Recently, we had a situation at work. There was a major disagreement between Mrs. Tanwa of the very prestigious procurement department of our great organisation and Mr. Olayiwola (Mr. Ola for short) the office manager.
On this faithful day, Mrs. Tanwa had been scheduled to take stock of the new arrivals from our factory at Agbara. Some of these goods to be counted were also scheduled to be delivered to some of our distributors later in the day by our company drivers. According to Mr. Ola, the work schedule for the month had been circulated and assigned duties were apparent. He reiterated that Mrs. Tanwa had been reminded of this task by her team lead at the strategic meeting held by the procurement team. He went further to talk about the report given by the Human Resource department. Mrs. Tanwa takes excess time to complete her tasks and she is highly temperamental. In the words of the HR Manager, “she has been issued query more than once and she does not seem to be bothered by this track record.”
Mrs. Tanwa from her end said her daughter intimated her about the open day at her school and the need for her mum or dad to attend the event. She (Mrs. Tanwa) felt the need to attend the event seeing as she constantly defaulted, and her spouse was not in the country to cover up for her absence at important events such as this. Mrs. Tanwa’s plan was to quickly attend to her child’s need very early in the morning and then return to work to complete her task for the day. Things could not go according to plan however because of the delay at the school and the serious traffic jam on her way back to the office. By the time the team lead realized that Mrs. Tanwa was not at the factory taking stock, a lot of time had been wasted and Mr. Ejiro who took over could not finish in time before one of the distributors (Mr. Shakiru) arrived. He was furious that his truck was not loaded immediately, and he made so many threats and complained bitterly. This issue was escalated to the top managers and Mr. Olayiwola was blamed for not ensuring that all logistics job and every other thing was in place to facilitate the day’s job.
This incident caused the disagreement and uproar between Mr. Olayiwola and Mrs. Tanwa. Mr. Olayiwola was so furious, and he was not ready to go easy on our dear procurement officer. After he gave Mrs. Tanwa a piece of his mind, he went personal and talked her down. He mentioned how she was not doing well at work and how she was incompetent with every task including her chores at home. He also spoke bitterly about her career and said she was better off unemployed. Mrs. Tanwa on the other hand was not having this. She screamed and howled at Mr. Ola for talking to her in that manner. This argument was already getting physical and was reported to the General Manager who issued both queries.
This experience opened my eyes to see that there are tendencies for disagreement in every place or station of work. However, great work ethics ensure that this is curbed. One of the reasons why an establishment employs staff and creates a conducive workstation is for them to work collaboratively and professionally to carry out the objectives of the company. Again, the reason why a person gets employed in the first place is because they have been first considered based on their personality, knowledge, and experience. This stands out an individual for a job role. Taking on a job role does not give a ticket for laxity. Many times, we tend to get comfortable when we scale through an assessment and join an organisation. An employee cannot attain career objectives nor bring value to an organisation with this type of attitude. Laxity, dishonesty, failure to meet goals are not qualities of an employee with good work ethics.
Some tips for great work ethics include:
1. Integrity. This is of utmost importance. When you are competent and your words become your bond, you are marked out by your superiors for promotion. You are let in on very big and important tasks.
2. Professionalism. This goes beyond how you dress. Professionalism also entails our demeanour, one’s approach to tasks and situations. How do you handle a disagreement at the office or a difficult staff? Do you decide to use emotional intelligence and skilfully address the situation at hand, or you would rather be vulgar and go personal to get what you want?
3. Punctuality. Showing up on time is a quality of someone who is ready to smash their goals and add value. Mrs. Tanwa’s track record speaks loudly about lateness. Maybe Mr. Ola would have been calm if she was known for being punctual but made a mistake just once. Your day as an employee could get clumsy if you don’t show up at work early enough and you might not get to all your tasks.
4. Self-discipline and control.
5. Honesty.
6. Time Management.
7. Respect and fairness.
Tips for proper conduct at work is not limited to this, there are several others. There is a need to constantly have the mindset to add value wherever you find yourself. This will confer these attributes of an outstanding employee on you and much more help you move to the stage of creating jobs.
