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05/11/2006 : Scottish employees call for jargon amnesty

As Investors in People marks its 15th anniversary, managers are urged to ditch needless management-speak

More than half of Scottish employees (53%) have given management jargon, such as ‘think outside the box’ and ‘the helicopter view’, the ‘thumbs down’, saying it is a problem in their workplace.

According to the poll - conducted by YouGov to mark the 15th anniversary of Investors in People – employees have a low opinion of colleagues who use management jargon. Over a third (41%) of those surveyed think it betrays a lack of confidence and almost one in five (18%) think people who use it are untrustworthy or trying to cover something up.

More worryingly, the research suggests that jargon can create a barrier between managers and their teams. Whilst just under half (47%) of senior managers think jargon is harmless, four in ten (43%) employees think that it creates misunderstanding about roles and responsibilities and 40% say it results in mistrust in the workplace and makes people feel inadequate.

Almost two thirds of employees (67%) would prefer no jargon at all at work, yet, with over a third (35%) saying that its use is on the rise, the problem looks set to grow if left unchecked.

Underlining the potential ‘desk divide’, bosses are less likely to pick up on the use of jargon, with just over a third of managers (31%) saying jargon is used in their workplace, compared to over half (58%) of employees.

Commenting on the findings, released on the first day of Investors in People Week (6-10 November), Peter Russian, chief executive of Investors in People Scotland said:

“Communication is one of the hardest things to get right in any organisation. This research challenges bosses to think carefully about the impact of management jargon in the workplace.

Using management jargon doesn’t make you a good manager, and the most effective
bosses recognise that one of the keys to engaging, motivating and enthusing people is to communicate in a way which everyone can easily understand."

 

How does your company fare in the jargon stakes? Play Investors in People Bingo to find out! The card and rules of the game were recently developed by Investors in People. Download a card here and find out for yourself.

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