The 9.17% solution:: Inside the dark side of work

Copyright: Frances Horibe 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical—without the prior written permission of the author.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Horibe, Frances Dale Emy

the 9.17% solution: inside the dark side of work

ISBN 978-0-9949290-2-0

1. Personnel management 2. Careers 3. Corporate culture I. Title

Cover design: Deanna Fenwick

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Inside the Dark Side of Work

Present Senior Management

Structure of Summit Inc.

Present Structure Summit Inc.

Consulting and Marketing Organizations

Characters in the old Summit Inc.

Rane Consolidated-Summit customer where 9.17 scandal first identified

Jamie

Jamie attends an AA meeting

Jamie follows Stella

Jamie’s first day at Summit

Jamie angles to meet the VP

Jamie meets Asha instead

Jamie charms Asha

Asking Stella to be his AA sponsor

Eviction notice

A drink with Kelly

Jamie admits being in a bar to Stella

Jamie fakes interest in Stella’s area

Jamie’s moved in with Kelly

Jamie’s dad comes calling

Jamie’s childhood

Jamie needs Stella’s AA help

Asha has never eaten pizza

Stella offers Jamie a job

Jamie needs a new sponsor

Jamie stumbles on a scam

Jamie tries to get in on the scam

Asha prepares for the executive retreat

Jamie prepares for the retreat, too.

Jamie to the rescue

Jamie at the executive dinner

Asha is suspicious

Jamie waylays the President

Jamie takes the plunge

Stella knows about the job offer

Jamie gets Stella back as sponsor

Stella

Stella gets ready for work

Stella comforts her daughter Abby

Stella puts out a fire

Stella hires Jamie

Jamie’s first sale causes problems

Stella ten years ago

Stella’s alcoholism

A celebration at home

Stella tries to fix Jamie’s blunder

Stella speaks with Alan

Alan calls Stella after the retreat

Rod pulls an end-run

Alan discusses Jamie

Stella confronts Rod

Stella called on her lying

Rod

The all-staff meeting

A re-organization announced

Rod runs into Alan, his VP

At the harvest festival

Rod trying acting in New York

Rod finds an anomaly

Re-organization fall out

Rod talks to a security guard

Rod and Anne at the theater

Rod tells Anne about his suspicions

Rod considers retirement

Reality check

Alan

At the all-staff meeting

Alan worries about the blind-siding

The former CEO Tim

Alan thinks about the scandal

Tim wants Alan’s help

Re-organization fall out

Alan convinces Nella to come to the dinner

Alan protected himself against the scandal

Dinner with the new President

Nella and Alan fight

Nella offers a deal

The edge of the slippery slope

Alan at the executive retreat

Reminders of the old scandal

Rod tells Alan about Jamie

Alan fears disaster

Alan testifies at Tim’s trial

Asha tell Alan about Jamie

Philippa

Phillipa prepares to address the all-staff meeting

The origins of the scandal

If onlys

The final nail in the coffin

Phillipa at the Board meeting

The Chairman of the Board wants more control

Phillipa resists

Phillipa at home

Phillipa and Colin

Fred tries to wrest control

Alan tells Phillipa

Phillipa wants to fire Jamie

Phillipa remembers

Alan and Phillipa discuss the possible new scandal

Phillipa tells Alan about the over-time scam

Alan offers to resign

Colin back home

Phillipa sets up the plot

The plot evolves

Alan does his part

The crucial board meeting

Phillipa springs the trap

The Essays that Follow

Undercurrent in Jamie Story: Drive for Power

Ambition and power

Philippa and Jamie are both ambitious. Or power-hungry?

Organizations need people after power

Undercurrent in Stella Story: The Need to Lie

Examples of required lying

Why do organizations require lying?

When truth and when not

The personal cost

What can you do?

Undercurrent in Rod’s story: Ethics versus Reality

Why was Rod afraid?

Fear and organizations

Fixing a culture of fear

Should Rod have reported the suspected fraud?

Undercurrent for Alan’s story: Unwritten Rules

Unwritten rules abound

Can you bring yourself to work?

A difficult choice

Philippa: Managing the Undercurrents

The power of systems

Making system change

Addressing undercurrent processes

The results follow chaos theory

Conclusion

A Final Word

Synopses of the Stories

Synopsis of the Jamie story

Synopsis of the Stella story

Synopsis of the Rod story

Synopsis of the Alan story

Synopsis of the Phillipa story

Introduction hyperlinks

Why use fiction to make these points?

Power (Jamie) hyperlinks

Is Jamie redeemable? Is it the organization’s job to do it?

The drive for power has been around for a while

All the undercurrents are interconnected

Lying (Stella) hyperlinks

These essays are intentionally provocative

Is it really lying?

Lying to maintain control

Ethics (Rod) hyperlinks

Should you separate home and office ethics completely?

Fixing a culture of fear

Unwritten Rules (Alan) hyperlinks

Managing Undercurrents (Phillipa) hyperlinks

Acknowledgements

As always, writing this novel/business book involved the help of many people. It was amazing the number of times I would meet a friend or colleague in a bad mood, whining about how I couldn’t figure out a particularly knotty problem only to have them generously contribute their considerable intellectual powers to helping me solve the dilemma.

In particular:

•Ed gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get going on the project

•Roberta provided me with the first research I needed.

•Rod’s input expanded and nuanced the concepts presented so they were both clearer and more useful

•John’s combination of literary insights and management experience made me rethink and hopefully improve various aspects of both parts of the book

•Barb’s sense of structure and feel for management greatly shaped the form of the book

•Marcia’s feel for language and experience in large organizations was invaluable

•Brigid’s perspective made me think through some of my assumptions about the eventual reader

•Michel helped ensure the focus of the essays was relevant to today’s executives

•As my ideal reader, Janet provided both constructive criticism and enthusiastic support in just the mix I needed

•Mont’s feedback on the final version allowed me to assess whether the whole thing hung together.

•Bonnie, Helen, Mark, Lorraine, Colette, Suzanne, Katita, Geoff, and Lynden provided interesting and helpful discussions as I was working through the essays.

•Maureen, long-time friend and booster, encouraged me to keep going.

•My writing group, Sue, Aprille, James, Jessica, Collette, and John helped shape the fiction with their insightful comments.

So thank you all for enduring the whining, the this-is-so-hard, with more grace than I delivered it and turning the poor-me into help.

The danger of listing particular people is to leave unacknowledged all the others who influenced, deepened, and challenged my thinking but who are victims of my faulty memory. So many thanks to everyone whose helping hand over the rough spots has been so valuable.

Inside the Dark Side of Work

Enron, AIG, Lehman Brothers, GM, Chrysler, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Toyota, British Petroleum (BP)….the list goes on and on. High drama in real life. The financial crisis of 2009 highlighted that what happens inside corporations can, for ill or good, affect the ordinary person. These decisions can tank our savings, lose our jobs, threaten our physical safety, and foul our environment.

But as Niall Ferguson points out in The Ascent of Money, the shady practices Enron epitomized live on.¹ For example, in 2016, Volkswagen admitted that it had installed ‘deception software’ in approximately 11 million of its cars to avoid emissions tests identifying they were 7-25 times above legal limits. Similarly, recently GM paid 900 million fines over defective ignition switch which it had known about for over a decade.²

These shady practices don’t come out of a vacuum. They have grown and grown acceptable in a corporate environment where undercurrents of power, lying, ethical blindness, and unquestioned loyalty operate unnoticed and unchecked. What really matters in organizations is hidden. So power grabs are disguised as good for the company, reckless behavior as swash-buckling, and control freakiness as quality standards. It is the recipe for great drama and a minefield for all who work.

Both novel and business book

This book addresses both the drama and negotiating the minefield. The first part is a novel set in a firm called Summit, Inc. Summit has grown large and prosperous providing human resources consulting services. We follow Summit’s fate through the eyes of five people, from working level to President, as it tries to recover from a very public scandal. And see how the forces which operate in every company every day, unacknowledged and yet powerful, buffet both people and organization.

The second part of the book are essays which use the stories as springboards to highlight a particular aspect of the dark side of organizations, whether it’s the damaging effect of power hunger, the pressure to lie, or the slow grind that forces us to be less than we can be at work.

We can’t always control the drama but we can at least be alert to when the drama may affect us.

The characters

The main action of the novel occurs in Summit, a human resources outsourcing firm. The org charts below provide the reporting structures in place at the time of the novel. There is also a list of relevant players from Summit’s immediate past as well as some of the characters from Rane Consolidated, a Summit customer where the scam is first identified.

Present Senior Management Structure of Summit Inc.

Present Structure Summit Inc. Consulting and Marketing Organizations

Characters in the old Summit Inc.

•Tim Sandoff—former CEO of Summit

•Ravi Dalwalh—programmer who installed the initial scam

•Geraldo (Jerry) Verde—VP Finance

•Ben Henderson—auditor fired by Summit; Maggie’s husband

Rane Consolidated—Summit customer where 9.17 scandal first identified

•David Rane—President

•Mr. Ornan –supervisor, loading dock

•Larry—loading dock employee

•Mack—loading dock employee

•Charlene—purchasing trainee

The Novel

Jamie

Jamie attends an AA meeting

This seems like a good one. A lot of office towers just down the street. He helps himself to a coffee. He swallows hard. This first part is always the hardest. His hand grips the Styrofoam too tightly and a little spills on the tablecloth. He grabs a napkin.

That’s okay. Jamie sees a slim hand with a blue and silver ring before he looks up to see an older woman smiling. She sticks out her hand. Stella. New here?

He nods. I’m starting at a company down the street—this one was the closest.

Glad to see you’re planning.

They drift naturally together to the rows of rickety chairs in the middle of the basement. Somehow, it isn’t a surprise when Stella clears her throat and says, Shall we get started? During the preliminaries, Jamie looks around. Most of the group look pretty upscale—suits or at least dress pants. Ties to a man. No grunge. No down and outers. His type of group.

We don’t have a guest speaker today, so who would like to say something?

As if to repay her for that moment of kindness, even though she isn’t exactly looking his way, Jamie stands. Hi, I’m Jamie. I’m an alcoholic.

Hi, Jamie, comes back from the small group.

I’ve been sober thirty-seven days and… he looked at his watch, six hours and four minutes. That gets a small laugh from the group. I’ve just started a new job and I’m worried the pressure will screw me up.

Come on, Jamie, Stella says, The pressure isn’t what makes you screw up.

He lifts a hand in acknowledgement. Right. I’m afraid I’ll screw up when things get intense.

What kind of pressure? A thin man with a prominent Adam’s apple.

Jamie shrugs. I’m on probation for three months, I’m working with a guy who may be out to get me.

Stella comes up to him as the meeting is breaking up. Glad you came. I hope I wasn’t too hard on you.

Jamie shakes his head. I really liked that you called me when I was bullshitting myself.

Stella nodded. We all need it once in a while.

You work close to here? The tailored suit, conservative but form-fitting. The silver spiral necklace for a bit of personality. On her way up. Not there yet, but on her way.

Yeah, a couple of streets over. She puts her purse straps over her shoulder. See you again, I hope.

Jamie follows Stella

Jamie waits until he figures she’s reached the exit and then follows. The front door is closing. He takes the steps two at a time to catch a glimpse of her down the block. He starts after her, keeping well back, pausing to look at the display of ladies’ après-ski when she stops at the crosswalk. She walks another half-block, then into the revolving doors of one of the towers. Jamie races after her. In the lobby, he sees her wave to the security guard and head to the left bank of elevators. Damn! He is resigned to waiting until the next meeting when he really looks at the security guard. No grizzled vet. A girl, college kid probably. He goes to the desk. She looks up and Jamie knows right away it’s going to be easy. Hi, I wonder if I could ask you a favor.

She looks down, a slight flush on her cheeks. No, not that kind. A security guard? I don’t think so. Sure. The coyness is not quite concealed.

He not quite smiles. It’s a little embarrassing…

She smiles eagerly, looking almost cute. That’s okay. You wouldn’t believe what I hear on this job.

You know the lady you just waved to? The startle in her eyes confirms what Jamie already knows about his power.

What about her?

He gives a kind of shy laugh. She’s a friend of my mom’s. She nodded to me outside and I drew a blank. It wasn’t until she turned in here I caught on. I want to go to her office and apologize. Otherwise, I’ll catch it from my mom.

The girl smiles. A mom friend not a girlfriend. Sure, what’s her name? I’ll look her up in the directory.

He smiles directly at her. Here’s the really lame bit—I can’t remember her last name. Just Stella. You know how it is—mothers are always introducing their friends and they’re all middle-aged with grey hair.

He knows he has her when she smiles at the ‘middle-aged.’ Tell me about it.

I hoped you knew—I saw you waving to her.

Gosh, I don’t, she says with true regret. She sees Jamie’s face and tries harder. But you know—I could access the security pass database. If I do a search on Stella, we could narrow it down.

Jamie lights up. Hey, great idea. Thanks! He gives her his special smile and she types faster.

There are three Stellas. She is frowning at the screen. Which elevators?

The left, he points.

East Tower. Hey, down to two! She looks up, obviously expecting congratulations.

That’s great. But which one?

The girl returns to her screen. One’s a manager with Summit and one’s an admin assistant with CalTechtronics. Either ring a bell?

Jamie does a glance blow off the side of his head. Summit! Of course.

Yeah, they’re big. They have four floors. She glances again at the monitor. Stella Gazani, fourteenth. She writes it down.

Their hands touch as he takes the sheet. You’re a life-saver!

She sits up straighter, ready for the next question.

He gives a cheery wave as he moves to the left and catches the tail end of her brightening and then dimming. He heads through the bank of elevators to the entrance on the other side. Once on the street, he pauses. He stares at the municipal library sign across the street for some moments before it comes to him. He crosses the road.

Jamie’s first day at Summit

Jamie gives another look in the mirror. He wishes for a better suit. This one is old as the hills and he still isn’t sure how he’ll get through to pay day so he can get a new pair of pants and a couple of shirts. He vaguely wonders whether his father would front a loan but pushes that away as soon as it floats in. Dad would want to horn in on his good luck. No point in making it easy for him.

Jamie knew his luck was turning when he looked Summit up on-line. He read everything he could about the scandal. When he flipped to Monster.com, there were no fewer than six ads for Summit. Of course, nobody in their right minds would work for it with those indictments still pending. It was the new tobacco. He thought about applying directly. But the recruitment process, even for a desperate company, was bound to take at least a couple of weeks and his rent wouldn’t tolerate even so modest a delay. Goddamn landladies who were happily married, no matter how fat and graying.

He was quite proud of himself when he thought of employment agencies. But he didn’t know who had Summit’s account. Atkins Professionals was the third he’d tried, on a tip from the recruiter at the last agency.

He knew it was going to work when he casually mentioned his ambition to work for a consulting firm and the employment agency guy perked up. The employment guy—what was his name? Can’t remember—the employment guy had casually, as a fisherman throwing out a lure, mentioned Summit. They both pretended not to know Summit was frantic for warm bodies. Jamie was careful not to react with anything but enthusiasm for a short-term contract. Jamie smiles. The best—when the fisherman doesn’t know who’s being reeled in.

His new boss at Summit is even grayer in person than over the phone. Jamie, I’d like you to help Pieter, our top guy, with the marketing materials for the Recruitment Practice.

Sure, Mr. McAllister. But I’m pretty good at taking a project and running with it. I’d be happy to do that, too.

McAllister laughs. A pale, thin beer kind of laugh. I like that in a young man. Ambition and drive. But it’s only a six month assignment.

Jamie grins the embarrassed grin. I’m raring to go.

Jamie angles to meet the VP

Jamie heads off to the next meeting. He waits until it is almost half-over before deciding she isn’t going to show. He toys with dropping off on the fourteenth to run into her but decides against it. Better here.

Still, there are other fish to fry.

Most of the senior managers are on the sixteenth. Jamie has no reason to go up there and Pieter is making sure he doesn’t. Pieter is a prick, a guy on the make if there ever was one.

Jamie hangs over the baffle of Pieter’s space. Hey, guy. Made the changes to the PowerPoint Mr. McAllister wanted. Want me to run it to the VP’s office?

Pieter shakes his head. No, I’ll send the file to Asha. She’ll load it.

Asha? Sorry, I’m still trying to get the names straight.

Asha, Vent’s assistant. Roger Vent, Pieter repeats in response to the crinkle in Jamie’s forehead. Our VP—the VP of Marketing.

Oh, right. The one giving the presentation.

Pieter nods. This afternoon.

Jamie sticks his head into McAllister’s office. Sorry to disturb you, Mr. McAllister.

McAllister lifts his head. Yes?

I was just wondering—do you want me to check out the equipment on the 16th—just to make sure everything is right for Mr. Vent?

The thin beer smile makes its appearance. That’s nice of you, Jamie but Asha usually—

I know but it’s an important presentation and coming out of your area, so I thought it might be good to double check.

The beer turns to single malt. A good thought, Jamie. If you don’t mind, it would put my mind at ease.

No problem. I’ll do it on my way to lunch.

Jamie meets Asha instead

Lunch is a good time. With any luck the Vent guy is an eat-at-your-desk type. And secretaries—sorry assistants—usually bugger off for their shopaholic fix as soon as they can. Jamie waits until 12:30 to be sure.

So naturally he’s pissed when a young woman is seated like a sentry outside Vent’s office. She reading a book and finishing the last of what looks like a pita wrap. She swallows hard when she sees him and reaches for a napkin.

Hi. Didn’t mean to startle you.

She shakes her head as she wipes her mouth. That’s okay. It’s just most people clear out at lunch.

Are you Asha?

Yeah. How did you know?

Jamie gives her his special smile. I’ve only been here a while but I’ve heard a lot about you. Sounds like you really run the place. He inclines his head towards the inner office.

She giggles. Actually, she’s cute in a kind of suicide-bomber way. That’s not true. I just work for Mr. Vent.

Mr. McAllister wants me to load Mr. Vent’s PowerPoint.

Asha’s face darkens a bit. I do that. Why does he want you to?

Jamie throws up his hands. You know bosses. Ours is not to reason why. Because that doesn’t seem quite enough, he shrugs. Sounds like this is pretty big for Mr. McAllister. I think he’s worried.

She smiles. He is a bit of a ditherer. She gets up. I’ll show you the room. As she walks around her desk, Jamie takes a peek into the inner office. Damn. Can he never catch a break?

They walk through the long corridor. Her steps are small and her arms stay close to her body as if she wants to contain how much she impresses herself upon the world. Nice tits. I like perky.

Once they’re done, he walks her back to her desk. He looks in again to the inner office. Damn, damn, damn. She smiles. A smile that hopes for a return but is not confident of it.

Jamie charms Asha

What the heck. He clears his throat and looks down at his shoes. You know, I’m new to the company and I’m really worried about screwing up—oh, excuse me— he glances up and the smile is wider. I mean, I want to do well but I’ve never worked in a company this big. I don’t know the ropes…

Oh, it’s not that hard. I could… she stops and looks down at the desk as if searching for somewhere to stow her faux pas.

Would you…no, I guess that’s too pushy. Jamie swings his gaze back up to catch her look of protest.

I wouldn’t mind at all. It was hard for me, too. She averts her eyes. I’m kind of shy.

You, too? They both laugh and she looks him full in the face. He does the embarrassed laugh. I don’t suppose…do you think we could have coffee sometime so I could ask you about Summit?

Sure. Downstairs does a pretty good cappuccino.

Or even… Jamie pauses strategically and looks down, Lunch?

For some reason, this is too much. Her lips close momentarily in a tight line. I don’t know…

Jamie takes a step back. I guess not. You know, you’ve been great. Why don’t we forget the whole thing?

No, no, I’d like to. She pauses and then a deep breath. It’s just… Jamie can see her deciding. It just—my parents are kind of strict. Silly, huh? She invites Jamie to join in laughing at her.

His face is grave. I think that’s great. I wish I had parents. To care that much, I mean.

Really?

Jamie shrugs. My dad died when I was young and my mom died last year.

Jamie, I’m so sorry. She half-rises from her chair.

He smiles bravely. Oh, well, thems is the breaks. He makes a body move to leave.

She takes a deep breath. You know…lunch would be great. I mean, after all, we’ve got to eat.

But your folks…

She takes another deep breath. No, it’s fine. It’s fine. She looks at him defiantly.

He walks to the elevators. This will be fun.

Asking Stella to be his AA sponsor

Jamie looks around the basement of the church. Stella’s not here again. He blows out a breath of exasperation. He thought he was onto a good thing. Now he’ll have to look for someone else. After all the trouble he’d gone to to get into Summit. He looks across the circle to Lawrence. Bit of a goody two shoes look to him but the suit and manicured nails say doing well. The only thing is, Jamie’s pretty sure he’s gay. He has a nose for that kind of thing. On the one hand, they fall like women but honestly, he likes to be the one on top. Still…

She slips into a seat near the entrance. Finally. He plumps himself down next to her and smiles as some dork continues her sob story. He whispers, Nice to see you.

Afterwards, he follows Stella to the coat rack. I was hoping to run into you.

Stella turns away from the rack. Really?

Last time, you said you’ve been sober for ten years. That’s quite an achievement.

Stella nods. It was when I was pregnant with Abby. Of course I stopped drinking. But it was more of a struggle than I ever imagined. It’s when I had to accept I was an alcoholic.

"Wow, that’s really…I guess this is kind of corny…but it’s