How to identify and deal with backstabbers at work

Mon, May 17 04:30 PM


Backstabbing at workplace certainly devastates individuals, especially when a person doesn't know ho to deal with it. Now, career guru Kepcher has offered some advice on how to identify and cope with backstabbers at workplace.



Credit Stealer



Seemingly helpful team player who will enthusiastically support your suggestions and work to make the project a big success - particularly because she intends to take credit.



This will include magnifying her own role, using personal pronouns such as 'I' and 'me' as substitutes for "we" whenever possible.



The Chameleon



He, too, will appear to be a helpful team player, offering encouragement and support in private.



However, the chameleon will launch into his command performance whenever bosses are present and criticize ideas he supported some time back, including subtly accusing his peers of failing to notice the problems.



His every move is an effort to make himself look good - by making others look bad.



Backstabber In Chief



Occasionally, the Backstabber will also be the boss. Sigourney Weaver nailed this role in the movie "Working Girl."



The most encouraging boss imaginable will steal the assistant's potentially career-making idea.



How to handle all kinds of backstabbers at your office, by Kepcher, reports the New York Daily News:



Stay calm. Do not let them make you emotional and defensive.



Don't wander through the jungle alone. Beware of private conversations that can be misquoted later. Use e-mail and group meetings to document your contributions.



Be polite, but persistent. Learn to say no.



Use direct phrases such as, "I'm perplexed you have so many negative comments about our idea since you were so supportive when we spoke privately yesterday. Is there a reason you didn't bring up your concerns until now?"



By being direct and careful, you can help push the Backstabber species in your workplace to extinction as quickly as possible.

Email from the boss

Email from the boss



Mail sent by Narayan Murthy to all Infosys staff:





It's half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on...

PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing...

And who's at work? Most of them ??? Take a closer look...



All or most specimens are ??

Something male species of the human race...



Look closer... Again all or most of them are bachelors...



And why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!

Any guesses???

Let's ask one of them...

Here's what he says... 'What's there 2 do after going home...Here we get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee that is why I am working late...Importantly no bossssssss!!!!!!!!!!!'



This is the scene in most research centers and software companies and other off-shore offices.



Bachelors 'Time-passing' during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing else to do...

Now what r the consequences...



'Working' (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture.



With bosses more than eager to provide support to those 'working' late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback, (oh, he's a hard worker... Goes home only to change..!!).

They aren't helping things too...



To hell with bosses who don't understand the difference between 'sitting' late and 'working' late!!!



Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.



So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family... Office is no longer a priority, family is... And

That's when the problem starts... B'coz u start having commitments at home too.



For your boss, the earlier 'hardworking' guy suddenly seems to become a 'early leaver' even if u leave an hour after regular time... After doing the same amount of work.



People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labelled as work-shirkers...



Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays..... Though) leave on time are labelled as 'not up to it'. All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on 'working' not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they would have to regret at one point of time.



So what's the moral of the story??

* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!!

* Never put in extra time ' unless really needed '

* Don't stay back unnecessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues.



There are hundred other things to do in the evening..



Learn music...



Learn a foreign language....



Try a sport... TT, cricket.........



Importantly,get a girl friend or boy friend, take him/her around town...



* And for heaven's sake, net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.



Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *'Life's calling, where are you??'*



Please pass on this message to all those colleagues and please do it before leaving time, don't stay back till midnight to forward this!!!



IT'S A TYPICAL INDIAN MENTALITY THAT WORKING FOR LONG HOURS MEANS VERY HARD WORKING & 100% COMMITMENT ETC.



PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY SIT LATE IN THE OFFICE DON'T KNOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME. SIMPLE !



Regards,

NARAYAN MURTHY.

















A winner is NOT one who NEVER FAILS, But one who NEVER QUITS!!!!

What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India

What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India

A month ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India. He was very active in sports, was a fitness freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him run on Bandra's Carter Road. Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids.



It was certainly a wake-up call for corporate India. However, it was even more disastrous for runners amongst us. Since Ranjan was anavid marathoner (in Feb 09, he ran Chennai Marathon at the same time some of us were running Pondicherry Marathon 180 km away), the question came as to why an exceptionally active, athletic person succumb to heart attack at 42 years of age.



Was it the stress?

A couple of you called me asking about the reasons. While Ranjan had mentioned that he faced a lot of stress, that is a common element in most of our lives. We used to think that by being fit, one can conquer the bad effects of stress. So I doubted if the cause was stress.



The Real Reason

However, everyone missed out a small line in the reports that Ranjan used to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep. This is an earlier interview of Ranjan on NDTV in the program 'Boss' Day Out':

http://connect.in.com/ranjan-das/play-video-boss-day-out-ranjan-das-of-sap-india-229111-807ecfcf1ad966036c289b3ba6c376f2530d7484.html

Here he himself admits that he would love to get more sleep (and that he was not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others extolled).



The Evidence

Last week, I was working with a well-known cardiologist on the subject of ‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep’. While I cannot share the video nor the slides because of confidentiality reasons, I have distilled the key points below in the hope it will save some of our lives.



Some Excerpts:



• Short sleep duration (<5 or 5-6 hours) increased risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009.

As you know, high BP kills.



• Young people (25-49 years of age) are twice as likely to get high BP if they sleep less. Paper published in 2006.



• Individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999.



• Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-cRP), the strongest predictor of heart attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stayed high!!



• Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (cRP). They increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer, arthritis andheart disease. Paper published in 2004.



• Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to 18% increase in heart disease. Paper published in 2006.



Ideal Sleep

For lack of space, I cannot explain here the ideal sleep architecture. But in brief, sleep is composed of two stages: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM. The former helps in mental consolidation while the latter helps in physical repair and rebuilding. During the night, you alternate between REM and non-REM stages 4-5 times.



The earlier part of sleep is mostly non-REM. During that period, your pituitary gland releases growth hormones that repair your body. The latter part of sleep is more and more REM type.



For you to be mentally alert during the day, the latter part of sleep is more important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess (lack of non-REM sleep), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down (I’ve been there, done that )



Finally, as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running related damage.



If you want to know if you are getting adequate sleep, take Epworth Sleepiness Test below.





Interpretation: Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal. Many a times, I have clocked 21 out the maximum possible 24, the only saving grace being the last situation, since I don’t like to drive (maybe, I should ask my driver to answer that line)

In conclusion:

Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food, exercising (marathoning!), maintaining proper weight. But he missed getting proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. In my opinion, that killed him.

If you are not getting enough sleep (7 hours), you are playing with fire, even if you have low stress.

I always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But I was so spooked after seeing the scientific evidence last week that since Saturday night, I ensure I do not even set the alarm clock under 7 hours. Now, that is a nice excuse to get some more sleep. 



Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of us are doing exactly the same, perhaps out of ignorance. Please forward this mail to as many of your colleagues as possible, especially those who might be short-changing their sleep. If we can save even one young life because of this email, I would be the happiest person on earth.



L.K.BERRY.

Detailed Design & Drawing before start of the project

The topic sounds strange in real estate and in the field of construction related to buildings. I was talking to various architects and all of them showed a common constraint and that is the mind of owner and so many fears architect and owner posess.
But one question remain and that is what about the detailed drawings of features. There are some areas which are very much common like stair case and plumbing drawings and other MEP drawings which if correlated in the begning saves lot of changes while construction.
We all know this but still??????
We should think on this and try to figure out the way by which we can control the cost by the way of controlling too many changes. This will optimize the cost and time both and I think then we can give more time to our engineers to spend with their familise which otherwise is a rare commodity in construction industry.

Working Hours - a long pending question to be answered by our Construction Industry Tycoons

This is a long pending question unanswered by the tycoons of construction Industry. Sometimes we feel amazed on the instance of this question -

"What long working hours? Who cares? If we have to live we have to work! Isn't it?"

Same answer from all those who are afraid of talking on this issue.

Afraid of? What is the fear? No not only loosing the job. Then?

The fear of getting harrased by the immediate boss who himself in most of the cases is an employee.

Harrasment? Why? Is the person in the centre of discussion do not perform well?

No, that is not the case. Then? Actually the boss feels that if the person will get time to think or enjoy the family then he or she will start looking for a new job or in another instance may ask for betterment in some kind.

I don't think that if a person is contributing towards the betterment of the organization he or she is eligible to be benefitted at the same time.

Another voice (of another employee came) - This sounds like socialized culture. Not acceptable in today's world. If you have to survive you have to be physically present there or else you are not required.

Oh my gosh! what a thought process. I can remember example of Japan where people used to be workahlcolic and today they are suffering. But who cares if there population is going in negative, they have already exhusted there resources, and now there companies are going bankrupt.

But what does working hours has got to do with bankrupcy?

Nothing much just people tend to produce more than its consumption and the demand goes down very fast and the net result is companies tries to venture out in new dimesnions for their survival, generally they end up creating unnecessary competion and then start selling goods at the cost even lower than its actual cost.

So!

So, simple they die a death of bankrupcy.

So do you mean that proper working hours will avoid the recession?

Yes certainly.

How?

You work only that much as much is required. If you require more and you have more manpower then deploy them. Cost of manpower as overheads is less than 2% of the total cost in construction projects generally. So adding little more workforce shall not harm you. But at the same time just take care of the optimum utilization and ensure that team shall not sit idle.

Still the question of unnecessary working hours remained there. We tend to get diverted on this issue are afraid of getting......

Still we should think if we want a healthy future and a healthy nation. Let our tycoons start thinking that what ever they write on the paper also gets transfered into reality.

May be if we do some soul searching we may find the reason of over working hours in the case of DMRC's accidents or the accidents of other construction project.

Its not that business owners are least concerned about the families of our workers they are even worse while creating an amicable working atmosphere, workers are exposed to unsafe working conditions even after bigger claims from the corporates:

Hope once again for a better future where boss's will not be afraid of working hours but will be afraid of loosing a good human and his family. Hope that we can look into the rising divorce cases and retarding health and reduction in longivity.

Recession and responsibility of HR department in Real Estate - An article as submitted by Gopaal Dhussa

Recession and responsibility of HR department in Real Estate

Few years back when construction Industry was going through major recession it was difficult for Engineering colleges to sustain Civil branch due to no-availability of employment in the field. Then came boom in the industry and every tom-dick & harry started demanding exhorbitant price with literally no skills. HR was given the task of hiring & retaining all kind of engieering staff so that company can beat its rivals. Resource was the name of game!Then came recession once again in the industry and HR was given the task of removing engineering staff but in such a manner so that the company will not get a bad name.Variable pay package is introduced, ESOPs as pay is introduced. Few companies gone ahead and started adding gratuity in the CTC. This was the fall of ethical culture. Qualification took a back seat and people started enjoying palm greasing and buttering. Quality of work deteriorated and at the end of day the weak HR failed to create an atmosphere of wealth with rich experience and expertise in the field. As a result the consumer suffered, country as a whole for bad engineering skills got defamed and infrastructure projects suffered.Someone asked me why do you blame HR and not the owners? The answers is simple. Owners since dayone tend to earn more with less input of cost and this is the case with all industries. Owners hire consultants and HR is part of that consultancy to owner where they are supposed to give correct guideline and feedback to owner so that owner will not loose on account of bad work force. An unstaisfied employee will never give a productive reply. That is where quality and productivity looses the front.HR stands for Human resource and like other resources this resource alo needs nourishment and fatigue to be avoided at all cost. HR has to take care of all thee things.That is why I blamed weak HR...... and made HR department responsible for all this mess present today.

State of Transportation in Delhi

We often excuse Delhi walas for not following road rules and regulations and we curse each other for accidents as well. The Honorary High Court and Supreme Court of India has levied high penalty for law breakers.
But how often do we ask ourself that where are the training schools to train traffic rules?
What's happening to the extra money generated by traffic department through heavy penalty?
Is traffic department sincerely putting their efforts to channelize the heavy traffic and see the smooth movement of traffic?
Is the driver only one responsible for bad behaviour and wrong traffic sense?

After generating so much of revenue from Delhi public what are the facilities Delhi government is giving back to its citizens?

So many questions, who will answer? Waht are NGO's doing to smoothen the relation of public and traffic police?
Last but not the least are we still sleeping to make our lifes better?

Lot is being asked about the Optimum Salaries to be paid to Civil / Construction Engineers

We receive various queries about "How much should be paid to a civil or construction engineer to both fulfill his / her requirement and to retain the talent as well?"
This is a difficult question being posed to the both HR and Owners of construction Industry. We have become typed and we think that any amount being paid to an engineer is more that what he deserves. There is no justification of this notion but the fact remains so and so the question of payment to engineers.
We want all our readers to give us input on this, as today construction Industry is going through a very tough phase and the scarcity of talent has added more to the lack of productive and efficient engineers.

NHAI's NH-8 project done by DSC - Mismanaged or lack of sincerity

Traffic management at NH-8 Delhi-Gurgaon-Manesar Strech seems to be more a mismanaged project in terms of traffic management. There are various reasons for this.
1. At the time of crossing toll at Delhi border towards Gurgaon the Tag lane for people going towards DLF and for people climbing on flyover is same. That means if one has to go towards DLF city then the person has to cross diagonally risking his and others life.
2. There is no check when people intentionally enters into the tag / card lane without having one. I think they needs to be penalized to avoid this situation in future.
3. The staff as usual is not upto date and attentive. A situation of indiscipline cannot be attributed towards this but longer and monotonous working our might have brought this laziness into them.

We need to improve our traffic control along with improving the quality of roads.

Ever thought "Why we talk of delegation in a project but not able to do so?"

Its a major question in todays construction Industry that why our managers do not want to manage and just wants to behave like highly paid, highly empowered engineers.