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During the daily morning production meeting, the first shift supervisor spends 5 minutes trashing second shift, in front of 6-8 people from different functional groups. I couldn't stand it any longer and reported it to the area manager.  Area manager said he would look into. He also asked if he could use my name. I asked the area manager to just double check with another person present to be 100% sure I didn't misunderstand anything. Did I do the right thing?

This is not the first time this person has trashed the other shift. If I was his boss, I would have seriously considered termination. Many of the people I spoke with say he does this routinely.There is a grand canyon size rift between the two shits. It is really hurting the performance of the entire department. The area manager knows it. The area manager has stated he is committed to bringing the two shifts together.

There is a number of paths I could have taken. The first would be the approach the individual directly. I did not take this path because the individual involved is not, let's say, "Very Receptive" to negative feedback. He is also one rank above me in the hierarchy.

The second approach would have been to go to HR. In this case, the area manager would likely not be so happy because I did not contact him directly. I guess going to HR could have allowed me to maintain some more confidentiality.

The last approach would have been to do nothing. It's not technically my functional group. This person is senior to me. Not my problem to solve. I also am going to have to work with the supervisor in question in the future on projects. Don't want to burn that bridge.

 

 

 

lar12's picture
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Don't jump to negative feedback...MT recommends 6 weeks of O3s and 6 weeks of positive feedback before introducing negative feedback.  That's 12 weeks of relationship growth!  Why not use this as an opportunity to build a relationship with the guy?  Chances are that there is more to the story that you know/see and it will give the chance to add to your network.