Clarification of Answer by
umiat-ga
on
23 May 2003 12:19 PDT
Hello again, infoseekerr-ga!
I hope I have answered your question more directly. I have searched
from several angles and tried to touch on the points you made in your
clarification.
I did not find any articles that provided a firm, concise answer to
the actual conflicts arising from a situation where a new graduate is
put in charge of older employees, but what I did find certainly fits
the bill.
=
Your revised question:
What I wanted you to explore is:
1. the types of problems that will face recent college graduates who
just entered the working world. these graduates are more qualified
than people who are already in the working place, however, obviously,
they are lacking experience..
2. What sorts of conflicts that would arise if they are, lets say, put
in
charge of more experienced and older ppl?
=========================================================================
Types of problems facing recent college graduates entering the work
world
==========================================================================
From "Transition: College to Career." Wartburg College
http://www.wartburg.edu/careers/transition.html
Starting at the bottom again!
===========================
"What a shock it can be to discover that the new graduate once again
drops to "freshman" status at the bottom of the rung."
==
Less tolerance for absences, mistakes and underperformance:
==========================================================
"The difficulty is that the real world is less tolerant of mistakes,
offers less time and flexibility for adjustment, and demands
performance for the pay it offers."
"College life offers incredible flexibility in how you spend your
time. Many students avoid morning courses like the plague, stay up
till 3:00 a.m. most nights, cut classes and get notes from their
friends, and goof off for weeks at a time, then work at a frenzied
pace to finish the term in decent shape. If you had a tendency to
follow this sort of schedule in college, forget it."
"First of all, you can't cut work. If your starting time is 8:30 a.m.,
you are advised to arrive early and alert. Excuses for tardiness or
absences will not be appreciated, and recurring behavior of this type
will result first in a negative image, then in a dismissal."
"The workplace will not care that you are "not a morning person." It
will not be interested in your late night escapades, or the fact that
your car would not start. You are expected to be punctual and ready to
perform at the start of the day."
"Even if you get more done in six hours than others do in ten, you
will be punished for tardiness."
==
No more sweatpants and torn t-shirts!
======================================
"In the workplace, image becomes much more important than it was in
college. This seems superficial to many graduates, particularly those
with a penchant for rebelliousness, but there are reasons for the
importance of image. Many of the first impressions you make will be
based upon image and these impressions affect how you are viewed
within your organization, by clients or other outside contacts. These
impressions project an image of your entire organization. Image should
not be treated lightly."
"A major part of image is how you dress and groom for the job.
Clothing is important! Your attire is one of the first things people
will notice about you and you must pay attention to it."
==
Your boss is not your "friendly college professor"!
=================================================
Unlike your professors, who were encouraging, open to debate, and
helped to keep you on task..........your boss "will often send you to
get the answers, will discourage arguments, will be vague as to how to
complete a task, and will often come up with last minute assignments,
unclear priorities, and vague directions. The sooner you accept this
change from professor to boss, the greater your chance at success."
"Your boss controls a great deal of what can happen to you during your
first year. If you come into the organization with a willing attitude,
demonstrate poise and maturity, and work well with others, you will
begin to be chosen for the better assignments. If you fight the
system, grunt work will become your specialty. The more you complain
about it, the more the boss will pile it on. The more enthusiastically
you complete the grunt assignments, the more quickly you'll be moved
into the better ones."
"Accepting all this requires you to take on a realistic perspective
regarding the world of work and how it differs from college."
==
Be prepared to make your boss look good!
=======================================
"This means completing work on time and with excellent quality,
acting like a professional at all times, and maintaining a positive
attitude. If you regularly do what you can to make your boss look good
you are already progressing in the right direction."
"Your boss is expected to train and develop you, not to become your
best friend. Don't expect to form a buddy relationship with this
person, and it is not recommended to use her as the sounding board for
your personal or financial problems. Too much awareness of these
problems can affect her view of your maturity, professionalism, and
competence. Not all of us handle our personal lives as well as our
jobs, and they should be kept separate."
==
Dealing with a boss who is "a loser" (or one who knows less than
you!!!)
=======================================================================
"Suppose you're working for a good organization but got stuck with a
"lousy" boss. She is demanding, unreasonable, poor at training, and
everyone agrees that she's going nowhere. Remember your goal is to
move up, and you will not have this boss forever. The idea is to
perform and learn as best you can so that you can be promoted out from
under her. There are intolerable bosses, to be sure, but many college
graduates either quite prematurely or dig themselves into an
irreparable hole through negative attitude and weak performance under
circumstances to which they overreact. Your initial boss is not
forever, and if you can survive a year with a particularly tough boss,
that alone can be viewed as a feather in your cap. Before you lose
your temper or take any rash steps that could jeopardize your career
with the organization, take time to think things through."
==
Getting along with cut-throat, jealous, competitive co-workers!
===============================================================
Remember.....
"You and your peers are working for the same organization with the
objective of helping the organization fulfill its mission. That is why
they are paying you. In order to function effectively you must be able
to work well with others. You will be continually called upon to
engage in teamwork to get a task or project completed. At the same
time, you are competing with these peers for recognition and
advancement."
=
Don't be surprised if some of your co-workers try to put you down, or
even try to get you fired......
"Inevitably..you will come across some people who insist on playing
games. They may think they are masters of manipulation, and they will
deceive others, take credit for ideas not their own, attempt to use
personal relations in place of job performance, misrepresent their
real influence of power, etc. Obviously such co-workers cannot be
trusted, but you must also be careful around them for they can be
vicious enemies. Such deceptive tactics will sooner or later cause
their downfall, so don't let such people discourage you or bring you
down with them."
=
Don't bare your soul!
====================
"Don't use co-workers as confidants. A peer may someday be your boss,
or you may be his. Laying out all your feelings, fears, anger,
emotions, dreams, etc. to a colleague can come back to bite you when
you least expect it. Your innermost feelings should be saved for those
who are outside the organization.
"Unlike college where you can add and drop acquaintances at the drop
of a hat, job-related relationships must go on even when two people
may have little in common personally."
==
Don't expect you co-workers to treat you as the "King"
=====================================================
"Many new hires have the idea that an army of subordinates will be on
hand to perform all sorts of undesirable tasks. Unfortunately (for a
new hire), this is rarely the case. In fact, it is often the entry
level college graduate who is asked to photocopy reports, deliver
memos, proofread documents, tally columns of numbers, and even run
errands. The better your attitude at handling these chores, the sooner
you advance out of them. They are all a part of "learning the ropes."
==
Everything you do will affect your "grade"!
==========================================
"Results in the workplace are cumulative, and memories are long.
Unlike school where terms end, the workplace performance carries over
because it is based so much on the opinions of others. It is not only
your boss' opinion, but those of others that can have an effect on
your career, so your objective is to be regarded as highly as possible
by as many people as possible. A negative slate is not wiped clean."
"Many new college graduates are frustrated by the lack of grading they
have been used to for sixteen or more years. This is a major
adjustment to be made in entering the workplace. Grading on the job is
rare, but your performance is being continually assessed in less
formal manners so you need to be sensitive to this at all times. Good
performance with occasional lapses is viewed as a lack of
dependability.
==
"If you think grading in college is often unfair, wait until you find
that a single two minute encounter with a client can color your
evaluation for an entire year."
"Your boss will be your evaluator, and your organization may or may
not call for systematic performance appraisals. Regardless, much of
what comes out of the evaluation will be based upon attitude,
interpersonal skills, cooperativeness, and reliability."
"Almost any evaluation will include some criticism of your performance
or behavior. View this as your road map of where to direct some of
your efforts. You might find that your boss' priorities don't match
your own, but that is not cause for argument. Pay heed to your
priorities, but make sure you work on those suggested by your boss."
==
Be Aware of the "One Minute Manager!"
====================================
From "Face it, Your Boss is a Rat," by John Sheppler. John
Sheppler.com
http://www.johnshepler.com/articles/ratboss.html
It would behoove new college graduates who long for white-collar jobs
to be aware of the new strategy being employed in the corporate world
called the "One Minute Manager." A new employee caught in this
scenario can quickly lose their self-esteem if they are not savvy to
their boss's strategy. In short, it is a strategy that is designed to
move problems away from the boss and on to the employee.
"Management has a Holy Grail and it is known as "the silver bullet,"
also called the quick fix. It's epitomized in a small, thin book
called "The One Minute Manager" by Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D. (piled
higher and deeper) and Spencer Johnson, M.D. (mostly deeper.) The
theme of "The One Minute Manager" is that business people, especially
managers, spend way too much time mulling over problems, internalizing
them, and debating on what to do next. Much better, proposed Blanchard
and Johnson, to jump in, collect all the facts that are at your
fingertips or can be coaxed out of your subordinates, and make a snap
decision in one minute or less."
"Actually, the primary decision is which employees can best be made to
take ownership of the problem, strategically moving the burning acid
of responsibility from your stomach to theirs.
"If things improve, you allocate no more than one more minute to tell
them how great they are doing."
"If the situation deteriorates, you allocate that same minute to
making darn sure that they feel terrible about it and will work even
harder to keep the problem from returning to you."
** "The toll of one minute everything is burning out once naive and
eager employees, anxious for their leg up the corporate ladder." **
Knowing that your boss may be using this tactic can leave you better
prepared to handle possible work scenarios!
****************************
======================================================================
How to be a good employee even if you think you are "more qualified!"
=====================================================================
Lose the arrogance!
===================
From "Transition: College to Career." Wartburg College
http://www.wartburg.edu/careers/transition.html
"Too frequently the new college graduate arrives on the scene and
treats the hourly secretaries, sales clerks, production workers,
technical aides, etc. as personal subordinates. If you fall into this
pattern you will probably jeopardize your potential to succeed. Hourly
employees are very well attuned to the arrogance of many new college
graduates, and if they sense this arrogance in you they can respond in
ways to make your life miserable. Never act in a condescending or
superior manner to those with less education or lower positions. It is
just not right, and it will scuttle you."
"Let's take an example of how this can happen. A management trainee at
a large retail store is put in charge of the small appliance
department. He arrives on the job and immediately lectures the lead
salesperson about how he is going to straighten up the department
(based upon college coursework and a summer job at another store.) The
lead salesperson has been in the department over twelve years, listens
to his lecture, and decides not to support him because of his
arrogance. That poor management trainee is in for a tough time because
of his lack of sensitivity, but the veteran salesperson will not
suffer at all."
"Treat all people well! Develop a reputation for being good to work
with. Before you try to order a secretary to bring you your coffee, or
drop a stack of papers on someone's desk and insist that it be copied
in five minutes, think about how you would like to be treated if the
situation were reversed."
"As a new hire, subordinates are not at your beck and call. Many of
them will have in their jobs for years, are highly valued employees,
and do not exist to cover the deficiencies in your background. They
will not correct all your spelling errors, or all the other first-time
errors you might make--unless they like you.
=========
Be willing to accept coaching
=============================
From "Find Young Leaders or You Will Lose Them," by Michael Maccoby.
Research Technology Management; Volume 42. No. 1. January-February,
1999. pp 58-59.
http://www.maccoby.com/Articles/YoungLeaders.html
"The future leaders want results and are willing to argue with
authority and risk disapproval. Often, they believe they know more
than the boss. However, they will accept coaching when they need it."
==
Be willing to accept criticism even if think it is undeserved
======================================================================
From "From "Getting Along With Your Boss," by: Kenneth E. Strong, Sr.
Lighthouse Continuing Care University.
http://www.ccuniv.org/Departments/HumanResources/gettingalongwithyourboss.asp
"Inability to accept constructive criticism or advice from supervisors
and co-workers alike is a serious handicap. If you do a slow burn
every time the boss points out your mistakes, he/she is bound to feel
uncomfortable about it, and is likely to resent your attitude. After
all, guiding and correcting your work is part of his/her job. Listen
to what he or she tells you, apply his/her suggestions to what you are
doing. Temperamental workers, no matter how brilliant, are something
most bosses would rather do without."
==
Don't let older co-workers intimidate you. Don't try to show them up,
either!
=============================================================================
From "Becoming Your Employer’s MVP," by Bernie Erven. Department of
Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics. Ohio State
University.
http://www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/resources/docs/pdf/73318E0B-ABB6-4E11-B5B238A8607D8941.pdf
"Don't allow more experienced or older co-workers to intimidate you.
Remember that you were hired for a reason. You are there because you
deserve to be there."
"Don't show up long-term employees. As a new person on the block, it
is sometimes tempting to show senior employees how much you know and
can do. What an easy way to lose their support
If you do know more than your boss or your older coworkers, don't
flaunt it!
============================================================================
From "Getting Along With Your Boss," by: Kenneth E. Strong, Sr.
Lighthouse Continuing Care University.
http://www.ccuniv.org/Departments/HumanResources/gettingalongwithyourboss.asp
"Everybody wants to get ahead on the job, of course, but if you aim to
do it by demonstrating to everybody else that you know more about the
business than your boss does, watch out. In the first place, you
probably don't, and in the second place, you'll find that no one,
including your boss's boss, appreciates a worker who constantly goes
over his/her supervisor's head or tries to show him or her up. If you
buck your boss at every turn, downgrade his confidence and generally
make his/her life miserable, be prepared to lose when the showdown
comes.
===
If you are making more money than your co-workers, and possibly even
more than your supervisor...be sensitive, and don't broadcast the
fact!
==============================================================================
To understand the perspective from the other side, read:
"The Managerial Inferiority Complex," by Penelope Trunk. Business
2.0(October 2002)
http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,43541,00.html
Question: "I just found out that one of my subordinates gets paid more
than I do. That doesn't seem to make any sense. What can I do about
this injustice?"
Read more......
===
Finally.......if you DO know more than your boss, and REALLY want to
get ahead...do it the right way!
Read "How to Get Your Boss' Job," by Ray Martin. The Early Show.
(8/21/2002)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/20/earlyshow/contributors/raymartin/main519244.shtml
==
Again, I sincerely hope this covers the bases!
umiat-ga
Search Strategy
graduates entering the workplace
know more than your boss?
getting along with older co-workers
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