AOOP Organizational and Occupational Psychiatry E-mail Bulletin -- August 2010.
This month’s message from the Academy comes from a board member, our
Vice President: Greg Couser.
Here are his observations on the workplace:
Fiddlesticks! I have to admit sometimes slightly worse expletives than this
come to mind when I'm having a particularly bad day. But in the workplace,
as both a physician and a leader, I suppose I need to behave. This probably
means I need to keep my frontal lobe in check and keep my curse words to
myself.
However, would it be so bad if I blew up every once in awhile, at least to
get the attention of others around me? I could spice things up and keep
other people guessing so I don't become too predictable. After all, slot
machines work on a variable ratio schedule. You're never sure when they're
going to pay, so you keep playing. I'm wondering if a selective breech of
etiquette on my part might serve a similar purpose and pay every once in
awhile.
The editors of the Harvard Business Review were wondering the same thing in
their June 14 article, Should leaders ever swear? You can access this
article at
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2010/06/do_good_leaders_swear.html
<http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2010/06/do_good_leaders_swear.html> .
As organizational and occupational psychiatrists, we're interested in
nuances of leaders' behaviors. Leaders turn to us for advice about what to
do and what to say. And so the somewhat provocative question, "Should
leaders ever swear?" is quite relevant to our field.
And if you've ever attended an AOOP meeting, you know these aren't the
typical boring didactic lectures. A simple question like this could spark
an hour-long spirited conversation with rather diverse opinions, many even
backed by literature and case examples. I am looking forward to such
discussion on April 16 and 17, 2011, at the University Club in Chicago, and
I hope to see you there.
So here's my opinion about leaders swe----Drat! My pager just went off.
Gotta go.
Greg Couser, MD, MPH
Greg knows about the power of being charge, as a medical director and a
Chief Resident as well as the challenge of the workplace as a psychiatrist
and an occupational doctor.
Here is more about Dr. Couser:
Greg Couser, MD, MPH is the medical director of both the Employee Assistance
Program and Employee Occupational Health Case Management Program at Mayo
Clinic. With a previous background in industrial engineering, Greg is
interested in prevention and a systems approach in optimizing health and
productivity of employees.
Dr Couser has also published: Challenges and opportunities for preventing
depression in the workplace: a review of the evidence supporting workplace
factors and interventions. J Occup Environ Med 2008 Apr;
50(4):411-27.PMID:18404014. DOI:10.1097/JOM.0b013e318168efe2.
This note, past notes and future notes on a variety of workplace psychiatric
issues can be found here on the Academy of Organizational and Occupational
Workplace:
Until next month,
Daven Morrison MD
AOOP Board President