Rocking the boat: how to effect change without making trouble
Book Review
Rocking the Boat is a book about how we manage the balance between the identity and culture we bring to a workplace and the actual culture of the workplace. It is for those who wish to change workplace cultures that may be insensitive or unconsciously discriminatory toward the culture and beliefs of others. The book uses social identity theory to define how we see ourselves, based on the groups we identify with, compared to the cultures that develop within a corporate setting. The attitudes and practices that prevail in corporate cultures often mirror the dominant culture at the expense of minority groups. Those who do not identify with the dominant culture, outsiders, can feel pressured to become part of the dominant group in the context of the workplace, but there is the conflicting pressure to stay true to one’s group identity.
Author Debra Meyerson uses the term “tempered radical” to describe those change agents who negotiate between the self and the dominant culture of an organization. She argues that it is the tempered radical who can transform the culture of the workplace, if they understand that the type of change that occurs will not take place sudden dramatic shifts. The type of change initiated by tempered radicals happens in lesser acts that have personal importance to the “outsider” who feels discriminated by “insider” culture. These smaller steps toward change are used as a means of starting a conversation rather than causing an instant change of policy. It is the persistence of the tempered radical that keeps the conversation going and ultimately causes change in the workplace culture through leverage of these smaller meaningful acts.
Meyerson outlines several strategies that can be used to advance change without risking the status and reputation of the tempered radical. At one end of the spectrum, a tempered radical can “resist quietly while staying true to oneself”. At the other end of the spectrum, the tempered radical attempts to initiate collective action. Maintaining the outside self to strengthen the insider group self is a delicate matter, but Meyerson has assembled a number of examples based on her research of actual workplace environments. Through each example she has modeled a scenario that covers the major types of conflict between outsider and insider groups. For those who are in the corporate type of environment I think that this book is a useful tool to help one negotiate through the work environment with a positive sense of self, but I wonder how this applies in other work environments where the sense of responsibility toward creating a positive work environment is non-existent.
Obviously, this will not apply in work environments where the workers are easily replaceable and are often replaced to avoid obligations to increase a workers’ salary over time. The assumption is that management in the workplace will be responsive to the tempered radical’s attempt to create a more inclusive culture, if one of the strategies is employed. I would suggest that the tempered radical must first measure how receptive management will be. In any case, a hostile, insensitive workplace culture is something that is difficult to manage and should not be tolerated for any extended period of time. The options are limited – find a new workplace and hope that the culture is better or take the steps toward creating change in the workplace culture.
Author Debra Meyerson uses the term “tempered radical” to describe those change agents who negotiate between the self and the dominant culture of an organization. She argues that it is the tempered radical who can transform the culture of the workplace, if they understand that the type of change that occurs will not take place sudden dramatic shifts. The type of change initiated by tempered radicals happens in lesser acts that have personal importance to the “outsider” who feels discriminated by “insider” culture. These smaller steps toward change are used as a means of starting a conversation rather than causing an instant change of policy. It is the persistence of the tempered radical that keeps the conversation going and ultimately causes change in the workplace culture through leverage of these smaller meaningful acts.
Meyerson outlines several strategies that can be used to advance change without risking the status and reputation of the tempered radical. At one end of the spectrum, a tempered radical can “resist quietly while staying true to oneself”. At the other end of the spectrum, the tempered radical attempts to initiate collective action. Maintaining the outside self to strengthen the insider group self is a delicate matter, but Meyerson has assembled a number of examples based on her research of actual workplace environments. Through each example she has modeled a scenario that covers the major types of conflict between outsider and insider groups. For those who are in the corporate type of environment I think that this book is a useful tool to help one negotiate through the work environment with a positive sense of self, but I wonder how this applies in other work environments where the sense of responsibility toward creating a positive work environment is non-existent.
Obviously, this will not apply in work environments where the workers are easily replaceable and are often replaced to avoid obligations to increase a workers’ salary over time. The assumption is that management in the workplace will be responsive to the tempered radical’s attempt to create a more inclusive culture, if one of the strategies is employed. I would suggest that the tempered radical must first measure how receptive management will be. In any case, a hostile, insensitive workplace culture is something that is difficult to manage and should not be tolerated for any extended period of time. The options are limited – find a new workplace and hope that the culture is better or take the steps toward creating change in the workplace culture.
