Ten signs you work in a fear-based workplace

bluehdmc

Well-Known Member
What better motivation is there than fear? People do incredible things when fear is a motivator.

What's the opposite of fear? Stupidity? Suppose you're a person with no fear of lions. Would that be a wise thing in the jungle?

I know fear is not necessary pleasant, but would you rather defend your family with a sign that says the owner has a big gun or the owners respects your feelings?

I fear everyday that if I don't do my job I might get fired. Is that unreasonable?

Fight or flight (based upon fear) is the most common instinct among humans.

Healthy Fear is a good thing. Fear of lightning, wild animals like lions, bears, rattlesnakes, etc. is all well and good.

I don't think you need fear as a work motivator, just a good work ethic. I'm motivated by things like food, motorcycles, my mortgage payments, and so on.

All fear does is give people ulcers, it may "motivate" people in the short run but then when the fear is removed, the "motivation" is gone. (When the cat's away the mice will play.)

This is my opinion, but I could not work someplace where I had to be in fear of losing my job everyday. I go to work, do the job to the best of my ability, and yes, sometimes I ****** up and make mistakes. I own up to my mistakes and let it go. If went to work and had to fear being fired everyday, I'd have to find another job.
 

blue efficacy

Well-Known Member
Sure, fear can stifle ideas, innovation, etc etc.

But we don't work in marketing, R&D, or anything of the sort. We handle boxes. Management has nothing to lose by instilling a culture of fear. Sure, it won't motivate us to do anything more than the requisite amount to keep off the radar, but most of us wouldn't do that anyway. Honestly.

And this is imposing of fear is justified, as people would literally line up around the block for a chance to deliver boxes for $30 an hour.
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
Ignorance is the mother of fear- Eric Hoffer

The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies. - Sir Francis Bacon

A supervisor that hasn't read the contract is always fearful, I've seen several. However, most of them get more fearful when they've read it. And so they try get respected based on intimidated tactics.

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.- Madam Marie Curie

3 out of 4 ain't bad.
 

browniehound

Well-Known Member
I think a certain amount of fear is healthy.

If you had no fear that you could lose your job....some would do as little as possible without fear. If you didn't have a certain amount of fear about the competition.....they might roll over you before you knew what hit you. If you didn't have some fear for your life....who knows what lame-brained thing you might try.

Many a person and/or company has died by being fearless.

Of course, as in anything, it can be taken to an extreme. Fear can paralyze you if taken to extreme.

The question is....will you or the company you work for become a victim of fear?

Fear is definetly a good thing in competition. If you don't fear your competitor then he/she will run "roughshod" over you and you will be out of business very quickly.

Also, great post. I think you hit all the major points very accurately.

Browniehound
 

Catatonic

Nine Lives
I think it's really a gigantic difference. Huge and gigantic are totally different. Different as in not similar, not same.

Red colored 7-up is really different from clear 7-up but they taste the same ... I'm just trying to understand why within the context of UPS Management why there is a huge or even gigantic difference between a UPS management person who is a really good leader and a UPS management person who is a manager.
It seems like this is one of those truisms that is said so often that it is assumed as a given.
I have worked for some people who were great leaders and some good managers who did not have much leadership qualities. I enjoyed and respected the leaders more than the managers but as far as how effective the two types were in running their operations .... they were pretty much similar but maybe a little better for the manager type.
 

JustTired

free at last.......
I don't think UPS is the type of work environment where leadership is really much of a factor.

I tend to agree......

By definition, a leader leads....a manager manages.

To lead, you have to be out front. Setting an example for those to follow.

To manage only requires that you sit back and direct the scenario that you're presented with.

Let's look at it from a militaristic viewpoint.....
You make the wrong decision as a leader and odds are that you will go down with your men. You make the wrong decision as a manager(from the rear/office) and you may survive the initial battle.

The point is......Nobody seems to want to lead anymore. They would rather sit back and manage to collect their paycheck without putting themselves in harms way.

This is true in just about every area of life.

Where have all the leaders gone?
 

NHDRVR

Well-Known Member
In terms of bottom line profit, I'm not so sure.
What is the "huge difference" between the two in regards to how you are treated?

Using this example, center manager's and drivers, I think 'how we are treated' is everything...

I have worked for about 10 center manager's in my career. ( I have no idea if this is a lot or a little compared to other centers) I can think of only 2 that I felt acted as leaders. Now, I have to make clear that those 2 center manager's didn't change, per say, anything about my job, the rules, sporh, over/under, or the like. Nor did the other 8 come across as complete jerks (well, one of them did). The difference was the following..

The 2 leaders earned my respect, along w/the other drivers, because of how they acted when the crap was hitting the fan. When a 73 car plan was put in and it should have been 78 (always the case) the 2 center manager's in question made efforts, when asked, to balance out my belt or at least 'try' to help where they could. They acted as a leader should. They would go to the group with how we would have to make things work instead of us looking for them. Also, I never once felt they were very big into the Union/Mngt. bs... I remember a PCM specifically where one of the center manager's in question said, in front of the DM mind you, that we are all there for a paycheck. If we weren't getting paid we would not care a bit about UPS. Doesn't sound like much but it flies in the face of all the rah-rah, bleed brown, anything for the shield, crap that too many of my on-roads and the other center manager's far to often throw at us. FYI, drivers tune that out...

Another thing that is huge to drivers, and to answer your question, was that they appeared (appearance is everything) to realize that when I am wheeling a 140 lb. Sauder up a driveway I don't care about our 'bottom line profit'. I care about not getting hurt, making another good DR and going to my next stop. I am speaking in generalities, of course, but driver's understand the economics of what we do. It's not that complicated. Wasting DR bags is wasting profit. Taking 12 minutes on a 10 minute break is stealing 2 minutes of profit.

A leader, IMO, addresses these things, and a 100 others, as how they pertain to the Driver. A manager addresses them as how they pertain to the company...
 

NHDRVR

Well-Known Member
Also, I am not dumping on any of those '8' that i referred to. They were ok guys, for the most part, that knew how to balance out the red/black, they knew company protocol in their own robotic way, and I think one of them even had a personality but I never once felt like I could expect them to make a decision outside of the box as the other 2 guys would. That, to me, also counts as leadership.
 
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