he said in a very aggressive tone “shut up Todd”. This was across the large open plan office full with employees. I was very angry at his insult but let it sit for a few days. I decided I will not be intimidate by him and wrote an email expressing my disappointment in him and requested that he addresses me in the correct way in the future. I received a call from him and he acknowledged that he should not have done it. I said I was surprised and disappointed in him. He then made excuses for his behaviour and aggressively started to challenge me again. He said he was disappointed that I sent the compliant to him in email (he was the only recipient) and threatening said “two can play at that game”. I was shocked by this statement and politely ended the call.

 

Decision

I will call him to discuss his disappointment and explain why I thought sending an articulated email was more suitable given the emotions involved in the incident. I will also ask him two questions:

1. you have a problem with me or the way I work. Do I annoy you?

2. Can we get past this and continue to work together in the future?.

I believe these questions will bring out inner feelings or issues he has, so I can determine if they are personal or work related.

 

How to deal with this situation?

Drucker

Reading Drucker I asked my self “What are my Values”?.  I realized his behaviour is unacceptable to me and as a professional, I will not tolerate that behaviour from Management.  

Drucker highlights the need know ones strengths, method of work and values. I knew without confronting him, I would be left in a situation where I would question my strengths/abilities and my values.  

The General Manager believes his strengths are his ability to get his way, his ability to make employees be submissive with the aim of getting results.

 

England

The England work has been the most helpful in this situation. It has helped me understand the key traits required of a competent manager. I thought over our learning and while reading England his quote of  “nothing changes without personal transformation” resonated in me. He also states inner conflict should be managed effectively to achieve the best outcome. Reading this encourage me to make the decision and confront the manager. Otherwise I would be stunted in my work and could not reach my potential.

 

Burns

Burns’ article also is critical to my situation. The manager is extroverted by being loud and domineering. Conversely he is also insecure and deals with confrontation through aggression and intimidation. He could be considered to have Neuroticism due to his outburst in the office. Under Eysenck’s personality map, I would consider him a Choleric – Unstable Extrovert who is Touchy, Aggressive, and Impulsive.

 

Argryis

Argyris theory primarily looks at organisational learning and the problems associated learning. However he does point out that employee behaviours are frequently part of organisational problems

 

Holland

This theory I believe would not help in my situation as it looks at competency and competency training.

 

Post Confrontation

Following my confrontation with the manager, he apologised for his outburst in the office, realised that he should have contacted me after the incident and realised his call after my email was handled incorrectly. He confirmed that he does not have anything personally against me and sees growth for me within the business. I informed him I do not want to fight with my Manager, but learn from him and that I am not so desperate for work that I need to put up with inappropriate behaviour from management. The meeting concluded with him offering to establish Key performance Indicators for me. This will allow growth within the business for performance against measurable targets.