MYTH: I have been humiliated by mi manager in public.
REALITY: The manager might have be n provoked; or he is the kind who doesn’t follow the ‘respect the individual’ policy
Any public humiliation scars the person involved. He might withdraw into a shell and start avoiding people who had been present at that time. In extreme cases, he might take time off to overcome this trauma, or even leave the company.
Every company should practice the policy of respecting the individual. It might have been a weak moment in which the manager humiliated his employee; if so, he should apologize to the employee at the earliest opportunity. There is also a scenario where an employee feels humiliated, even without the managers intending it. That can take place in an informal setting where a comment from the manager is taken out of context. It could be a joke or a funny remark that hurt the person. In such instances, the employee should approach the manager and sort out any such misunderstanding. That would be a good lesson for the manager.
Sometimes, a manager can humiliate an employee because he was provoked into doing so—it could have been an infuriating statement; criticism a company decision; ridiculing co-workers; demeaning some decisions; or a comment Unacceptable in a healthy work environment. Alternatively, it could be that a project is in a critical stage and the employee’s casual approach in not meeting with his commitment and not showing any seriousness towards it, might have infuriated the manager. Sometimes, a manager gets enraged because an employee keeps repeating the same mistake in spite of the manager’s feedback.
Whatever the cause, the manager should maintain his calm and call the person aside to provide the feedback, rather than do it in public. And very rarely, a manager might intentionally go public with his
anger; -this may be to douse a fire ignited by an employee’s statement, and to drive home the message to other team members that they shouldn’t be a party to such acts. But even in such cases, propriety should be maintained, and the manager should keep his boss informed about the circumstances under which this was done. Public rebuke is never acceptable.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE EMPLOYEE? it might be an accumulation of some previous incidents which has led to this. It could be that something similar had happened with some of your colleagues, of which you might be unaware, triggering this outburst. Talk it out with your manager and find out the real reasons behind his outburst. You could apologize if you are at fault.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE MANAGER? The adage—Praise in public, critique in private’—is good advice for you. You should respect the individual, and sort out the issue immediately with the employee.
