BEWARE OF THE END RUN

Written and submitted by:

Hal Wood

Advisory Management Services, Inc.

advismgmt@earthlinkl.net

Put two people together for anytime, anywhere, and you’ll soon have a dispute.  In an organization, some disputes are horizontal, and some are vertical.

Looking at just the vertical for now, let’s say an employee is upset with their supervisor, has confronted them with the problem, and hasn’t gotten satisfactory action.  Some policy manuals provide for an internal grievance procedure, and if the organization is unionized, it’s all in the contract.  Whether it’s there or not, most employees think they have a right to go to the next higher level to appeal.  This is the end run!

The employee now approaches the supervisor’s boss.  Put yourself in that manager’s position, and ask yourself what you would say when the employee explains they’re having a problem with their supervisor?  What should be the first question?  That’s right, “Have you talked to your supervisor about the problem?”  Well, they have!  Here’s where the risk comes in.  At this point, the manager should stop all further communication until a meeting can be scheduled with the supervisor present.  Any further hearing will severely damage the supervisor’s credibility.

One method that works well is to tell the employee to go back to the supervisor, and have the supervisor set up the meeting with the manager.  It’s amazing how much more cooperative supervisors get when confronted with having to do that.

An often overlooked reason as to why the supervisor’s credibility is at stake is this:  Who else knows about the end run?  The answer is usually everybody the employee could tell.  So, everyone is watching to see what happens.  If the manager gives the employee a hearing, agrees with them, and comes down on the supervisor to make changes, the supervisor’s credibility is destroyed.  There will now be a stampede of end-run employees up to the manager’s office to have their issues addressed.       

Conclusion:  No manager should give any employee a hearing without all responsible parties in between present.