Career Frustration in the Workplace

Every organisation or institution has a set of vision and mission statements which serve as a business compass for its aspiration and direction. Owing to the importance of these statements, they are conspicuously displayed in strategic positions in organisations. This allows them to be ever visible to all stakeholders, reminding them of the direction the company is headed within the context of its overall existence.

Similarly, goals are critical in the life of every organisation. They are an integral part of every organisation, clearly defining the company’s ambitions in terms of what it wants to achieve, at what particular time, and with which required resources (whether human or material, and whether currently possessed or needing to be acquired). In addition to overarching goals, there are short-, medium-, and long-term smaller goals, which are periodically reviewed to ascertain the level of achievement within a particular period.

These are the parameters upon which companies and organisations are built. In all the years of my career, which spanned more than thirty years in three industries (the media, banking, oil and gas, as mentioned in the preface), the foregoing provided the basic structure for each organisation.

Colleagues, friends, and associates whose views I have sought on this issue have also confirmed it. Even those with heterogeneous experiences and backgrounds, whom I also queried in the course of writing this book, also corroborated this position. Besides, senior personnel in other industries whose views I also pursued confirmed the objectives of vision and mission statements. Indeed, organisational goals are vehicles through which the future of organisations revolves. In other words, the prospects of an organisation are predicated upon the goals.

It is therefore certain that for an organisation or institution to thrive in business, a clear set of vision and mission statements, as well as corporate goals and objectives, must be clearly defined and put in place.

Ironically, despite the importance of the foregoing, some companies are unable to follow through with their vision and mission statements and/or their goals and objectives. Why is this so? And what are the reasons responsible for this?

Evidently, leadership failure, lack of values and commitment, and wrong judgement are some of the reasons ascribed. While I do not contend that these are clearly contributory factors, they are not the only ones. Beyond the obvious reasons already listed, the real reason why organisations fail is largely the result of the inability of managers to divorce their personal vision and goals from those of the organisation. As stated, my views are primarily based on my personal experiences, and so not necessarily applicable to every organisation; however, most organisations are the victims of this inability on the part of their managers.

Even where corporate core values are well defined, there are employees who may not be committed to uphold those values because of their own entrenched motives.

You will agree with me that the formulation and implementation of policies are an essential part of the responsibilities of managers in all organisations. Without managers to enforce them, policies will only be good on paper, as there will be no way of realising the intent through implementation.

However, based on this strategic role, some managers are known to have taken advantage of their privileged position to circumvent official process by subordinating official interest to their personal interest. In other words, they ensure that their personal agendas override the goals and objectives of the organisation.

As a young employee, I had innocently looked forward to my managers and superiors as guiding lights and compasses for organisational direction. I depended upon them, and so I took their views and directives as being the best and most suitable for the organisation, believing their positions were without prejudice and stripped of value judgement. I was wrong.

As I grew in maturity in office administration and imbibed bureaucratic experience, I came to the realisation that not all the views expressed by some of these managers were, for all intents and purposes, in the best interest of the organisation. In fact, some of their judgements were informed and influenced by their personal interests. These were masked in mystery during meetings, where their underhanded motives were indeed wrapped in superior arguments used to influence colleagues who unwittingly failed to discern the subterfuge. Consequently, the personally motivated so-called business decisions were upheld.

In one of the management meetings I attended in a previous place of employment, an important issue came up as to the level of authority that should be given to a particular manager in order to enable him discharge his responsibility outside the head office in Lagos (the capital of Nigeria).

Surprisingly, this decision was guided more by mere petty jealousy than by corporate interest. Because the manager was entitled to certain financial privileges based on the corresponding authority, the merit of the case was downplayed, primarily because he was not trusted or liked by the vocal few. As a result, the meeting reviewed the authority associated with his position as manager, and he was therefore directed to consult with Lagos on issues relating to money before committing the company. Implicitly, the above-referenced manager was now expected to consult with Lagos for all directives and decisions. This meant that the manager would have to travel to Lagos to get a formal approval to dispense any money, the amount notwithstanding. Meanwhile, those behind this decision did not care about the cost implication or the associated risk of having to fly.

In all of this, my own worry was the risk of having to embark on a flight to Lagos anytime there was an issue, incurring logistic challenges and hotel accommodation costs over matters that ordinarily should be within a manager’s jurisdiction.

This example illustrates that bureaucratic and political intrigues are endemic to corporation organisations. Furthermore, these intrigues are recurring devices deployed by some people in the corporate world in order to wield influence and power.

Let’s consider another example to illustrate the point even further. A friend of mine once told me of the power play in his organisation. According to him, the deputy managing director had been nursing an ambition to assume the office of the managing director. In order to realise his dream, he used employees loyal to him to set up the incumbent managing director, and, unfortunately, the man fell into the trap set. This eventually led the board to relieve the managing director of his duties, thus paving the way for the deputy to take over responsibilities as the substantive managing director. But, unknown to the board, this decision was the product of the retrogressive plan of the deputy managing director, who had long perfected his plan to take over his boss’s position.

In Jeremiah 17:9, God describes man, a product of His creation, as having a deceitful heart and wicked desperation. These words are most instructive, as they warn us to apply all necessary precautionary measures when dealing with our fellow man – and even more so when his heart and deepest desires cannot be known to us.

Even in offices, tea is known to have been used to poison people, leading to redefining the pattern of tea service in the workplace. In one of my former workplaces, tea was served by “office boys” (or girls), as they were called. It was a mobile service, as the boys or girls went from table to table; if employees were not at their desks, the tea was served and covered.