Readings in Human Resource Management

Chapter 1 The Endless WaveDavid C. EwingNever in American history has there been so much confusion over the prerogatives of managers to manage and the rights of their subordinates to be managed within limits. On this point, if nothing else, there is complete agreement among executives, lawyers, consultants, and academics. Some of the confusion arises from laws about collective bargaining, civil rights, sexism, and safety. But these encroachments on traditional management prerogatives are only part of the problem. The most important changes have to do with a whole new way of regarding the manager-subordinate relationship. These changes have altered the organizational climate gradually and ubiquitously; they are more like what sailors call a "sea change" than a thunderhead or line squall. What they have produced is a new way of thinking about human dignity in the workplace -- among managers as well as among nonmanagers. For the time being, the new way coexists with the old; this is what causes so much confusion. To illustrate, here are two brief samples from the sea of current experience.A woman in a mid-western company adopted a child and got into an argument with her superior about the amount of leave she was entitled to. The superior thought she was entitled to the equivalent of sick leave, whereas she insisted she was entitled to maternity leave, which was considerably longer. When, unable to accept the superior's answer, she complained to managers higher up in the company, she was dismissed. She had become, I was told by a company executive, "a pain in the neck." The outcome of an almost identical case in a West Coast company was very different. When the superior tried to penalize the complaining employee, she appealed to a special group established for hearing such cases and was granted leave without prejudice to her position in the organization. Her superior was the one who was reprimanded and instructed to change his ways.An officer of a bank in West Virginia learned of some illegal overcharges that were being made on customers' accounts. When he brought the matter tactfully to the attention of his superiors, he was told to forget it; "we know what we're doing," they said. Dissatisfied with this answer, he went to a top executive in the organization. When his boss learned about this, the boss fired him. Yet in an organization in New England, where a similar story was unfolding, the complainant went up the line when the angry boss tried to fire him. Not only was the situation corrected but he was thanked for his effort and enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing the perpetrators discharged.Such contrasting pairs of stories are not unusual. They are taking place all over the country and in ever-increasing abundance. They illustrate a significant shift in the balance between management prerogatives and employee rights in corporate, government, educational, and other types of organizations. (Strictly speaking, managers are employees, too, but the termemployee rightshas become so firmly associated with the rights of subordinates and nonmanagers that the usage will be continued in this book.) Whether this shift is good or bad, whether it is due to excessive permissiveness or to the democratic spirit, whether it will lead to more capitalism or more socialism -- these are questions that need not concern us for the time being. The fact is that the shift is going on, it proceeds independently of political fortunes in Washington, D.C., it is changing the life of every manager and subordinate, and it is affecting the fortunes of almost every corporate and public organization, large or small. The questions that should concern us first are these: What is going on? Why is it happening?From many thousands of careful studies of the U.S. work force, several significant and durable features emerge. It is larger than ever, more volatile than ever, and more knowledgeable. So mBeer, Michael is the author of 'Readings in Human Resource Management' with ISBN 9780029023709 and ISBN 002902370X.