Shades of Gray

If you've ever been a manager, especially in a large company or institution, you've probably been treated to at least one briefing from the Human Resources department, where they told you what to do about malfeasance in the work place, and how to go about reporting it, dealing with it, stamping it out, and so on. It's an upbeat event, isn't it, particularly when you consider the topic being discussed. Bad things are going to happen sometimes, and when they do we have procedures for you to follow that will solve all of the problems, protect the innocent, punish the guilty, and get everything back to good in jig time. The problem is, in real life things are rarely as black and white as HR is going to make them sound...

Of course, if the problem your business unit is experiencing is actually a crime, the situation is relatively straightforward. You have a duty just as a citizen to report theft, embezzlement, arson, assault and so on to the proper authorities; you also have a responsibility as an officer of the company to make sure that higher management is made aware of such offenses, and that proper sanctions are invoked against any employee who has crossed that line. As a manager, you are also responsible for curtailing (and when necessary punishing) offenses that are not actually against the law, but which violate company policy (e.g. horseplay, insubordination, attendance issues). But what about issues that are neither actually illegal nor outlawed under company policy?

Suppose, for example, that you know that one of your coworkers is so opposed to a given project that he is going to ensure its failure by not assigning sufficient resources to it, and then claiming that his department was just too busy to successfully complete the assignment? This is technically insubordination, in that the coworker is not following the directions given by his superiors, but you'll never be able to prove it. Moreover, if your coworker is right in opposing the project (because it will harm the company, the employees, the environment, or the country), then his choice may be ethically or professionally correct, even if it is insubordinate in the conventional sense. Is your responsibility to do the right thing by the company and the community more important than your duty to the company to enforce its rules and report those who don't?

What about the case where you know (but the appropriate executives do not) that a member of the management team is incompetent? Or is simply overloaded by the demands of the job and letting things slide and fail? Or is being rude, unpleasant and hostile to other employees? If it was someone who reports to you there would be direct actions you could take, but what if the offending employee is one of your peers, or your supervisor's peers? Do you complain to your supervisor and ask him to take matters up with higher authority? Do you report matters to Human Resources and ask them for help? Or do you go over your own supervisor’s head and take matters directly to higher management on your own initiative?

Alternately, of course, you could just leave things the way they are and hope someone from higher management finds out and resolves the situation for you. You can work to minimize the damage, make sure the projects that are actually critical to the future of the company do not fail, try to keep anyone from getting upset enough to sue, and generally work to hold everything together behind the scenes...

I'm not going to suggest that there are any simple answers to these questions, or that I would have any of those answers if they existed. All I am saying is that sooner or later, unless your company or agency is very well run indeed, you are going to face such a situation yourself...