by Luningning Sugbu

Created on: March 07, 2010

Nobody in their right minds would desire to work or to stay in a hostile work environment but there are a lot of factors beyond our control which can force us to endure such a workplace if it meant our survival. If it comes to that, then we need all the help we can get on how to ride the waves and prevent ourselves from falling off the ship.

Hostility can take on many faces such as racial discrimination, a megalomaniac boss, being the subject of negative office politics and exploitation brought on by greed. Most of the time, it is an interplay of two or more of the above factors and rarely a hybrid monster that takes on all of the faces of ugly hostility.

IDENTIFY POTENTIAL SOURCES OF HOSTILITY

Hostility is always present to a certain degree whenever human beings deal with each other as a consequence of conflicts of interest. When starting out in a new workplace, it is always a good idea to be observant of people and of the culture under which they relate to each other. Being able to identify which group of people or which situations may be potential sources of hostility can better prepare us what course of action to take to minimize hostility or prevent it altogether.

Gossip mongers are common in any workplace and avoiding them without being obvious is certainly the safest way to go.

IDENTIFY YOUR NICHE IN THE COMPANY

How valuable are you in the scheme of the company’s bottom line? Can other people readily do your job or do you have a certain capability that makes you relatively indispensable to the company? Are there ways where you can increase the value of your position and create your own niche?

This may be easier to address if one works for a smaller company. Usually in a physician’s office where I worked before, there are only one or two people working in the company’s tiny laboratory which essentially meant that the other people in the office cannot spontaneously take my place. They don’t have the education and experience to address the various regulatory requirements and day to day technical issues faced by a functioning laboratory.

Attempts were made by my boss to render me less valuable by forcing me to go on vacation and allowing her son’s girlfriend to tinker with the machines I operate while I was gone. The screens displayed by the monitors were out of the main menu so I knew what they were up to. Lack of education and training (including my boss) were her waterloo so she didn’t stand a chance.

LEARN HOW TO CONTROL

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