Unfair Workplace? Here's Why

Wednesday's post on Fairness at work elicited a few great comments but a tremendous number of tweets about unfair management decisions. Clearly, I struck a nerve.

There are a lot of unfair bosses out there. Yikes!

It got me to thinking, as your comments, tweets, and emails always do. Are that many managers and executives really just plain bad? Is it the norm for leaders to screw over the led?

Maybe. I don't want to discount that possibility. But here's the thing: for years now, my clients have been leaders, mid- and upper-management in companies large and small. Now that I'm in my forties, quite a number of my childhood friends are now C-level leaders and vice presidents as well. Surely not all of these people are cynical enough to be actively unfair to their staffs. Truly, not even most.

There's a different reason so many companies make profoundly unfair decisions all the time. It's called groupthink.

The fundamentals of groupthink go like this:

* There has to be a very powerful leader, someone who holds all the decision-making power. A person at whose desk the buck clearly stops. A CEO, for instance.

* That person often has a powerful personality, one that others gravitate to and want to please.

* If that charisma is combined with the ability to fire, promote, and give bonuses, all the better for this perfect storm of bad decision-making.

* For groupthink to occur, the members of this advisory group are typically selected by the leader. In a groupthink scenario, that leader chooses subordinates who share his or her opinions and outlook to begin with. Sound familiar?

* Finally, the physical presence of the leader in all or most meetings serves to squelch debate. The leader's decisions are ratified, not scrutinized.

The most famous example of groupthink remains the Kennedy Administration's meetings leading up to the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba. John Kennedy's cabinet operated precisely under the rules outlined above, and disaster struck. It was one of America's - and Cuba's - darkest hours in the Twentieth Century.

Kennedy and his staff learned from their mistake. They purposely did not repeat the groupthink blunder leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis not long after. Debate in cabinet meetings was heated. Opinions varied widely. And most notably, President Kennedy absented himself from many of the cabinet meetings. He had learned the perils of groupthink, and took steps to avert it. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a stupendous success for American foreign policy. Indeed, how Kennedy handled it is as instructive and inspirational as his earlier blunder in Cuba was disgraceful.

Back to business; back to companies making unfair decisions.

I agree, there are some unscrupulous leaders out there, too short-sighted to realize that screwing over their own workforce will destroy their company more surely than any competition or Great Recession will ever do.

But there are many, many more leaders who think their decisions are perfectly fair because they are making those decisions with a team of like-minded reports: if not yes-men and -women, then certainly people chosen for their likeness to the CEO, rather than for their individuality.

I've had countless discussions with top leaders; it's more than my job as a leadership author, it's also my hobby. Most aren't actively evil. Most are just talking to themselves, when they need to talk to their people.

Tomorrow, in "You Don't Get a Vote," I'll share with you how 21st-Century leaders turn the groupthink tendency around - to the delight of their shareholders!

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This is part two of a three-part series on Fairness at work.

In a few days I'll return to my five-part series on attracting and keeping top talent at work (of which Fairness is arguably the most important part).