Essay/Term paper: Resistance in the workplace

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Miscellaneous

There are times when a person must go against what is common or what others want them to do. I would define this a form resistance. To me resistance is going against what is common, or standing up to someone or some thing that you normally would not. This is a common occurrence in the workplace. Resistance in the workplace is nessicary at times to prevent getting stepped on while climbing the corporate latter. Granted there are also times when the best thing to do is sit back and let things happen. There are however times when an employee must make some noise to be heard and noticed. When someone sees oneself about to be passed up for a promotion that they are entitled to, he or she must do something. Another time some form of resistance should be shown would be in the case of a supervisor or manager on a "power-trip". A person should not just let a manager create work or assign jobs that do nothing more than waste valuable manpower because it makes them feel important. My last example of resistance in the workplace is competition between departments that hinders the progress of the other department. Ideally none of this would happen but in today's society ware everyone is out for himself or herself sometimes someone has to shake things up a bit.

One of the main causes for resistance in the workplace would be an employee getting passed up for a promotion that they are the most qualified to receive. Some people wold just sit back and let this happen. But I believe the employee should fight this. There are a few ways of going about this. One of them would be for the person that was passed up to make it a point to state to as many people as possible that they are the one who really deserve the position. If the employee is the one who really deserved the position many should agree with them. Word spreads fast this way. Eventually enough people may question each other as to what is going on that somebody who has some say in the way things happen will hear of it. Sometimes this will work and the employee most deserving of the position will receive it. Another twist on this method is to again use the help of others and using the other person's faults against them. Not making it obvious but being persistent in pointing out why someone does not deserve the position. Upper management should eventually get the picture and see that they are not selecting the right person for the position. If the employee who feels that they are getting passed up is the one truly deserving of the position they should be next in line. As with both of these methods there is power in numbers. An employee by himself can accomplish little. But with the help of others either one or a combination of the two, are effective ways of resisting the habit of company promoting people based on who they know not what they know.

Another primary reason for resistance having a part in the workplace would be in the case of power hungry managers. This can be one of the absolute most irritating things to happen. There are times when an employee's immediate manager can go on a "power-trip" and expect others to meet every order they bark out no matter how ridiculous it is. This can get to the point ware something has to be done about it. For example, an employee may be doing their respective job and the manager will walk in tell them to do something that has no relevance to what has to be done that week, simply because they enjoy bossing others about. These unnecessary demands can be denied in a few ways. The firs and most obvious way would be for the employee to simply ignore the managers. This only works if the employee is in the right. The manager will go to his superior to report the incident. The employee's immediate manager will look like a complete idiot trying to justify to his boss why he wanted the employee to do the job. Another option the employee has is to accept the task but not happily. What this means is that the person can do the job, but not as the manager wants it done. When the manager comes yelling. All they would have to do if play dumb. Eventually the manager should get the hint and not bother to ask the employee to do anything anymore. Either of these forms of resistance will only work if the employee is right, If not they may get written up for insubordination.

My third and final example of an appropriate time to use some sort of resistance in the workplace would be in the case of one department interfering with the progress of another department. For example, In a grocery store the cashiers must return all the loose items that are collected from around the registers before they can go home. There has been times when the grocery crew would collect a cart full of loose items from the back room and leave it up front for the cashiers to put away. This can really get frustrating because t takes awhile to return that many items and the extra work is just the grocery crew's way of getting even because they were called on for help earlier that night. This type of competition can but put to rest usually by either ignoring the problem or by using it against the other department. When the one department chooses to ignore the other the other. The department seeing that their efforts to disrupt the other are not working will usually stop wasting their time on the matter. If this does not work the situation can be turned around and used against the offending department. For example, if one department is creating extra work for the other, the department who is receiving the work can turnaround and recycle the work back to ware it came from.

In conclusion I believe that resistance in the workplace, weather against another employee, department, or employer is at times a necessity. This is one of the main reasons were formed, to stand up to employers and fight for what is right and fair. The main thing to remember is that there must be a valid reason to stand up to the employer, if not disciplinary action will most likely be taken. When the employee is right however, the many forms of resistance that I have stated in the previous paragraphs are an effective way to set things on the right path.