Who moved my management? Undercover Boss and the challenges of complex organizations

“Undercover Boss”, the UK-made show, has returned to Italian TVs, sparking debates among TV critics, entrepreneurs, and unions For those who have never seen it, the format is as simple as it is intriguing: the entrepreneur at the helm of a large company disguises themselves, typically pretending to be a new hire, to blend in with the employees and discover their thoughts about the company. But is it reality or fiction?

Without delving into the specifics of a television format, I prefer to extract from the heart of the discussion the real need that the market perceives, namely the detection of company dysfunctions related to the internal climate and the possibility of intervening where there are areas of inefficiency and discontent.

In some companies, this need has been addressed in a directive manner, with interventions imposed from above, without a real listening and approach linked to data and objective observations.

The same ‘Undercover Boss’, which nods to reality shows, reproduces dysfunctions of a behavior that ultimately makes the entrepreneur appear as the deus ex machina who punishes or bestows bonuses based on decisions derived from accounts of the employee’s private life.

A model that, when applied to the daily life of the organization, proves to be distortive if not harmful to the company’s balance. If indeed the goal is to provide feedback on the quality of the employee’s work, the best way to do so is transparently, based on continuous and direct observations by management. Indeed, it is the different managerial levels that carry out the functions of organization, coordination, supervision, and control of their teams so that the entrepreneur does not end up asking himself, ‘who moved my management?’

If the need is to understand areas of dissatisfaction or internal grievances, however, it’s better to use established methodologies to measure the company’s climate, identify training needs of the staff, or improve business processes.

Where the company sells products, offers services to users, customers or consumers, it is possible to go further with a professional approach and innovative methodologies carried out by industry experts trained in listening, observing human relationships in complex and rapidly changing contexts. Is the Mystery Coaching®, A model that objectively detects dynamics of interaction with the public and utilizes the collected data and evidence. For human resources development programs, encoding sales models, reviewing Service Charters, supporting organizational changes, company transformations, and team empowerment.

An approach diametrically opposed to the ‘undercover boss’ model, where the subjective observation of the entrepreneur is replaced by the objective observation of relationship experts. Instead of the magnanimous one-shot granting of bonuses and rewards by the boss (who decides based on what he has seen, followed by the cameras), it is replaced by the teamwork led by professional coaches to encode reward projects and policies.

To support the methodology, there is then a specific standard – UNI 11312 – which also dictates the ethical principles of behavior when operating undercover and defines the set of high-level skills necessary to support private companies and public organizations that need to adapt to the constant changes in society.

In short, to entrepreneurs tempted to reproduce the “Undercover Boss” model, we would like to say: enjoy the reality show, but if you want to intervene in your company, there is a method, and it’s also effective.

Article by Susanna Gonnella