Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Quality of Work Life

Abstract

In 2005, an American television series, The Of fi ce , hit the airwaves. Strongly in fl uenced by its British counterpart of the same name, The Of fi ce portrays events in the typical work day of a small group of white-collar employees at a paper-supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The series is a fi ctional documentary of work life. The of fi ce manager, Michael, is simultaneously ignorant, insensitive, and boorish while attempting to be politically correct. His inappropriate interactions with his employees make the viewer want to cringe. One now classic episode, Diversity Day (Novak & Kwapis, 2005 ) , portrays a trainer sent from corporate headquarters to conduct diversity training for the staff. Michael muddies the efforts of the trainer by attempting to co-facilitate without being invited to do so, only to create an early ending to a failed exercise. After he sat down with the trainer to discuss where, in his opinion, the trainer fell short, Michael discovers that headquarters had only planned a group training program in order for him to save face because, in fact, his own employees had fi led complaints about his racist and sexist remarks. He himself had generated a desperate need for the training. After refusing to sign the requisite documentation of participation in the program using his own name (he used "Daffy Duck"), Michael conducts his own diversity training the "right" way that very afternoon. Each employee was randomly assigned a label with a sticky note, indicating membership in a protected group to place on his or her forehead. While employees were unaware of the content of their own personal billboards, Michael instructed them to walk around the room and make positive comments about the characteristics of other people based on their labels without directly revealing the reluctant target's group assignment. The one Black man in the exercise left in disgust when he realized his sticky note said "Black." Needless to say, the training did not go well. Stereotyping and condescension were rampant, basically because Michael effectively induced those behaviors.In this and other episodes, Michael's consistent ineptitude creates a sense of incredulity in his subordinates, often generating anger and then a lingering frustration at being stuck in jobs with limited alternatives. To make matters worse, the self-serving assistant manager, Dwight, vigilantly ferrets out and reports infractions of of fi ce rules and company policies. While his goal is to eventually assume the position of manager, his strategy for reaching it is primarily shown through his eagerness to identify faults in others. The employees quite possible feel a sense of learned helplessness. Not surprisingly, the work climate is best evidenced by the employees' desire to escape. While all employees at The Of fi ce watch the clock, some break