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With workplace disciplinaries on the rise, HR frequently has to deal with angry employees who feel their trust has been breached. But Josh Sunsoa asks, does HR bring this situation on itself? Have you ever witnessed perfectly normal staff suddenly become so enraged that they lose all sense of proportionality or judgment when it comes to the initial process of contract termination? HR might well brush this experience off by considering it to be the natural reaction to someone about to lose their livelihood. But organisations help create the very conditions they end up fighting when a disciplinary turns into a termination. Through their own processes and systems, HR professionals are often responsible for creating the conditions that lead employees to react in such a way. It was Dr Steve Peters, the psychiatrist behind the British cycling team’s extraordinary medal haul at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who said that when people lose self-control, what really happens is that there is the emergence of someone’s "inner chimp". For these people, Peters argues, the irrational side of their brain - the part controlling their survival - kicks in and completely overwhelms normal cogent processes. And this is exactly what happens when people are told they are about to lose their job. It is the inner chimp that rushes to the surface and creates ugly confrontation – but it is l
2 comments
“Inner chimp”, what utter twaddle. The best thing Dr Peters could do for us is to get on his Trickcyclist’s bike a go.
There is no “irrational side of the brain”, as Dr P asserts, this is materialist reductivism based on highly speculative association of brain activity mapping while overlooking how other areas of the brain work.
You have in fact identified part of the reason for the reaction of some employees when they feel threatened by the sack. HR spend much time and effort being everyone’s friend. They organise team-building, promote training and personal improvement, strengthen corporate identity, look after your pay, conditions, ease you toward retirement . You could be forgiven for being angry when suddenly you realise that you are only important to them as a Resource, not as a human. Let’s face it they would be just happy to be Chimp Resources as to be HR, just so long as you don’t get all irrational, or plain old-fashioned angry.
Gagged!
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