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Peter Sibanda
So after a long discussion on entrepreneurship with a friend I decided to just read a bit about xerophytes.
Xerophytes are plants that have changed their physical characteristics to withstand long periods of dryness. One classic example is the barrel cactus, known for its survival tactics in adapting to desert conditions.

The plant is characterised by deep wide roots that enables it to absorb any available moisture from a brief rainstorm, small, prickly leaves that reduce evaporation in the overwhelming heat, a thick stem (often covered with a waxy coating) that is able to store water (as not much rain falls where cacti are), and thorns to prevent it from being eaten by predators among other things.

This plant is prepared to adapt to even the worst desert conditions.

Well, adaptation aids survival, and being proactive in preparing for harsh conditions (and even the unthinkable) aids in minimising vulnerability.

At the same time being ignorant or reactive increases the magnitude of impact of collision with changing realities.

I wish this logic applied only at a corporate level of an organisation; it is mightily engraved in employees’ minds, which makes it potentially dangerous if not managed properly. Many employees behave like a barrel cactus, particularly those who have overstayed their tenure.

The growing appetite for performance and results in business requires that companies invest time and energy in analysing organisational health, particularly entrepreneurial behaviours of employees.

This minimises the consequence of suffering many corporate dis-eases. One of the results of not checking on organisational health (including levels of social strain) is that you may be losing a lot of productive time and resources when employees are engaging in compensatory entrepreneurial activities as a result of their perceived fulfilment and obligation incongruence. Savvy managers need to ask themselves; how do employees spend their time at work?

And when they are not satisfied, what do they do to get even?

When we see employees come to work every day, not complaining, soldiering on at work etc. we often get an impression that all is well…at least for now.

But many times they may be motivated by opportunities for theft at work especially when an organisation is struggling in terms of performance. In one of our studies on employee reactance and survival strategies, we discovered that when a company is underperforming to the extent of not fulfilling its obligations to employees such as timely payments of salaries and wages, they (employees) become entrepreneurial predators,feeding on the company’s resources and essentially eating it alive.

These forms of entrepreneurship largely are to complement incomes during periods of distress.

We observed that ‘incentives’ (those activities employees engage in to complement their incomes) have become a dominant value to most employees to the extent of becoming an internalised characteristic of individuals.

As a result, employees develop entrepreneurial competencies of organisational resilience as defence mechanisms in tough times and both managers and general employees close this circuit of institutionalised predation.

On the other hand I studied this HR service office which is frequented by employees for personal assistance.

The office holders suddenly have become so omnipotent, more important than even the office itself.  Apparently, quick assistance is assured if one falls for the bet; buying products that are on sale, payable month end of course, or say, after salary payments are made by the company.

Well, AVON products,  Angels products, clothes, you name it; are sold right during the course of the day, at work.

For those that would buy the products, many times they do not even have to queue next time for a service because these are “known customers”.

When you refuse to buy, I just wish you luck in getting assistance. The office holders just steal, kill and waste time for members who just need a basic service before they go back to work.

Why not? They are being entrepreneurial. Who cares?

In fact, many times one feels so lucky to get a service that they deserve. Meanwhile, the office holders are always logged in and “live” on social networks; from Facebook to Twitter, to Skype, to WhatsApp name it.

I believe that whenever employees queue during working hours for a personal service; that is a lot of productive time lost.

And if it is customers who queue, shame on you.

My former boss used to advise that there is no need to put more than 2 chairs in an office if you are dealing with people.

Why should there be a queue in the first place? And such occurrences make one wonder; when people go to work, exactly what do they go to do? What is noticeable is how some employees daily decimate the hours of work they supposedly are given per day focusing on personal empire-building activities at the expense of the company. In fact, people become entrepreneurial in the use/abuse of company time and resources.

It is no longer uncommon for senior business managers to racketeer on crimogenic entrepreneurial activities that seem to transcend ethical logic of business management, such as re-packaging their packages.

Peter can be contacted on 0772906050 or email [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>