365QOD- Day1046

Legitimate Authority- Part 3

Principle#3 When one is in authority position, they are expected to be fair.  They have to treat each member in the group equally.  Discipline can not be enforced when one has their favorites.

Many years ago I was managing a large team.  One of the employees did something that was not allowed.  Instead of having one of my supervisor’s write him up I wrote him up.  Why?

Joe was a very popular guy.  Everyone loved Joe.  He had not intentionally violated the policy but he did violate it.  So as the manager I wrote him up.  When I was confronted by other employees as to why I wrote him up my answer was in order to be able to write them up.  They were puzzled.

If I did not write Joe, who everyone loved, then I would not be fair when I wrote someone else for the same offense.  You have to treat your followers as equals.  As a person you might get along with someone better than another but they are still your followers and deserve to be treated as equals.

Today’s question is:

“Do you have favorites or do you play fair?”