Undercover Boss - Reinforcing Bad, Fake, Management? #management

The new show, Undercover Boss, debuted after the Super Bowl. I did not watch it because I am almost NEVER interested, intrigued, or impressed by so-called reality TV shows. But two bloggers who I respect offered their thoughts.

Check out Wally Bock's sharp-as-a-butcher-knife assessment in his post called, Undercover Boss: A Repellant Piece of Trash (come on, Wally, tell us what you really think).

And check out what the HR Capitalist has to say in his post called, Undercover Boss: You Wish That's All It Took to Change Your Business...

What drives me crazy about these programs is how they reinforce that management can be fake, contrived, and self-serving. The TV show's producers would likely respond that this is meant to be entertainment. Sure, that's fine, but it is entertainment that reinforces that our leaders are idiots and that employees are too stupid to figure that out. Wrong and wrong.

So what does this mean for us? We need to work harder to show our employees our real sides, our caring sides, our smarter sides. There is a lot of value to spending time learning what's going on in our organizations, but do it in ways that reinforce and improve relationships, trust, commitment, and connection.

Hey Hollywood - stick with sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, OK? 

I have the same overall repulsion for shows like The Apprentice, by the way.

Your thoughts?

Comments

[Rosa Say]

Aloha Lisa, I posted about the show on Talking Story today as well:
http://talkingstory.org/2010/02/the-great-reveal-of-undercover-boss-now-what/

And within my post I have linked to Jon Younger for the Washington Post which I think was very well written.

The show disappointed me in a couple of ways, but I tried to take a half-full approach in reviewing it. As I had tweeted near the end of watching it, “Happy to hear all the #undercoverboss chatter! Hope it gets workplaces buzzing, talking about things we assume can’t be done, when they can” and I meant it, for I prefer to think of the show as a conversation starter. Every workplace can improve.

[lisa haneberg]

Rosa - thanks for sharing your post's link - how did I miss that? Anyway, I think your point is a good one, that it would be a positive thing if it gets people talking in better ways - and especially if it gets managers and team members talking. I would prefer that to water cooler talk that amounts to, "my boos is a jerk."

[Robert Brisbane]

There is a need for empathy in upper management. That is why this show connects. It is not a primer on management, but it is indicative of the need of others to be appreciated. It is solid entertainment and at times a learning experience

[Bill Churchill]

I find the camera thing amusing. Do you really want people working for you who aren’t at least just a little curious about why the “new guy” is being followed around by the paparazzi? If you’ve hired people who don’t notice anything different in their environment with regard to the camera thing, maybe—just maybe, you have stumbled on to the thing that’s really wrong with your business—the boss doesn’t know how to hire curious people. D’ya think?

I saw some of the first, (and last that I’ll ever watch), episode of “Undercover Boss” last night. It showed how one of the big cheeses at White Castle Hamburgers was going to get to know the front line troops. All the employees played along, and everyone seemed sacchariney happy. Maybe Tony’s Robbins’ employees are always that chipper—but White Castle Employees? I don’t think so.

Tsar Peter the Great had it right. He too went around masquerading as a “common man” in order to get a feel for how things were going in the “common” world. The biggest difference however, is that he left the “yes men” at the Kremlin palace, and donned peasant robes and mannerisms. He went out to study specific people, (shipwrights and the military), for a specific purpose that involved the sussing out of his power base and resources. He did not go out on a self aggrandizement tour aimed at proving to himself, and his “yes men” that he was a great “Enlightened Boss.”

I thought our society was over the Great White Hunter and White Man’s Burden. Evidently not.

I’m not a cynical person, but c’mon people. But how can any of these trust fund babies on this show be anything but Elmer Fudd?

[Die cut machine]

Rosa, thanks for sharing link his post's - how did I miss that? Anyway, I think your point is good, it would be good if it gets people talking about the best way - and especially when managers and team members to speak.

[daytime soap opera spoilers]

As I had tweeted about the end of him, "Happy to hear all the talks # undercoverboss! I hope that the workplace is buzzing, talking about things that can not be assumed, when they can" and it was true, because I prefer to think in show business as a conversation starter.

[50th birthday cakes]

And within your post you have linked to Jon Younger for the Washington Post which I think was very well written.

[Cartuse]

Rosa - thanks for sharing link his post's - how did I miss that? Anyway, I think your point is good, it would be good if it gets people talking about the best way - and especially when managers and team members to speak.

[Garage apartment plans]

The show I was disappointed in a couple of ways, but I tried to take a half-full approach in the review.

[Richard]

Folks, this is business! These CEOs will make more money due to the advertisement that is happening here. There’s lots of crying going on to re-humanize them. They are trying to recover their image from the abuse that is currently being performed on the everyday American. Its greed disguised as an emotional heart.

[Ken]

All you have to do is look at the camera angles. maybe the people are real, and maybe the conversations took place, but each scene it obviously edited and reshot, just like in movies. You will see a shot of the "Boss" knocking at the door, and then a shot from the INSIDE OF THE DOOR as the employee answers it. The "Boss" will then introduce himself. Obviously the cameras were already inside and the employee already knew that the door was about to be knocked on. It was no surprise.

The second problem is that you will see three different camera angles when an employee is talking to the boss during the "Lunch Break." You see an angle looking at the boss face as he speaks, then another camera facing the employee as he responds. BUT ALL IN A SUDDEN THE CAMERAS ARE MISSING AFTER THE SWITCH. They have to stop the action, remove a camera and then shoot again, or they just shoot the same scene from three different angles and edit the scenes.

[mulberry alexa outlets]

Now we have a great walkway that goes to the beach and to the canals that came from the partnership of community with government