Sound advice!  Thanks so much for the thoughtful posting.

Of course the workplace rarely is one big happy family.  So, I ask you and 
other other managers out there about one of the biggest challenges:  handling 
the people who stir up trouble behind the scenes but who don't do things that 
necessarily warrants "adverse action."  I'm not thinking of differences in 
personality types, any group is going to have some of that, but of people who 
actually make it harder for peers to do their work or cause workplace misery..

You don't take credit for others' work and give credit where it's due.  
Excellent!  But how do you handle people who steal others' ideas, play zero sum 
games, intimidate colleagues or otherwise show competitive streaks, not in a 
healthy way, but in a corrosive manner?  Some of these people might be 
brown-nosing or too slick to spot readily.  Are their actions visible to you?  Or are 
these the "undiscussables" that everyone whispers about but never talks about 
with the boss?  That can be very corrosive longterm.

Are you successful in getting subordinates to confide in you? (Building that 
high trust workplace that Ryan and Oestreich discuss.)  That often seems to be 
one of the biggest challenges from the managerial viewpoint -- the 
withholding by employees of information you should know about. If you feel able to 
discuss any of this, in a general sense and without mentioning indentifiable 
individuals or specific cases related to your current workplace, do share your 
thoughts.  I'm not dealing with these types of problem myself but in a 
philosophical sense I'm interested in strategies for dealing with behaviors that undermine 
workplace morale.  

REPLIES OFF LIST would be welcome, natch.

Maarja

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>