MSLD 520 Module 3- Constraints on Creative Problem Solving

Prior to working as a student advisor, I worked at a summer camp that mainly consisted of middle and high school students. I had the responsibility to monitor and ensure the camper's safety. Working at a summer camp was my first and most scary job: mainly because I had a very strict boss. My boss always want things to go “his way”, and failing to comply could often times lead you a trip to his office. Scared and wanting to avoid trouble, I made sure that I never bring things (negatives) up, and strictly follow his policies and procedures.

The challenge began when a small group of campers asked me where the restrooms were during lunch time. Since the restrooms were visible and only a few feet away from where I was, I pointed out the direction and let them go. Immediately after directing the campers, I noticed that my boss was right behind me the entire time: which was rare since he was usually up in his office. He then yelled at the group, telling them to wait and have me escort them. After doing so, my boss told me that I always need to stay close with the campers: as in side-by-side.

I almost immediately disliked this idea. I wasn’t that much different from the campers. Most were in their last year or two of high school: ages 16-18. They were highly responsible unlike those at a much younger age. In addition, I found standing and waiting close to the campers to be a bit creepy, I worried that this could potentially hurt the relationship between the staff and campers. However since I made a promise to myself, I did exactly as told.

As my boss started to get in the habit of telling all the employees the same thing he told me, I started to see some behavioral changes from the campers. Many of them started talking back at us more: saying that they’re not in elementary school. The usual free-time in the evening also got quieter since most of the campers rather avoid us by staying in their dorm rooms. When the first program ended, we received a number of negative reviews from the campers, which resulted a rather scary meeting with my boss. In the end, my boss assumed that the campers were “treated like little kids” because of the way we spoke and acted towards them. Despite the multiple training sessions, we still received negative reviews throughout the summer.

After a careful analysis of my past experience, it was obvious that everyone including myself were working in fear. When someone is in fear, it promotes silence, uncertainty, as well as stress (Tucker, n.d.). Fear also creates a domino effect of problems, which could eventually hurt the entire organization. For this example, my boss was likely not informed, and continued to make decisions based on what he knew. Due to the lack of information, the camp still received negative reviews. If I were to go back and fix this problem, I should have disregarded my fear and communicate with my boss more. Supervisor-employee communication is critical to any organization: as they allow the flow of information, and promote stronger relationships (Lloyd, 2015). As long as I avoid sounding too direct and negative, my boss could view things from the employee’s perspectives and implement our comments and ideas to establish effective decision-making. In addition, communicating with my boss may have provided me some opportunities to know him better, which could help reduce the fear all together.
References: 

Lloyd, K. J., Boer, D., Keller, J. W., & Voelpel, S. (2015). Is my boss really listening to me? the impact of perceived supervisor listening on emotional exhaustion, turnover intention, and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(3), 509-524. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1007/s10551-014-2242-4

Tucker, K. (n.d.). The Effects of Fear in a Job Environment. Chron. Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/effects-fear-job-environment-7989.html