Pariah Professions: I

Back when I was an engineer, if you hung around the cafeteria long enough, you'd hear the term "bean counter." It was a term of disparagement. Today, the Wiktionary defines it, quoting the Financial Times, as "A person, such as an accountant or financial officer, who is concerned with quantification, especially to the exclusion of other matters." They note that the term is "mildly derogatory." My own experience is that there was nothing mild about it, especially during layoffs, downsizing, or other resource squeezes. To be a bean counter, from the point of view of an engineer or other product-oriented employee, was to be a member of a pariah profession.

In more general contexts, a pariah is an outcast. (For the etymology of the term, again I refer you to the Wiktionary.) In organizations, we can define a pariah profession as an outcast profession. It might serve an important function organizationally (as financial experts certainly do), but its members are socially excluded from some circles, often solely on the basis of their professional affiliation. This exclusion applies not only to the professionals associated with the mission of that organizational function, but also to all members of that functional unit. For instance, in an enterprise in which the "Business" folks have little regard for engineers of IT (information technology), they would have similar views of the clerical and administrative employees associated with IT.

The costs of these enmities are enormous. Here are two mechanisms that affect collaborative behavior in organizational cultures that tolerate pariahdom for some of their professions.

Distortion of contributions

In meetings and exchanges of communications of all kinds involving pariah professionals, contributions from the pariahs can be distorted in two ways. First, the contributors might tend to structure and time their contributions so as to Disrupted collaborations involving
the pariah profession can
result in inferior outputmaximize the probability of acceptance. For example, they might threaten, temper, cajole, exaggerate, or invoke authority. Second, the recipients of contributions from pariahs tend to interpret those contributions in light of their sources. For example, they might discount, dispute, refute, or disregard those contributions.

These distortions affect the ability of members of pariah professions to contribute the benefit of their expertise to the organization.

Disruption of collaborations

When output of the highest quality requires collaboration among people from several professions, any mechanism that limits or distorts contributions from members of one of those professions can degrade the output. At times, to address this problem, collaborators will reject one member of the pariah profession in favor of another whom they regard as more compatible. Unfortunately, if the role of that profession entails acting as a check or modulator of the group's decisions, such substitutions themselves can degrade the output.

Disrupted collaborations involving the pariah profession can result in output that's inferior, but whose weaknesses lie outside the awareness of the collaborators.

We'll explore pariah-related behaviors that involve information management next time.  Next in this series  Top    Next Issue

Are you fed up with tense, explosive meetings? Are you or a colleague the target of a bully? Destructive conflict can ruin organizations. But if we believe that all conflict is destructive, and that we can somehow eliminate conflict, or that conflict is an enemy of productivity, then we're in conflict with Conflict itself. Read 101 Tips for Managing Conflict to learn how to make peace with conflict and make it an organizational asset. Order Now!

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Conflict Management:

What Makes a Good Question?

In group discussion or group problem solving, many of us focus on being the first one to provide the answer. The right answer can be good; but often, the right question can be better.

A Critique of Criticism: II

To make things better, we criticize, but we often miss the mark. We inflict pain without meaning to, and some of that pain comes back to us. How can we get better outcomes, while reducing the risks of inflicting pain?

Anecdotes and Refutations

In debate and argumentation, anecdotes are useful. They illustrate. They make things concrete. But they aren't proof of anything. Using anecdotes as proofs leads to much trouble and wasted time.

Characterization Risk

To characterize is to offer a description of a person, event, or concept. Characterizations are usually judgmental, and usually serve one side of a debate. And they often make trouble.

I Could Be Wrong About That

Before we make joint decisions at work, we usually debate the options. We come together to share views, and then a debate ensues. Some of these debates turn out well, but too many do not. Allowing for the fact that "I could be wrong" improves outcomes.

See also Conflict Management and Workplace Politics for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming July 28: Be Choosier About Job Offers: II

An unfortunate outcome of job searches occurs when a job seeker feels forced to accept an offer that isn't a good fit. Sometimes financial pressures are so severe that the seeker has little choice. But financial pressures are partly perceptual. Here's how to manage feeling that pressure. Available here and by RSS on July 28.

And on August 4: What Are the Chances: I

When estimating the probabilities of success of different strategies, we must often estimate the probability of multiple events occurring. People make a common mistake when forming such estimates. They assume that events are independent when they are not. Available here and by RSS on August 4.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenXEiRBfuFHUtjHrqUner@ChacpYPvvSVhUNIOeXHKoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Public seminars

The Power Affect: How We Express Our Personal Power

Many people who possess real organizational power have a characteristic demeanor. It's the way they project their presence. I call this the power affect. Some people — call them power pretenders — adopt the power affect well before they attain significant organizational power. Unfortunately for their colleagues, and for their organizations, power pretenders can attain organizational power out of proportion to their merit or abilities. Understanding the power affect is therefore important for anyone who aims to attain power, or anyone who works with power pretenders. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   

Bullet Points: Mastery or Madness?

Decision makers in modern organizations commonly demand briefings in the form of bullet points or a series of series of bullet points. But this form of presentation has limited value for complex decisions. We need something more. We actually need to think. Briefers who combine the bullet-point format with a variety of persuasion techniques can mislead decision makers, guiding them into making poor decisions. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.