A521.3.4.RB.MedinaM

More than often organizations or individuals in an organization find themselves picking on a specific employee for their flaws or faults. Rather than taking the mature or organizational approach of communicating with the individual and considering retraining him/her, subordinates continue to pick on the individual until the individual eventually explodes or leaves the company. In other words, rather than helping them get better and turning their weaknesses to strength, they destroy the spirit of the individual as well as the drive to learn and do better. It’s like finding all the bad things he/she does, not letting them go, and not seeing any of the good things he/she does. As I mention this, I reflect on a personal situation I faced when I was a child. While attending middle school, I became a victim of bullying, which it may not seem as the same thing as picking on an individual in an organization but it actually is. By definition bullying can be physical, mental, or verbal. When a subordinate engages on verbal abuse by either through gossip with other coworkers, the grapevine, or any other form of communication, he or she by definition is harassing, verbally and mentally bullying the other person. He or she may not be doing it exactly to the individuals face but in the act of including others to do the same it turns to bullying. It’s eventually destroys the spirit of the individual, the sense of teamwork, collaboration, the individual might begin to feel left out of the team, given unimportant tasks and eventually, leading up to the individual’s departure of the company. In my perspective, the situation that I faced in my childhood, has helped me recognize and act when subordinates begin to pick (bully) on other individuals through either gossip, “clicks”, exclusions, and so on. It’s like having a bullying detecting antenna that goes off when situations arise that may escalate to bullying.

The second situation that has had a formative impact on me, and has helped me be who I am today in an organization, would be the meaning of responsibility. Just like any other parents, parents try different forms of teaching their children the meaning of responsibility. In my situation, my parents choose to teach me responsibility through the purchase of a pet. At the time I didn’t know or understand the meaning of responsibility but I did have chores. Learning then the responsibility of taking care of a pet, feed it, bathe it, and overall just take care of it, was something completely new and strange to me. It took sometime for me to realize it’s a living pet and no longer a toy. This situation helped me realize and taught me that life is full of responsibilities. It doesn’t matter how small, easy or big the tasks at the workplace might be, I’m responsible for completing those tasks on time. With my new position at work, I have a lot more responsibilities than I have ever in the past thought about having. It’s been a learning process trying to complete various new tasks at the same time as the other responsibilities I had in the past. Needless to say that responsibility is key in an organization where a team must meet constant deadlines. This situation has helped me be where I am today professionally, educationally, and personally.