Written & Unwritten Rules (Reprise)

This is a reprint of my post from August 2011. It also applies to this series.

Every organization or community requires rules to avoid anarchy, according to traditional thinking. Most businesses operate based on sets of written and unwritten rules. Your compliance to the written and unwritten rules will affect your raises and assignments within the company.

William’s Story

William started working for a company as a sales representatives. He kept to himself and performed his duties well. In fact, he usually exceeded his sales goals. He determined that his vast experience in sales transferred directly to this new company. He focused his networking on clients and did not build a network of people within the sales department or company in general. He did not seek the assistance of a mentor.

Unfortunately, the sales department operated on conflicting sets of written and unwritten rules. For example, the policy stated that sales representatives  needed to submit their paperwork by quitting time each Friday. The sales vice president, however, wanted all paperwork submitted by Wednesday. In addition, the company HR guide stated that sales representatives could wear “white or light colored shirts”. However, nobody who wore colored shirts ever got promoted. Finally, the sales department set official sales targets very low, but expected their sales representatives to deliver double the targets.

William’s lack of network and mentor prevented him from learning all these unwritten rules. One lady in the sales support staff tried to inform him. William, thinking her position as menial, did not believe her. He continued to submit his paperwork on Thursday, thinking he was early. He continued to wear colored shirts. He felt underappreciated when his sales exceeded 60% of his targets.

The sales vice president decided William did not fit into his sales team. William’s consistently submitted his paperwork late, did not dress appropriately, and did not achieve his sales goals. William did not get assigned the key accounts. He did not receive the best sales support, nor did he get invited to some of the sales meetings. He also did not get the bonuses he felt he deserved.

He felt his efforts were unappreciated by management and left for new employment never realizing why the company treated him the way they did.

Rules within Business

Companies record written rules in policy manuals, procedure or operations guidelines, memos, signs, and posters on walls and screens. Litigation increasingly pushes corporations to create more written rules, and to  enforce the rules they wrote. Frequently, the human resource division (HR) receives the assignment to draft written rules, while management remains responsible for enforcing them.

Nevertheless, codifying every facet of human interaction remains a daunting task. As a result, most businesses still maintain unwritten rules or commonly ignore written rules. Understanding and abiding by both the written and unwritten rules affects how management perceives employees. New employees, or long-term employees who wish to rise within the organization, face the challenge of learning both the written and unwritten rules.

The responsibility for teaching written rules falls on the human resource department during orientation. In addition, employees must assume responsibility to read and abide by guidelines. Some employees, fail to recognize this and think they can excuse mistakes by saying “I didn’t know”. Management expects people to study the rules, internalize them, and abide by them.

However, no one officially receives the assignment to teach unwritten rules. Traditionally, employees considered on the “fast track” received tutoring from mentors. Today, mentors and internal network contacts pass on the understanding of unwritten rules and how to comply with written rules. Employees that fail to develop network and mentor contacts frequently fail to learn the rules. As a result, they do appear to fit into the business or project team.

More on This Topic

Several sources of information on written and unwritten rules exists. Adrienne Mendell writes about how women suffer a disadvantage from unwritten rules. Bill Swanson, CEO of Raytheon, wrote a list of unwritten rules of management in 2001. Annie Mueller shares some general ideas for complying with unwritten rules. A current best seller is First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.