United debacle When can employees speak up

United debacle When can employees speak upUnited debacle When can employees speak upThe dragging of a bloody doctoroff a United Airlines flight at Chicagos OHare Airport was a customer-relations disaster thatsent the companys stock tumblingand did untold reputational damage to the company.The bizarre incident, which appeared to center around Uniteds rigid policies for dealing with customers, also leads to the questionwhere do employees draw the line between policy and individual judgment? And why were United employees so reluctant to defy the companys official policy?The military roots of the airline industryAndrew Gilman, President and CEO of CommCore Consulting Group, told Ladders about the nature of the flight industry.The airline business has to zulauf on a very command and control structure, much like a military operationIf you dont have that you wont be successful. Gilman added that airlinesneed people to do things on time, follow the rules, and it works 99% of the time.The air line industry is, in fact, ruled by checklists that allow very little variation, even for pilots.In his book, The Checklist Manifesto, author Atul Gawande notes that many cockpits hold checklists for what to do when theres a crisis. (The first entry Keep flying the plane. Apparently its common for pilots in panicky situations to take their hands off the controls.)But the focus on checklists and rules doesnt mean its easy. On airlines, just as in the military, rebellion is swiftly punished. The rigid guidelines of the industry dont allow room for flexibility in many personal situations.The harder part of the business or any organization is when and how you can use judgment or other tactics to get the main results, Gilman told Ladders.Gilman also referenced the concept of the Golden Hour, a medical theoryused by R Adams Cowley, MD, of the University of Maryland, which refers to the critical moments for survival following a traumatic injury.Right now, United is still in that emergency response mode. First they have to react, then figure out how to repair reputation- this goes for customers and employees, Gilman told Ladders.So how long could this firestorm continue?Gilman told Ladders that he thinks that for the next month, the customers or passengers might think,What are the chances that Im gonna be asked to be moved? when considering United.Employees tend to favor flexible managementThe way supervisors lead companies impacts how empowered employees feel to speak up. Flexible management and rigid management create two very different work cultures. In rigid cultures, employees feel they cant speak unless they have the title or standing or disagree, which may prevent problems from being flagged.Theres also a historical switch in how we work the rigid management styles of the past, centered on all-powerful bosses, are giving way to flexible, non-hierarchical structures broadly.The Edward Lowe Foundationfoundthat employees in the current workforce crave a mora leisu rely management style, and that the very nature of the workplace and the work to be done demands it, even though old-school management experts reportedly dont favor getting rid of strict rules and letting workers manage themselves.But the textoffered specific advice, including this that may have come in handy at United strike a balance between a strict policy and complete freedom. Be available to those employees who need more guidance than others. Also be sure to give feedback to workers, so they wont feel all their hard work has been performed in vain.The articlealso recommends that managers meet with workers to see how much they like the businesss existing structure, adding that some employees thrive on rules and may be quite pleased with a micromanagement approach. More often than not, however, employees are bound to reply that they wouldnt mind a little more flexibility - more freedom to create their own solutions and perhaps even the ability to decide when and where their work will be done.Applying this to the United Airlines draggingincident the way bosses act probably impacts their responses to emergency situations.The power of positivity at workBeing a good manager can go a long way toward softening a workplace culture and making employees feel more welcome.An 2015 article in the Harvard Business Reviewlist a slew of health problems that can arise from work-related stress- including the fact thatthere is a strong link between leadership behavior and heart disease in employees, according to a large-scale study done by Anna Nyberg at the Karolinska Institute. Stress-producing bosses are literally bad for the heart, the authors wrote.The article gives bosses four tips on how to promote certain workplace positivity principles the authors list foster social connections, show empathy, go out of your way to help and encourage people to talk to you especially about their problems.The general rule is that leadership truly just come from the top, and an under standing culture may even help employees health.