Respect from other departments... Non-Existent?

So.. I have a story, which involved a non-staff member curse at me because my boss caught her watching youtube on another computer (Logged into two computers so screen recording wouldn't catch her.) Both of which are again policy protocols and easily worth a firing.

Now, I did the "Get angry part" before where I'd fight back and send someone home for catching the 'attitude' when they're in the wrong. I wanted to ask this woman "Do you need this job?" and fire her on the spot if she said "no." I just didn't. I guess because of all the political BS, I left it up to my boss to decide what to do. I was commended on that from my bosses, yet the supervisors (Her bosses) and the like couldn't understand I didn't take any action.

I'll coin a phrase she said to me: "Get the hell out of my face." This was while another supervisior was asking her "What's wrong?"

What's the worst part about this situation is - I'm the messenger. I even told her "My boss called me, he told me to tell you..." and ignored the request... Up to the point I actually hunted her supervisior. Then she quickly closed Youtube, but still was logged in. To me, she was ignoring my boss.

Is this something that's common place? Ignore the IT persons, and do what they want to, despite warnings and the like?

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Comments

networker050184

Do you have the authority to fire people in other departments on the spot?

msteinhilber

We have access and acceptable use policies in place like most other IT departments do. People will always try and bend the rules and bypass policies when they can, has been that way forever. In my environment, while we have policies that are agreed upon by upper management - they are rarely if ever enforced. I find it counterproductive to allow things like what you described get under your skin. Record it and report it to the proper channels and consider your part of the process completed.

Roguetadhg

I do.

The last couple of times I've tried to enforce the "No Cellphone Policy" It became an issue of my boss getting told that I shouldn't enforce it, and it's their (supervisiors) job to enforce.
Then there's the swipe badge policy... Where you can't walk to the door, otherwise the door will unlock. My boss: You should leave them outside and keep ringing the door bell (which I did). Their boss: You should've opened the door.

I could keep going on examples

It's actually not bothering me. It was more of a question of "Does it happen everywhere, should I expect the lack of disrespect for policies and IT in general." Like I told the supervisiors, My boss decided what to do with the problem I still get my paycheck.

msteinhilber

I have yet to work for a company where communication and relationships between departments is very good. Lots of companies out there where departments look out for whats best for themselves rather than the good of the company as a whole.

ptilsen

I think this is commonplace, especially in larger organizations. Different departments and even different teams have power struggles, and in some organizations, they are quite overt. Depending on your position, insulating yourself from these conflicts as much as possible is often the best choice.

blargoe

It shouldn't be your job to enforce policies or confront employees when policies are broken - your manager should take it up with their manager or HR. That is the way it has been everywhere I have worked. You manage the system, report issues to management, but it should be up to management run it up the flag pole.

Sounds like your boss is a limp noodle.

shodown

So what is your actual job role? Are you in management? How large is your company? IT workers should not be involved in enforcing policy on people, just policy on the actual network. If you see someone doing wrong after you tell them its your mangers job to take it to the next level. This is a battle most IT workers will lose 9 times out of 10. If you have the political will and capitol to do battle with other department and feel its worth it, by all means go after it. On the other end, if your manager is not going to go to battle with you its best to walk away than to create enemies in the company. This woman could have some serious political pull in your company and you just awoke a sleeping beast as she had problem to tell u to bugger off.

bigdogz

@ Roguetadhg. I worked in a place with a similar problem where employees would not bring their badges into work. We were nice and told them to make sure they use their badges and of course most of them followed the path of lazy. We started walking away from our area when those folks would come back knocking and guess what, after being escorted in by security a few times they figured it out.
In regards to firing said person. I personally think that it is up to management. You should be consistant in your approach and follow whatever guidelines/policies. This will teach the offender and others that the company policies are nothing to ignore and they will be enforced.

Good Luck!!!

Roguetadhg

Good to know there's these struggles everywhere then

nosoup4u

Set her up in vlan with no outside access or some serious QoS for a bit. When she complains tell her "Submit a ticket"

petedude

In the past when companies had more strict lines of authority and were more hierarchical in nature, IT usually had some clear delineation of authority and areas that IT could enforce easily. This is no longer the case, unfortunately, as IT has become much more commonplace and is increasingly populated with commodity skillsets (e.g. desktop support). Another factor is that many companies in general have been moving towards less-authoritarian workplace cultures, which makes enforcement of policy that much more difficult.

So, yeah, Rogue's problems are pretty much all over