Value Distance in Titles
A response to the following questions: At your job (now or in the past) how did/do you refer on boss, and vice versa? Is this inactive of low or high distance value?
(meme and discussion)
How do I Address You?
At every job I have had the manager has always asked to be called on a first-name basis. The same goes for when they refer to me (first name basis). Throughout my childhood, I had been to refer to people of authority or those I respect as Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc. I did not find this in the workplace. My managers preferred to have a more personal relationship with us instead of clearly defined titles being used all the time.
This strategy I believe made the boss feel like more of the team and vice versa. We felt like the boss was a part of the team. The manager now seemed like someone we could comfortably talk to about any issue or question that may arise. I believe this would be considered inactive to low distance value as they are trying to be on the casual employee level.
However, I still find it very important to recognize titles and give due respect to those higher above in the work chain. for example in the meme chandler refers to his boss casually by name (not to mention he gets it wrong), and his boss is less than impressed (we see this in the episode). as employees and managers, we need to judge the situation and address it with the proper respect and professionalism. This would have a higher distance value.
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