Lower-level behavior of employees impedes the actions and progress of others. Whining is one of the most common forms that means that a person acknowledges a problem but takes no action to resolve it (Hoffmann, 2016). Cynicism and pessimism serve to attract attention and extract sympathy from others (Wong, 2007). Tolerance means that a person is unhappy with something but is silent about it, acting as a victim of the circumstances (Hoffmann, 2016). People who whine or demonstratively “tolerate” something are not good team players and consume energy from the team.
Whining is the most typical behavior of difficult idealists. Idealists are people who are patient, creative, and caring, and are good at solving problems, but who also are very emotional, easily get upset, and are overly sensitive to criticism (Wong, 2007). When disappointed, they disengage from the team, become pessimistic and victimized, refuse to contribute to the common goal, and may tale please in watching others fail.
In order to deal with this type of behavior, a positive working environment needs to be established. One option is to create a communicative climate that is open to a certain extent, with the expression of negative feelings being discouraged in the working group but allowed between individuals (Areskoug Josefsson et al., 2018). Another is to teach employees to criticize their colleagues in a constructive way (Gaskell, 2018). When dealing with people who are prone to complaining, it is recommended to acknowledge the problem but not encourage whining (Wong, 2007). The best way to do it is to suggest taking constructive actions to resolve it. Complaining can be a good thing, but only if it is done in the right way and addressed correctly by the team, management, and employees themselves.
References
Areskoug Josefsson, K., Avby, G., Andersson Back, M., & Kjellllstrom, S. (2018). Workers’ experiences of healthy work environment indicators at well-functioning primary care units in Sweden: A qualitative study. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 36(4), 406–414. Web.
Gaskell, A. (2018). The right (and wrong) way to complain at work. Forbes. Web.
Hoffmann, E. (2016). Co-operative workplace dispute resolution: Organizational structure, ownership, and ideology. Routledge.
Wong, Z. (2007). Human factors in project management. John Wiley & Sons.