Ben wrote:
>I have a couple of theories:
>
>1) People bitch and moan to feel powerful, when they're actually cowards
>2) People bitch and moan to attract their peers attention
>3) People bitch and moan because they don't know any other way to talk
>4) Some people are just plain stupid
Yes, I agree and to bitch and moan also relieves them of having to take
positive, constructive action, which is a corollary to your first. And in
your case, I would suggest that as bad as it was, it was preferable to
what ever change management might impose if they were honest on the
surveys. It partially comes back to the trust factor.
I use surveys all the time. But not to measure where people are in an
absolute sense. Rather, I use them as discussion starters. A manager
with good people skills would take those dishonestly answered surveys and
sit the department down and use them in comparision with actual results.
"Somethings missing here." My guess is that behavior of that management
team is a reflection of the team above them, and that they are going
through the same thing.
Ben, I appreciate your honest, personal reflections about your life at
Novell. It gives us a real world context in which to engage issues
related to learning organizations.
Ed Brenegar
Leadership Resources
edb3@msn.com
--"Ed Brenegar" <edb3@email.msn.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>