Adversity between Companies, Departments,etc.

Wildsporty · January 2006

I have a situation which I am trying to correct. I have both U.S. and International companies. One of my international managers and employees in our U.S. Company are having problems working together as they have differences of opinions.

My CFO has asked me to write a policy that states they must work together in harmony as a team and be respectful of each other in both verbal and written communications and work together as one unit on all projects.

They are miles apart. Does anyone have any ideas on how I could word this to not make any one department or country or employee feel like it is aimed at them? I do not want to lose any employees or hurt any feelings.

Has anyone else dealt with a problem of adversity between divisions, departments or companies?

HELP!

HRCalico · January 2006

I've been thinking about this for a day to see if I could come up with any amazing advice to help you whip this problem into shape. I got nothin' (sorry!). I hate to be Polly Rainstorm, but writing a policy isn't going to do much, and no matter how carefully you word it, chances are EVERYONE is going to think it is directed at them, whether they are part of the problem or not. I can assure you, however, that you are not alone with this problem.

This is going to sound awfully touchy-feely, but in my advice to the Yelling Chef post, I suggested finding out the whys. Perhaps an impartial third party (such as you?) could approach both departments separately and ask them what the problem is. You may find something like the US department is overwhelmed with work since they're short-staffed, and int'l dept head is asking them to do more and more and getting snooty when they are unable to meet his/her demands. Who knows.

Something I forgot to mention in Yelling Chef - do you have an Employee Assistance Program? (That's an even better impartial third party) I would imagine there is something out there that has overseas ties, but I don't know what or who. Anyway, they are trained to handle problems specifically like this. If you don't have one, you might look into getting one!

The easiest way I've found to get two people or departments or whatever that hate each other is to find them a common enemy. Really! It pulls them together like no other. However, depending on who or where the enemy is, it can create other problems.

Another possible suggestion - depending on your turnover and size - is to hire someone in one or both departments specifically to handle with the other problem department. They don't have the history (although if you are not careful, the current employees will "poison" them quickly) and make sure they understand it is specifically their duty to work with this department.

I haven't a clue as to the size of your company and what you do, so my experience probably won't apply. But here goes - we had a production manager that not only didn't communicate well between management and the production floor, but did not communicate what was actually going on. He put his own (usually negative and/or incorrect) spin on everything. Our company culture really took a beating (he was there 45 years, in charge for perhaps 30), and it is going to take us a long time to recover. We are trying to improve direct communication, though. If something is going on of importance, our new production manager will go around to each department and fill them in. They really, really appreciate that. We also pull everyone together once a month or so and go over numbers, goals, etc. It really helps everyone know what is going on. I know in a company like yours, you can't pull everyone together. You also can't really know what each department or company head (or whoever) is telling their domain. But you can try to do everything in your power to make sure that communication is happening and that it is positive. I was going to suggest a newsletter, but I'm guessing you're too big for just one; maybe you can have the departments (or whatever division makes sense) write their own, and share them with everyone else? It all really depends on your structure.

Finally, you can just tell everyone that it is their responsibility to work together - they don't have to like each other, but at a minimum support each other as required in their duties - and if they don't, they're out. You have to be prepared to follow through with that regardless of who it is, though, and that can be tough.

Good luck, and please give us an update.

PS - I don't always give the best advice (and definitely NOT the shortest!), but sometimes one post will help get the ideas flowing from others.

CindyG · January 2006

Whenever we have issues between employees at our company, we bring them together to discuss the problem in order to help resolve it. I think dealing with this head on with the involved parties rather than drafting a policy would resolve the problem more quickly. The "perpetrators" may not think that this new policy is specifically addressing their actions and may not recognize that their behavior is causing a lack of harmony and feelings of disrespect to other parties. Then you would still have to deal with the issues head on anyway. We have locations in different states, not overseas, but we set up conference calls so we can all speak together.

System · January 2006

Can't add much more than what's already been said (and I agree with almost all of it), except that you should have rules of conduct that: require professionalism in all business dealings; prohibits rude and inappropriate communications; and forbids disruptive behavior and actions that undermine the business. Hold them accountable for acting like adults.

Adversity between Companies, Departments,etc.

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