Finding humor in dysfunctional office relationships Most working adults can agree that they have seen their fair share of dysfunctional relationships in the workplace. Often, we can find some humor in the actions and events that cause these relationships to become dysfunctional. In the sitcom The Office, the focus was to exaggerate the actions of dysfunctional relationships in the workplace. The show makes light of the employees who are stuck in dead-end jobs, with mundane lives and their office mishaps. Daniel Orozco’s short story “Orientation” is about a current employee providing a new employee with too much personal information about other employees and the office environment during a new hire orientation. The “Orientation” by Daniel Orozco and the NBC sitcom “The Office” give a humorous and exaggerated glimpse of dysfunctional relationships within office environments. Although “The Orientation” and The Office highlight reasons that dysfunctional office relationships exist, “The Orientation” does so to …show more content…
In the “Orientation”, the new hire learns that one of her peers, Anika Bloom, could predict when people would die and advises not to speak to her. The new hire is given an example of a recent new hire that did not heed the warning, “Barry Hacker’s wife is dead. So unless you want to know exactly when and how you’ll die, never talk to Anika Bloom” (Orozco). The Office is littered with office rumors. In season 6, episode 1, Michael, the office manager feels bad about telling others in the office that Stanley is having an affair. In an attempt to right his wrong, he spreads rumors about everyone trying to cover his tracks, he explains his logic out loud “How do you un-tell something? You can't. You can't put words back in your mouth. What you can do is spread false gossip so that people think that everything that's been said is untrue, including "Stanley is having an affair."
This third case study takes place within the organization called TechnoloComm. The main character in this story is named Jessica Martinez, she was hired by TechnoloComm to work in the human resources department. Specifically, she is working on internal newsletters and publicity for the organization. Peter and Alex, are two men who are a part of her team that works together on the newsletter, communication training, maintaining the company’s website and organization publicity. Their boss’ name is Tom, he is there to check in on their progress and make sure everything is running smoothly.
Purpose & Other: : I give the purpose and other a 10 out of 10 because the goal of the article was to inform organizations, employers, presidents and/or employees about the importance of strengthening relationships between an employer, an employee, and the company in its entirety.
The author of the Dark Days in the Newsroom, Edward Alwood, explores Cold War tension in his examination of how journalists were targeted during the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s, how some cooperated by turning over names while others resisted in an effort to defend the freedom of the press. The author shows how some journalists mounted a heroic defense of freedom of the press while others secretly enlisted in the government's anti-Communist campaign. McCarthyism in journalism became the practice of leveling accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason publicly without providing evidence or protecting civil liberties. It relied on devious methods of investigation that were designed to suppress opposition. McCarthyism’s power underlays the ability to threaten principled people and turn them into self-serving cowards. It is a shocking violation of the First Amendment protection and a disturbing expression of the government’s ability to intimidate the press. The McCarthyism era changed the journalism significantly; the impact of the Eastland hearings and subsequent court cases about freedom of the press could be traced in the Valerie Plame case in the summer of 2005.
The leadership fable, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, examines the leadership qualities and professional dialogue that makes teams effective. Throughout the novel, Lencioni provides an effectual illustration to lead a professional team to utilize open dialogue, including conflict, to reach their goals. Leadership is a multi-faceted topic, which requires much collaboration, research, and a never-ending search to find and refine oneself; hence, it is vital to surround and immerse oneself in literature from profound leaders and to mold your leadership style as a model for personal change to effectively engage in future relationships with others. When one practices leadership
The Smiths are a family of five. The parents are Mary and David and their children; Amanda, Jen, and John. The family personality has changed over time. The family as a unit is somewhat chaotic. No one in the family seems to get along with one another with the exception of Mary and her daughter, Amanda. When they initially arrived at the office, they did not seem to interact with one another and were not necessarily friendly. I would definitely consider this family to be dysfunctional. They seem to lack respect and accountability for the misdoings. Their physical appearance is normal or average, they seem like a well-off family. David, the father, has a good job that can provide for his family, especially since his wife is ill and does not work. The parents lack thw ability to parent their children as one unit, due to their dysfunctional relationship. They do not have the ability to communicate as husband and wife. David is almost estranged from his family because he takes on enormous workloads that has a significant negative impact on the family. Their lack of a connection causes some of the family members to act out, or not
When asked how to describe the Chic-Fil-A environment, the employees typical response is we are, “One big family.” Sadly, however it resembles more of a dysfunctional family because the sorrowful dialogue often includes trash-talk, hate, lies, rumors, and double-crosses. Frequently, you will hear, “I hate
Prosocial Behavior is known as the voluntary effort to benefit others. There are many causes of prosocial behavior and underlying reasons why people choose to help co workers in the workplace. Some seek instant gratification while others just believe in good karma. The reasons are vast in number.
I chose “How to Survive a Jerk at Work” as an article that captured my attention. This article explains several ways to handle bullies in a person’s workplace. Keeping your distance, slowing down your reactions, knowing when someone is in a bad mood, and changing your perspective, are some of the examples given to illustrate how to handle these office bullies. Finally, the article does acknowledge that those who themselves are bullies, rarely recognize it.
“Office Space” is a comedy movie of a man who desperately hates his job and his boss. The movie begins with Peter Gibbon’s daily life story at Initech. At work, Peter has to deal with his indifferent boss, Bill Lumbergh, who doesn’t want to listen to his employee’s feedbacks. Lumbergh seems to be an ignorant and arrogant man who dictates his employee and doesn’t want to be blamed at all. Moreover, Lumbergh asks his employee to come to work on weekend. The atmosphere in the office is getting more intense after Lumbergh announced that Initech is bringing in consultants to increase the efficiency of the company. Peter was very frustrated with everything in the office and he felt that his life even more miserable with each passing day at work. The following day, he decided to come to see a hypnotherapist in order to help him to have more positive outlook on life. Before the hypnotherapist finishes his hypnotic therapy on Peter, he has a heart attack unexpectedly and then dies. However, Peter was still under the influence of hypnosis and fails to come back to his normal state. The next day, Peter sleeps all day long – he actually supposed to come to work – and ignores all calls from his boss. On Monday, Peter comes to the office to have an interview with the consultants. Here, still under the influence of hypnosis, Peter blatantly tells everything he felt about the company. He even tells the interviewers that he only stare at his desk – looks like he is working – for hours to spend his time at work. In the end of the interview, Peter says that actually he is not lazy, but he has a problem with motivation. Peter has eight different bosses who will come by if Peter makes mistakes, so the only motivation that Peter has is not to be hassle...
First, a description of my co-workers. Ken was the main boss who generally ran the restaurant. Ken was one of those thirty-something guys that still thought he was a senior in high school. He also had the tendency to tell his employees ultra-ultra-sensitive information about his life. Example: in grave detail he one day gave me a rundown of his marriage's apparently rather unfortunate sex life. This was naturally not something I relished being informed of, or -- to be exact -- cared about in any way. His sexual shortcomings were his own problem.
A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives (Robbins & Judge, 2009). At some point in all of our careers, we will be tasked with working within a group setting. This discussion board will focus on conformity and deviant workplace behavior, and how each can negatively affect the outcome of working within a group setting.
Peter begins to show up to work late (if he shows up at all), dress unprofessionally, and communicate with his peers and his superiors in an inappropriate manner. Peter’s new attitude and actions are unexpected, even shocking to others within the organization. According to the research conducted by Erbert, behavior such as Peters would be deemed as strange; “strange or unusual experience demarcates a disjunction in the patterns and routines of the workplace and may reflect uncertainty and ambiguity in organizing” (2014, p.288). By breaking Initech’s rituals, Peter creates an environment in which other employees feel insecure and unclear about their own stance in the company. It becomes apparent, through the chaos that is created by Peter’s conduct, that straying from any long-standing ritual will alter the overall cohesiveness of an organization. When people are dependent on certain habits, any disturbance to those habits can become detrimental and can prevent an organization from functioning properly. In the case of Initech, some employees (Peter’s friends) are even driven to quit their jobs to sabotage the
Relationships among workplace peers are the most common type of organizational relationships. At times, these platonic relationships turn romantic which are often regarded as an organizational issue. A workplace romance (WR) is defined as a no-platonic bond between two members of an organization in which both sexual attraction and affection is present (Cowan & Horan, 2014). WRs are common in organizations. According to a poll by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), found that 40% of employees had been involved in a WR at some point in their careers (Cowan & Horan, 2014). The SHRM also found that over 70% of organizations do not have policies that prohibit WR. One of the most concerning questions that arises regarding workplace
Kolb, D. A., Osland, J. S., Rubin, I. M., & Turner, M. E. (2007). The Organizational Behavior
Interpersonal Relationships are one of the most important things in business and everyday life. A positive interpersonal relationship provides countless opportunities while a negative interpersonal relationship limits opportunities. Interpersonal relationships can be built with many different forms of communication but self-concept and self-disclosure play two of the biggest roles in forming positive interpersonal working relationships.