How managers can defend hated company policies

I’m a department manager at a medium-sized factory. I’m sure you have also encountered stupid, if not unpopular management policies that people managers are obligated to uphold and protect from employee criticism. But how would you do it without sounding disloyal or irresponsible to the organization? — Very Cautious.
A young boy was playing baseball alone in a big yard. He was heard to say: “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” Then he tossed the ball into the air, swung and missed. “Strike one!” Undaunted, he picked up the ball, threw it into the air and said to himself: “I’m the greatest baseball hitter ever,” and he swung at the ball again. And again, he missed. “Strike two!”
He paused a moment to examine his bat and ball carefully. Then a third time, he threw the ball into the air. “I’m the greatest hitter who ever lived,” he said boldly to himself. He swung the bat hard again, and missed for the third time. He cried out loud:
“Wow! That’s strike three. What a pitcher. I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!”
Attitude matters more than anything. When you can’t do anything and your position is also on the line, discover a different approach to help achieve the best for management and their employees. Being part of management, your job is to help promote the interests of the organization, which include justifying company policies and practices that are unpopular with employees.
This is very difficult to do, when you yourself don’t agree with some systems that are the subject of employee complaints. It may be unfair to you. Just the same, it is incumbent upon you to work out a solution that is acceptable to all concerned. Now, here are some tips and techniques that you can explore:
One, appear neutral in situations where there are employee complaints. Don’t openly discuss your negative sentiments about a certain policy. As much as possible, hold on to your personal opinion against certain management policies, until you get advice or clearance from top management. You should not appear to be the first one encouraging employees to ignore company policies that you don’t like.
Two, examine those issues and validate why employees are against them. Be clear how and why the people are against them. If you can’t understand the issues, then how can you bring the matter to top management? Unless you fully understand the rationale for such unwanted company policies, it would be difficult for you to understanding everything. Therefore, the safe approach is to move slowly in accepting the complaints on its face value.
Three, discuss the issue with your boss and other managers. There could be compelling arguments for a certain policy. They could have been valid reasons at the time of their promulgation which you don’t know about. If the reasons or circumstances are no longer present, then maybe it’s time for you to convince management to issue another policy to supersede the old one or create another policy without highlighting management mistakes.
Four, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a hated policy. Discover the pros and cons, even if some employees hate it. At times, the benefits of a policy to the organization far outweigh the problems. This is easy to understand as most employee complaints are self-serving and cater only to a minority of people, not the interests of the majority.
Five, be ready with objective fact and figures to counter employee complaints. This alone is more than enough to sustain “stupid” management policies. Publish them on a regular basis for the information and education of all concerned. Update old data and provide an intelligent analysis that is beneficial to the organization. Having updated information available should prevent rumor-mongers from blowing something out of proportion.
Six, ensure that all line managers support all company policies. Some line executives and other people managers are most likely to take exception to almost anything, for some reason. These are managers who have an ax to grind against the company, including those who were bypassed for promotion, and those whose requests may have been disapproved in the past. Take stock of these managers who could sabotage your work.
Last, go beyond all those employee and manager criticisms. If top management has decided to retain such “stupid” policies, don’t waste time arguing with people who don’t want to be converted. There are certain people out there who are likely to take any side of any argument, just for the sake of criticizing, even after you’ve have already justified management position. Keep in mind that most resistance will fade in due time.
Defending management policy goes with the job. As long as you have a can-do mentality, everything will be all right.
ELBONOMICS: The goal of fixing a bad policy is to prevent it from getting worse.
 
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