WHY Employees Break the Chain of Command *

Has a co-worker, friend or family member ever come to you after an incident with his/her superior, feeling as though they had been stepped upon, ignored, betrayed and undermined?

Well, if you have not experienced this yet, chances are you will…

Leading causes of employee dis-satisfaction and management circumvention include, but are not limited to:

• Management Inertia = A superior’s lack of respect for deadlines or the importance of actions they may need to take in order for you to do your job. Leading to extreme frustration, an employee may feel that they need to be heard by a higher power before the manager’s lack of time and task management adversely affects the employee’s ability to do his/her job. So, they circumvent the middle manager and head directly to a senior leader.
• Management Breach of Confidentiality = Taking an employee’s expressions of concern or frustration and bringing it to the attention of senior leaders (i.e. the manager’s manager). This typically happens when a manager is in CYA mode, or, a manager is using the employee’s concerns as a scapegoat for a possible failed project and blame being placed on the manager for that failure. In this case, the employee may feel the need to plead his/her case to senior leaders, so they know the true context in which the frustration and concern was expressed, proving that the employee really did have the best interest of the project in mind.

From an employee’s perspective, rest assured, they realize that they are side-stepping the normal and accepted chain of command; however, many a time they are willing to accept those consequences in order to truly get the job done and/or clear their own name.

I am not an advocate of management circumvention, but if you find yourself under the direction of a manager who repeatedly does not respect your work efforts enough to respond to your needs or chooses to expose your feedback in an unattractive manner – consider going to senior management for advice. Then, accept that the outcome may not be in your favor, depending on what level of politics are at play. Still, hedge your bets that if the quality of your work speaks for itself, senior management will listen to you and assist you in getting the job done. And, if none of these options work in your favor – recognize that this workplace may not be the one for you; because, if they will not respect your commitment to achieving their goals, find a place that will…!

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to visit or re-visit my previous posts: “The Peanut Butter Sandwich Syndrome (aka Middle Management)” and “Employees Learn What Managers Live...”

* Based on an article in Strategy & Business.

Wishing You Success,
Natalya