Page 207 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

Be aware of pitfalls such as abuse of authority. One woman observed an administra-
tive-level employee tell an intern that she had brought the wrong kind of disposable cups
into a company celebration. The truth is, it did not matter what kind of cups were there.
This employee did not like this intern and had a personal need to exert power over some-
one. This behavior had been demonstrated many times before but not stopped by anyone,
so she chose to do it yet again. Whether this was an unconscious action or not does not
really matter. HR professionals must be aware of such personal feelings of being powerless
if they exist, so they don’t unwittingly abuse their authority and harm relationships with
others.
Generally, people who abuse power do so regularly and need to have this behavior
brought to their attention as part of the process of stopping it. It can become a form of bul-
lying and harassment. It is best to speak to the employee, tell him or her what you observe,
and ask for a behavioral change. Their supervisors should also be spoken to so there is a
united front. If their supervisor does not see this issue as you do, you’ll want to provide him
or her with credible research in this area from organizational psychology and emotional
intelligence academic sources, as well as with any resources from SHRM.
Be vigilant about the tendency of some supervisors to deny that anyone in their own
department might have any imperfection at all or that these kinds of issues are at all impor-
tant. These supervisors will probably call this kind of incident an example of a “personality
conflict” or say that the offended/bullied party is being oversensitive. Be firm and discuss
the previously observed behavior of the employee with the abuse problem, and if the super-
visor is unmoved, ask that he or she maintain an open mind and watch for certain behav-
iors from this employee. Because abuse of power is a significant risk factor for workplace
violence, this is not something you should ever back down on. Be persuasive, credible, and
persistent on this issue.

AVOID BEING COMPETITIVE

Do notice if you are competitive. This goes back to the Seinfeld joke. When people are com-
petitive instead of collaborative with each other, it’s usually about an issue of power and
ego. It’s a power struggle that is usually unnecessary. When people feel threatened or jeal-
ous, they can become competitive. The importance of being “right” and wanting to be
“right” about something can also drive competitive behavior. Many divorces happen over
who is “right.” Abuse often happens over who is “right.” Being right is about power. Anger
is a display of power that one feels entitled to because he or she is concerned power may
be slipping away to someone else, particularly if the other person shows that he or she
knows something different or new or “right.”
If HR is new to an organization, other colleagues who previously handled HR issues
may feel threatened or become territorial. Additionally, lawyers can at times become unnec-
essarily competitive with HR professionals and try to incite sparring contests over HR tech-
nical knowledge. This can lead to the marginalization of HR out of a lack of emotional
self-awareness of competitiveness from those who resent that HR has technical compliance
knowledge they do not have. The best way to handle this is to continue to be as pleasant as

190 The H R Toolkit