I’m in the process of writing a paper sharing some of the insights I’ve gained from participating in interventions in the Caribbean.
I thought I’d add some of the thoughts I’ve been having to this blog, even though I’m pretty sure that the audience remains an audience of One (i.e. me.)
Many Caribbean companies are marked by atmospheres of non-accountability. There are the few that do hold themselves responsible, but the majority don’t. A poll in the US showed that 60% of employees are doing just enough to get paid and not get fired. I put that number higher for Caribbean companies.
Why?
Work, as an experience, has defined who we are as a people, as the majority of our people came to the region to work either as slaves (against their will) or as indentured servants (sometimes against their will.)
Work therefore has particular social significance, as it is interrelated (experientially) with coercion. In other words, work was about coercion, force, violence, silence, rebellion, submissiveness and other feelings that all coexisted during that 300 year period. Is it a wonder that these old ways of being, and attitudes find themselves in today’s workplace?
Francis