Is Your Company Harmful?

Companies usually fall into three categories. The first is the kind every company strives to be: a well-oiled machine, with competent leaders and clear lines of communication throughout every department. The second category contains the mid-range companies, who do well enough on their own but lack a number of certain qualities that those in the first category possess.

The third category, and the one that this article focuses on, is the category in which no company ever wishes to count themselves. Not only is it largely incompetent, it's actually harmful to both the employees and management.

How can you tell if your company falls into this unfortunate third category? First of all, you can simply take a look at its background. Is there a history of poor communication, with similarly poor results? Also look at the morale and everyday stress of the workers as a whole. Such harmful companies will inevitably have an equally pervasive harmful environment, with higher stress than usual and a proportionately lower morale. This may even sometimes bleed over into the employees' personal lives, affecting their outlook and casting a discouraging light on everything they do.

Do the people in your company generally approach things with a resigned or powerless attitude? Are they constantly defensive about their work and equally skeptical about the work of others? Do they seek blame before answers or solutions when something goes wrong? Do they normally have to redo work they've completed because they lacked focus or attention to details the first time around? If it's just one or two employees like this the problem may lie within themselves, but if you notice this as a pattern among the workforce, chances are the issue is much bigger.

A company may fall into the third category without even realizing it. It usually affects smaller businesses because more interaction with each other and the public occurs than it does within larger corporations, but it can easily hit any company at any time. If there are members within the company who seek power only for the sake of having that power, the conditions immediately ripen for such a harmful atmosphere to occur. The potential becomes greater if that person is already in a position of power, such as management.

If a manager or someone in a similar position of authority is acting in ways that only benefit themselves and not the company or its employees, your company is already on the unfortunate path to becoming harmful to all who work there. They can't handle the responsibilities that come with real leadership and will only become a burden to the company as time goes on. It may be a good idea to seriously consider what that person has done for the company (good or bad) and decide what action would be appropriate.

If you don't want your business to wind up in the least desirable category of efficiency, do your best to look for these signs of danger. If you come across any of them in the workplace, make sure to take the necessary actions to control the present damage and prevent such harmful situations from occurring in the future.