It’s hard to combat certain organizational culture issues. One of the hardest is the us vs. them mentality which can play out in a few different scenarios. This mindset is based on the idea that a group of any type can get when they feel as though others have it “better” in some way than they do. It starts off innocently, especially when we want a group to feel empowered together. Sometimes inadvertently we can feed into it with team building exercises. But if you see this in your team, you want to get rid of it as soon as you can because it’s toxic and it can cause lots of issues, like low morale, inconsistent performance and a lack of collaboration.
It can be found in many types of places and here are some examples to help you understand it better.
Where “Us vs. Them” Shows Up
1. Within Departments
If your department is a large enough one, there are normally staff who specialize in certain functions. For instance, in the marketing department, you could have the digital marketers, the creative team, the project managers, etc. Or you could get divided up by your vertical market or by internal product lines, whatever the case, there are divisions within the department.
There can be times that a marketing leader may try to stoke some competition between the groups so he/she could set up a contest to see which one is the most productive or gets the most recognition. If the groups are functional and work well together, this can be a way to boost teamwork within a division. But if not, it can also be a way to pit department members against each other and reinforce bad behavior. Even without a contest, oftentimes people who are more alike prefer to stick together and may have an issue with those who are different, even if they share the same boss.
2. Between Departments
There are also issues with us vs. them with two departments who are often supposed to work together but because of a variety of reasons, they have trouble doing so. Groups can have disparate goals which can make our working relationships difficult. But it isn’t only the difference in goals that can be an issue. It can be the fact that you have different work styles, leaders, priorities and communication skills.
I have worked in many corporate marketing departments, and I can tell you firsthand, the huge differences between how the sales and the marketing teams work at most places. It is very easy for either group to talk trash about the other one as they seriously don’t understand what they do on a daily basis or why they think so differently.
3. Internal Staff vs. Customers
You see the us vs. them between the internal staff at an organization and their customers. If this is a dysfunctional workplace, the staff is encouraged to have more of an adversarial relationship with the client, meaning the company isn’t trying to solve customer issues or make their life easier.
Instead, you want to sell them on your product or service and if the customer isn’t happy, it’s OK because there will be others. Most companies aren’t quite that black and white about the subject, but we’ve all felt that way when we’ve tried to get help. As a customer, you know when the staff person is “on your side” rather than going through the motions and not solving any issues.
4. Internal Teams vs. Vendors
There can be an us vs. them when an organization is working with a vendor. You’ll see it when the internal team makes a lot of disparaging comments about the team at a vendor, usually to assert power. The reason this isn’t a good dynamic is that vendors will do a better job and with more effort for the organizations who are easy to work with and who give them the information that they need. If there is any sort of simmering murky issues, those problems can get in the way of working together in a positive manner. It can impact lots of areas, including deadlines and quality.
5. Leadership vs. the Broader Organization
Another common us vs. them is felt both ways in the leadership team and the rest of the organization. The leadership team may feel that they are supposed to receive different privileges as they are the ones setting the strategy for the organization. And maybe they do get more or better benefits as their skill set may allow them to find those privileges elsewhere if they don’t get it at their current place of employment.
But making others feel less important is never a good way to lead. And, from the other perspective, workers at a company may feel like they are the true stewards of a company, performing the most important work valued by the customer. They may not share with the leadership team as they don’t feel as though they either want to know the information or that they would do anything particularly responsible with it so why bother?
Why It Matters
There are other instances of us vs. them in a company but these are some good starting places to look if you want to evaluate your organization. But why does it matter? There is something to be said about people feeling a sense of camaraderie with others and everyone isn’t always going to be one big happy family. Right?
While I acknowledge that people will gravitate towards others they are like and are comfortable with, it shouldn’t be to the exclusion of another group. If that occurs, you can cause long lasting issues that have an impact on important metrics like employee and customer satisfaction, productivity measurements and even revenue or profit goals.
You also adversely impact important items like communication and collaboration. If individuals aren’t talking regularly to a group that they need to, then neither side gets the benefit of the knowledge, plus they won’t be working together on solving problems, finding root causes, determining innovative methods, etc.
The Bigger Picture
It sounds like a small problem and for some places, it probably is if you have a pocket of individuals here or there who have a bit of a martyr complex. But if it runs rampant throughout the organization, this “us vs. them” mindset can derail an organization’s goals – quickly and with little effort.