All of us are members of the UPS family. It’s a good family, it’s well respected and wins many awards as the ideal family. But we all know that in the real world, outward appearances often hide internal conflict. The ideal family is not the norm, the more common family is the dysfunctional family. Is UPS a dysfunctional family?
Here are some examples of patterns that frequently occur in dysfunctional families. See if any of these sound familiar in your relationship with UPS. Just substitute the work :management” for the word “Parent”.
Parents have addictions or compulsions such as overworking, that have strong influences on family members.
Parents use threats as the primary means of control.
Parents exploit the children and treat them as possessions whose primary purpose is to fill needs of parents.
Parents threaten to withdraw financial support.
Parents exert a strong authoritarian control, often rigidly adhering to a particular belief.
Compliance with role expectations and with rules is expected without any flexibility.
Since we are treated as the children in this family, we all suffer some common problems. Some of us may often:
Experience “reality shifting” in which what is said contradicts what is actually happening.
Have excessive structure and demands placed on our time and behavior.
Be restricted from full and direct communication with other family members.
Be ignored, discounted, or criticized for our feelings and thoughts.
Experience rejection or preferential treatment.
Dysfunctional families often foster children who question their self worth and are unable to trust their own judgements. Not surprisingly, they may experience problems in their work.
In common with other people, members of dysfunctional families often struggle to interpret their situation as “normal.” The more they have to accommodate to make the situation seem normal, the more bizarre their world becomes. Do you feel that life at UPS is bizarre?
Is your UPS the ideal family or the dysfunctional family?
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Welcome to the Denverbrown Blog
You know what a blog is.
Blog: It is a specialized site that allows an individual or group of individuals to share a running log of events and personal insights with online audiences.
This is the Denverbrown Blog. And it’s not just for me. It’s for you too.
Denverbrown has been around for about 5 years and I’ve given a lot of opinions on a lot of issues important to me. Bob Newhouse also poured out his soul on the pages of Denverbrown. Neither of us are timid about saying what’s on our minds. I know sometimes our readers have agreed and sometimes they haven’t.
Anyone who has something to say about UPS or the Teamsters or labor or politics or whatever is welcome to post here.
Just email me your story and I will post it up for you.
If you want to become a regular contributor, that can be arranged too.
Comments are welcome after any posting also.
Now you can share your thoughts and opinions. You can use your name or you can use an alias, I don’t care. Nobody else cares either.
It’s the ideas that we share that count.
This is the page of Denverbrown that will be always be fresh and updated. What’s new and exciting at UPS? You will find it here.
So check back often. Hell, subscribe. But most of all, contribute. You know what I think, let the world know what you think!