Management of Workplace Cynicism

By Nupur Pandey -
My morning today started with a discussion on the lack of commitment of employees in an organization, went on with cases of disloyal and dishonest employees; turned into an afternoon of good team discussions and winded up with an evening of distrust and discrimination.

So there was cynicism, laughter and frustrations all in a day. Cynicism because in today's world you essentially are programmed to be doubtful about everything, laughter because even in between doubts you can relax and let yourself loose and really learn and grow and frustration because despite the knowledge that there are two sides of the coin, sometimes even the experienced ends up focusing on one.

My biggest concern as an HR professional is how to let optimism prevail and the cynicism coexist.  So my solution to that as I perceive it would be to accept. Accept that there are different kinds of people working in the organization. Accept that different people will behave differently and for that matter even the same person will behave differently in different circumstances and foremost virtues are subjective. So if there is a work place value, then it has to be ensured that that it is not subject to discrimination from management.

Secondly it also needs to be highlighted here, that people are the backbone of an organization.  So lack of faith in people will only give rise to a culture of distrust and discrimination only adds further spice to it. It sucks the life out of organization. Believe in people and they will deliver more. Lose faith in them and they will give more reasons to be distrusted.... it’s a vicious cycle.

Please share your thoughts on this...

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