Thursday, April 5, 2012

Office-Office: Scapegoat

Well, that is what General V.K. Singh seems to have become, with the Defense Minister and Prime Minister throwing up their hands in the leaked letters case. While it appears that this species is rare in the armed forces, it is quite common to find scapegoats in corporate India. What is more, anyone can become one if careless or unlucky.


Consider this. You have put together a marketing plan post some discussions with the team and your boss. Your boss changes it to his satisfaction (and in keeping with vision, or the lack of it) and immediately passes it on to his boss, without any mention of you or the team in his email. But god is great (or so you think) when the super boss does not see any diamonds or other treasure the plan and promptly trashes your boss for sending sub-standard stuff. (That, super bosses see stellar stuff all the time is a myth. They are after all former scapegoats who have got lucky and risen to power.)

While you are grinning with glee imagining the boss’s expression, you get a bomber – an email from the boss to the super boss marking you in CC that reads: “Dear (Super boss’s name) . (Your name) worked on this plan. Will share the feedback and get (Your name) to re-work accordingly. Sincerely, (Boss’s name)”. Scroll down the mail trail and you will see the super boss using the choicest of expletives describing your boss’ work. There, you have just been made scapegoat.

Sounds familiar? So how do you avoid becoming the next V.K Singh?

For starters, do not aspire to spearhead or contribute to any game changing initiatives for your employer. These only increase your chances and frequency of becoming the scapegoat. You might even be considered for a Scapegoat of the Year award.

If you do end up getting roped in to such initiatives, ensure your contribution is restricted to just listening to the discussion. (Take a leaf from the boss) and making notes. You can volunteer to organize for tea and snacks, as little can go wrong in placing such orders from the canteen (Unless your luck is down and out and the snacks vendor has been changed).

If asked to work on any presentations/ plans, ensure you send the final version including your comments on email. If a repeat of the above example happens, you can do a “Reply All” to the mail by attaching your email discussion on the subject and CCing the rest of the team by asking for their opinion on how to improvise further. That way, you divide your chances of becoming a scapegoat by the number of other people marked on the mail.

If you don’t have the heart (more likely the spine) to do this, find a scapegoat and do to him/her what your boss did to you. Or divert attention to more pressing issues, like someone has done to take the heat off Gen. V.K. Singh by exposing the Army’s attempt of a possible coup.

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