Editorial collective critique of management at Bexley Public Radio.

They cannot manage their own lives, yet they may bully to manage yours. These are the dysfunctional managers at Bexley Public Radio.

Executives at Bexley Public Radio have noticed that managers and middle managers at this young broadcast powerhouse are focused on managing, even micro-managing, the details, getting things done, accomplishing the strategic broadcast plan and meeting the audience goals of the organization; but significantly, most of these managers have lost their connections with the people they supervise.

While the success of Bexley Public Radio is an admirable achievement, during that process, dysfunctional managers tended to alienate volunteer staff and the broadcast partners on 102.1 FM. Sadly, some of Bexley Public Radio managers may have lost connection with their families as these managers worked to achieve excellence for the organization and the Bexley community.

Traits of the Dysfunctional Manager at the Radio Station


Their personal backgrounds and experiences may have included separation or divorce, strained family relationships or alienation from children, smoking and or battling obesity or anorexia; yet, they have been successful in meeting the goals of the radio station.

This is an interesting paradox that demands exploration.

How can individuals who are not focused on the people they manage, the opposite of the servant leaders who preceded them, succeed in the 21st Century? The answer appears to lie in their organizational successes, the short-term financial and strategic results they can engender, often at the cost of employee or associate engagement, the watchword of the later 20th Century.


A 2007 study released by the San Francisco-based Employment Law Alliance, as reported by the Society for Human Resource Management in an HRMagazine May 1, 2007 article, “Study: Bully Bosses Prevalent in U.S.,” “found that bullying in U.S. workplaces is alive and well. And, in many cases, managers and supervisors are the bullies: Nearly 45 percent of the respondents reported that they have worked for an abusive boss.”

In a September 25, 2000 article by Sarah A. Klein in Crain’s Chicago Business, “Take that you big, bad corporate bully! More firms seek ways to tame uncivil bosses, workers,” reported that “in one national survey, 53% of workers who reported themselves the target of incivility said they lost time worrying about incidents at work, from receiving a nasty or demeaning note to enduring a supervisor’s temper tantrum. Almost half of the group in the University of North Carolina’s ‘Workplace Incivility Study’ said they contemplated changing jobs to avoid the offender, and 12% actually followed through.”
An earlier recognition of problems associated with dysfunctional managers was addressed in a November 1, 1991 American Management Association article “Coping with Dysfunctional Managers,” in “Supervisory Management.” That article early in the last decade began to recognize the dysfunctional managers as “adults who grew up in dysfunctional families” and learned special coping skills, not as those adults who became dysfunctional based upon their later life experiences. Yet that summary, citing an article by Francine S. Hall in the Summer 1991 issue of “Organizational Dynamics,” has some applicability today in its observation that, “frequently, says Hall, the organizational culture unwillingly contributes to a dysfunctional manager’s destructive behavior. If control, for instance, is valued within the company, the dysfunctional manger might fit all too well into the framework.”

In a June 10, 2008 op-ed piece for “Business Wire” by Stephen Xavier, CEO of Cornerstone Executive Development Group, “Micro-Managing CEOs Are a Danger Sign in This Economy,” Xavier observed “there are also micro-managers who will jump from one large company to another. Given his record at Home Depot, one would have thought that Bob Nardelli would have had trouble getting hired as CEO of any major corporation. Yet, this old-school authoritarian CEO has found a home as CEO at Chrysler which unsurprisingly has the same history of poor labor relations, shoddy products and eroding market share.”
In The Dumbest Moments in Business History: Useless Products, Ruinous Deals, Clueless Bosses and other Signs of Unintelligent Life in the Workplace, Adam Horowitz, editor, Portfolio, the Penguin Group, New York, 2004, relates the January 2003, statement of Goldman Sachs Group CEO Henry Paulson concerning the investment banking firm’s employee layoffs for which he apologized to employees by voicemail a week later. “I don’t want to sound heartless, but in almost every one of our businesses, there are 15 to 20 percent of the people that really add 80 percent of the value. Although we have a lot of good people, you can cut a fair amount and still be well positioned for the upturn.” (p.21)
Richard Farson in Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership, Simon & Shuster, Inc., New York, 1996, wrote “many of us have the idea that as managers we can use our skills to shape our employees as if we were shaping clay, molding them into what we want them to become. But that isn’t the way it really works. It’s more as if our employees are piles of clay into which we fall—leaving an impression, all right, and that impression is distinctly us, but it may not be the impression we intended to leave.” (p. 41)

Although there has been a wealth of academic research on dysfunctional workplaces and the people who manage them, there has been a noticeable absence of material in the popular literature on the subject of dysfunctional managers. Some popular management books have addressed the “boss from hell,” such as Managing Your Boss, by Sandi Mann, Barron’s, 2001. In the section on “dealing with the boss from hell,” Sandi Mann characterizes bosses as bullies if they are continually abusive and arrogant, exploding angrily, constantly criticizing, belittling, ridiculing employees. Mann suggests that while such bosses, similar to impatient or stressed bosses, achieve their desired results, there are serious consequences to employees due to chronic workplace bullying including serious health problems for employees and lost time to the business.
A few books, such as When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses, by William and Kathleen Lundin, McGraw-Hill, 1998, and Crazy Bosses, by Stanley Bing, HarperCollins Publishers, 2007, address the demoralizing short-sighted management decisions, thoughtless actions and rude behaviors of managers and the obnoxious and dangerous insanity of managers, respectively. The Lundins wrote, “Dysfunction can be the outcome of dumb (inept, misguided, insensitive, power-driven, unfeeling) leadership or dumb (tradition-bound, blind-sided, arrogant) organizational thinking.” (p. 117) They further wrote, “we predict more and more of what this paradigm example shows as organizations, out of competitive anxiety, dash toward ‘technological fixes’ without considering how the people who have to adapt to those ‘fixes’ need to be helped to do so.” (p. 117) Stanley Bing writes “bully management is perhaps the most difficult of all tasks for those who wish to survive in a world filled with the impressive variety of sick senior officers.” (Crazy Bosses, p. 75) He noted the inconsistent nature of the bully manager with “vast emotional swings depending on mood, often seemingly unrelated to external circumstances,” (p. 75) further noting that “management by terror has been a time-honored technique because it works.” (p. 76)

The Paradox Businesses Face with the Dysfunctional Manager


Many organizations adopted a family style culture during the latter part of the 20th Century. However, some quickly became dysfunctional family styled organizations, focused on a few functional details that yielded to the short-term success of the organization and its leaders rather than the engagement and empowerment of employees or associates. Communication, sensitivity and caring, which are at the heart of a fully functioning and competitive organization are hazy or lost in dysfunctional management styles. After relating many interviews with a variety of employees the Lundins observed “the most compelling observation is how people in power—from those who manage a small department to leaders of multinational corporations—believe they have the right to manipulate and play with the emotions of their employees.” (p. 173)
An example of the bully as a dysfunctional manager is one who appears in a temper at the employee’s office questioning the status of activity or demanding a status report when it was previously provided, but the manager did not take them time to save it or look for it. Or in the mean spirit of another example, demeaning an employee with years of published and very successful writing experience with the statement “you sometimes write as though English is your second language.”

The Dilbert cartoon strip by Scott Adams has popularly and perhaps now properly characterized the dysfunctional bullying boss. In The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle’s-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions, HarperBusiness, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1996, Adams described the change in the management selection process from the Peter Principle of workers being promoted to bosses beyond their levels of competence to the Dilbert Principle of the most ineffective workers being “systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management.” (p. 14)

In The Dilbert Principle Scott Adams shares an email submission that is similar to the statement of the Goldman Sachs Group CEO previously identified in The Dumbest Moments in Business History.
“A newly appointed VP of my company, in an interview printed in the internal company news rag, made the following comment when asked whether existing employees would be relocated if the company won an upcoming contract, or if the company would instead hire local people: ‘Engineers are basically a commodity. It doesn’t make economic sense for the company to pay for moves when we can buy the same commodity on site.’

Naturally, this disturbed some individuals in the workforce and a number of them showed up at an all-hands meeting held by this VP a few days later and sat in the front row plastered with signs labeling themselves as ‘Bananas,’ ‘Pork Bellies,’ etc.” (pp. 295, 296)

Yet, these dysfunctional managers are frequently successful, in a financial sense both as individuals and for their organizations. In the Human Resource Management article describing the 2007 study by Employment Law Alliance, its CEO Stephen J. Hirschfeld was quoted, that “changing the behavior of workplace bullies could be problematic for employers, Hirschfeld concedes, because workplace bullies can be high performers. Aggressive or ‘type A’ behaviors tend to be rewarded in the workplace, but Hirschfeld contends that employers need to draw the line and make sure aggressive workers don’t become abusive managers.” A Wall Street Journal article viewing the recruitment of chief executive officers observed that the characteristics of recent CEO hires have been focused on specific financial talents, details and successes rather than on the broader team leader or coach models of the past.

A September 1, 1996 article on “Making it, CEO style,” in “Executive Female by D. A. Benton stated that among five personality traits of chief executive officers ”“the higher you go, the more exposure to the big picture you have, the more you might think being detail-oriented is unnecessary. Wrong. It’s just the opposite. According to near-perfect chiefs, the higher you go, the more critical it is to be aware of details.”

In Management, a Revised Edition by Peter F. Drucker with Joseph A. Maciariello, HarperCollins Publishers, 1973, 1974, in the introduction to management and managers, Drucker observes “there is tremendous stress these days on liking people, helping people, getting along with people, as qualifications for a manager. These alone are never enough. In every successful organization there are bosses who do not like people, who do not help them, and who do not get along with them. Cold, unpleasant, demanding, they often teach and develop more people than anyone else. They command more respect that the most likable person ever could. They demand exacting workmanship of themselves and other people. They set high standards and expect that they will be lived up to. They consider only what is right and never who is right. And though often themselves persons of brilliance, they never rate intellectual brilliance above integrity in others. The manger who lacks these qualities of character—no matter how likable, helpful, or amiable, no matter, even, how competent or brilliant--is a menace who is unfit to be a manager.” (p. 10) Drucker concludes, “Organizations are far from perfect. As every manger knows, they are very difficult; full of frustration, tension, and friction; clumsy and unwieldy. But they are the only tools we have to accomplish such social purposes as economic production and distribution, health care, governance, and education. And there is not the slightest reason to expect society to be willing to do without these services that only performing organizations can provide.

Indeed, there is every reason to expect society to demand more performance from all its institutions, and to become more dependent upon their performance. And it is the managers who make institutions perform.” (p. 526)

Reforming or Reassigning the Dysfunctional Manager

Returning to the American Management Association’s article, “Coping with Dysfunctional Managers,” cited earlier in this article, efforts a decade and a half ago to solve problems related to the behaviors of dysfunctional managers were in their infancy. That article stated that in solving the problem, “often supervisors of dysfunctional managers mistake behavior problems for management skills problems. But for the true dysfunctional manager, attending seminars on improving management will have only short-term success. Once a manager has accepted the fact that he or she is dysfunctional, Hall advises, a recovery program should be sought. As for organizations, how companies both recognize the problem and effect solutions will be one of the most difficult challenges for managements in the next decade.”

One method to identify the dysfunctional manager to senior management is to allow the manager to demonstrate dysfunctional incompetence in the forum it most frequently appears. For example, if it occurs in meetings find an appropriate opportunity to invite the dysfunctional manager’s supervisor to a meeting or if it occurs in written or verbal communications seek witnesses. This may, however, be a long-term effort that may not have a desirable short-term result. Another approach may be to identify documented problems seeking solutions from appropriate sources. Still another approach may be to a peer or three level review.

Rather than providing seminars and additional training for dysfunctional managers, the solution may include intensive efforts to identify dysfunctional managers and provide coaching or reassignment when those follow-ups are needed. One-on-one coaching, engaging a mentor relationship or even peer networking groups with other managers focused on identifying issues adversely impacting the dysfunctional manager’s style may lead to behavior modification techniques.

If the Problem is Not Addressed: Potential for Legislation

Some articles, such as the 2007 Human Resource Management summary of the Employment Law Alliance study on bullying in the workplace, suggest that a growing awareness of the problem could result in the potential for legislation if employers fail to remedy the situation. That article reported, “There are proposals in about a dozen states for some form of workplace bullying legislation.” It also referenced “a recent anti-bullying law enacted in the Canadian province of Quebec that gives workers the right to file suit against their employers and to recover damages for ‘any vexatious behavior that affects an employee’s dignity or their psychological or physical integrity.”

Conclusion

The inevitable general conclusion, however, is that the cycle of the dysfunctional non-abusive manager may not be the right type of manager for the current competitive broadcasti environment, facing cost-cutting efficiency, financial challenges and economic declines domestically and internationally.

For Bexley Public Radio, the conclusion is that executives must challenge their managers to make workplace adjustments that recognize the incredible achievements of their staff in building a radio station for Bexley and the surrounding communities. From nothing, staff has created a community service that is unique in the central Ohio area.

Managers must create tangible rewards for their staff who have given life to the FCC’s mandate of local programming. Managers must reward production staff and performers like Joe Contino, Dave Eaton, Lee Edmondson, Laura Franks, Zach Fries, Mel Greenball, Amy Maurer, Terry Pugh and Katy Taylor.

Since the dysfunctional managers at Bexley Public Radio may have difficulty self-identifying their need to transition their management style, executives must be prepared to assist managers in that transition through coaching and mentor or peer networking opportunities. If the dysfunctional manager cannot adapt hardened characteristics to the amiable and servant leader model of management, reassignment or termination may be the course that this broadcast organization must consider.

For Bexley Public Radio, there is hope, however, that in the foreseeable future effective managers with the hardened characteristics of the qualified manager that Drucker proposed, and who remain for the longer term, can adapt those characteristics to the amiable and servant leader model. That combined model appears to have staying power that will bring longer-term success to the organization and the relationship with its volunteers or associates.

AAR


Bexley Public Radio Foundation broadcasting as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Design is copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. Text is copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation. The styles "The Most Sensitive Man in Bexley" and "MSMIB" are the property of Bexley Public Radio Foundation.

Summer volunteers Sarah Lamar and Robert Moore complete assignments and depart for college.

Each week this summer, four hours of WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM programming was hosted by interns Sarah Lamar and Robert Moore.

Sarah and Robert are both 2008 graduates of Bexley High School. Their last day of work on the radio was Friday August 15.

Sarah will begin her studies at Syracuse University in New York and Robert will study as a National Merit Scholar at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Their daily work on the radio included the weather report from the Old Farmer’s Almanac, local news from The New Standard, Bexley News, Catholic Times and the Eastside Messenger and second chair dialogue with on-air personalities Katy Taylor, Amy Maurer and Terry Pugh.

They also offered consumer comments to Frank Ingwersen’s Mid-morning Wall Street Update and did the production work for the daily lunch specials at Bexley eating spots.

Sarah and Robert also provided content about Ohio county fairs and auctions.

Sarah is a brilliant ad libber. Comfortable behind the microphone, Sarah is a natural program host. She listens to her guests and, if times were different, she would make an easy living as an interlocutor. She has a gentle wit, and is a listener who laughs at the humor of others.

Robert is organized and a quick writer. His curiosity is unpredictable and takes him to places that others overlook. As an interviewer he is an earth mover rather than a tidy archeologist. But then, he is a young man. What he uncovers is interesting as radio content and his treatment of content is always skillful. His culture reviews of movies and music were excellent radio.

The radio station staff appreciate the work of these two students.

Contact us.
WCRX-LP Editorial Collective
Bexley Public Radio Foundation operating as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Bexley Public Radio Foundation operating as WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM is exempt from federal taxes under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Donations are deductible from federal income taxes for individuals who itemize. Checks may identify the payee as Bexley Public Radio Foundation WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM.

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Bexley Public Radio Foundation.

Bexley, Ohio. Joan Taylor is guest on Katy Taylor’s WCRX-LP program.

Monday guest was Joan Taylor who discussed children’s literature with her daughter, Katy Taylor. Katy offered her memories about the books of her chlldhood and youth. Katy’s list included Dr. Seuss, Wizard of Oz, and Harriet the Spy.

Joan and Katy then discussed the Nancy Drew series of stories (which Katy didn’t find interesting).

Joan described stories about Pippi Longstocking one of her favorites protagonists.

Pippi Longstocking is the heroine in a series of children's books written by Astrid Lindgren.
Pippi is assertive and strong, being able to lift her horse one-handed without difficulty.

Pippi mocks adults and regularly dupes the adults who encounter her.

Pippi reserves her worst behavior for the most arrogant and condescending of adults.

Joan said that as an adult, she had reread stories of her childhood written by Hans Christian Anderson. She said she was surprised at how gory some of the stories were.

She also recalled that her own mother had started her on the stories of Charles Dickens. She said that the Dickens books are now considered by many to be “heavy,” or “too heavy” for modern tastes.

Katy offered the thought that the Dickens books seem long to modern tastes probably because of the influence of movies on reading tastes. Stories in movies are much easier to take in than three hundred page books. Joan then recalled for WCRX-LP listeners that Dickens books were offered to readers as newspapers serials where only a short piece of each story was offered to readers on a daily basis.

Joan and Katy then continued their discussion of the influence movies on the reading habits of children and youth. Rather than discouraging children from reading long books, the Harry Potter phenomenon drew children to both movies and very long books. They also discussed the charm of watching Harry Potter grow up thorough both the books and movies.

Joan Taylor then offered listeners a report on what the children’s librarian at Bexley Public Library identified as popular fiction for children and youth. The librarian’s list includes the “Warriors” series. This is a group of books involving four competing clans of cats. The cats share the same forest but have conflicts when they come in contact with one another. A second recommendation from the librarian is “Among the Hidden.” This is a story set in an unidentified country that has a population law like that in China limiting a husband and wife from having more than two children. Despite the law, families have more than two children. The additional children are hidden, hence the name of the book “Among the Hidden.” Joan said this book is a “boy meets girl” tale. The girl uses a computer to email other hidden children and a protest demonstration is organized. The girl anticipates hundreds of fellow hidden children as protestors. Only a few dozen show up to protest. The government responds. All of the hidden child protestors are killed by the government troops.

Joan said she was stunned by this plot development and recalled how children’s literature once portrayed government as a source of protection and security. Government representatives such as policemen and firemen always brought safety and order to dangers. “Among the Hidden” in contrast identifies government representatives as sources of injury and death.

Katy then offered her insights about violence and media and how the Vietnam War ended the media’s reticence about violence. Where once the media focused on events, Vietnam marked the opening of the door to sensational coverage of carnage, blood and the savagery of conflict. Katy commented that her generation remembers the vivid photograph of a young girl standing naked and scarred by napalm burns.

Joan observed that much of the modern point of view involves portraying governments as the bad guy rather than as a friend.

Joan finished her discussion of the librarian’s list by noting that for children the popular items are the perennial pop-up books and picture books. No changes there.

Joan mentioned that among her favorites as a youth was a series of stories about the X-Bar X-Boys. The stories were set on a western ranch and involved two brothers and their younger sister. Since Joan was a younger sister to brothers, she enjoyed these stories about the young girl keeping up with the adventures of the older boys.

Katy then brought up the absence of a reference to any of the books by Judy Blume such as “Are you there God, I’m Margaret.” Joan said that Blume was a ground-breaking writer in creating stories about real situations that children confront. Joan gave an example of the story where a 6th grade girl moves to a new town and the difficulties of adjusting to a new community and finding new friends. Joan said that Blume also pushed the envelope by discussing some sexual matters and other controversial topics in children stories. Joan finished by observing that Blume’s stories are well-written.

Contact us.
WCRX-LP Editorial Collective
Bexley Public Radio Foundation operating as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com

Copyright 2007, Bexley Public Radio Foundation.

Bexley, Ohio. Labor unions in central Ohio

Labor Day programming on WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio.

Host Katy Taylor and MC John Manning.

Guests were Dorsey Hager, business agent of Local 44 of Asbestos Workers and Richard Shack, business agent of Stagehands Local 12.

Because of the health hazards related to asbestos, Local 44 workers are now generally employed on heating, cooling and refrigeration projects. They are also active on projects involving various utilities, major private construction projects and governmental construction projects. Asbestos work is now limited to remediation work such as encapsulating asbestos at a site or removing asbestos from buildings.

Stagehands are active in work at the major Columbus theatrical venues such as Ohio Theatre, Palace Theatre and Southern Theatre. Examples of stagehand work projects are Broadway road shows and other musical events. Conventions at Veterans Memorial Auditorium and the Columbus Convention Center also provide work.

Despite the wide differences in their respective skilled trades, Hager and Shack shared some values that are basic to the union movement. They both talked about the dignity of labor, the importance of fringe benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans. Both Hager and Shack spoke of the value of collective bargaining.

Both men described a core benefit of a union work as providing dependable results and high quality performance to employers. Both union local business agents expressed loyalty to their members and the importance of contract bargaining for results.

Hager and Shack also expressed the importance of keeping jobs available to their members. When bargaining with employers, making projects succeed is important to the union members as much as it is to the employer.

They also described Columbus as not a union-friendly town.

They discussed apprentice programs and their approaches to recruiting new members.

Contact us.
WCRX-LP Editorial Collective
Bexley Public Radio Foundation operating as
WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM, Local Power Radio
2700 E. Main St., Suite 208
Columbus, OH 43209
Voice (614) 235 2929
Fax (614) 235 3008
Email wcrxlp@yahoo.com
Blog http://agentofcurrency.blogspot.com