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"Corporate Narcissism"
by
Jenna West

www.geocities.com/jennawest.writer

    My career with AT&T Wireless began September 2004--a three(3) month temp-to-hire position. My time as an employee with AT&T Wireless was great. AT&T provided a positive work environment that promoted concern for its employees and its customers. Then Cingular Wireless purchased AT&T Wireless. The early stages of the merger were filled with self-praise and high accolades by Cingular Wireless regarding their image, their product, and their corporate strategy to be known as the number one cell phone company in the United States. It all "sounded" good and "looked" good; but, like the old saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding". It didn't take very long to see and feel the effects of Cingular's brand of corporate narcissism.

     According to Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia, Narcissism describes the character trait of self love. The word is derived from a Greek myth. Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus pined away and changed into the flower that bears his name, the Narcissus.

     The terms "narcissism", "narcissistic", and "narcissist" are often used in a derogatory way, denoting vanity, conceit, egotism or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others. Simply put, Corporate Narcissism is a destructive pattern of thought and behavior whose traits include an unrealistic sense of one's importance and power and lacks empathy for the feelings or needs of others.

     How narcissistic did Cingular Wireless appear to those who worked the call center floor that fall day in 2004, as Cingular set up stages and speakers, pulled us off the phones to watch videos concerning the merger, to celebrate the "greatness" of Cingular Wireless and how fortunate we all were to now work for the number one cell phone company in the U.S.A., along with free pizza and soda to all--lights, camera, action! Fake. Fake. Fake. The entire time Cingular attempted to portray its splendor to us, many that day were filled with apprehension and skeptism. There was a sense of "negative" change in the air to any and all that could see through Cingular's narcissistic behavior.

     A maturely run company would not have found it necessary to glorify themselves or flaunt their greatness before the AT&T Wireless call center employees. Instead, they would have humbly presented themselves, clearly declared their objectives, and expectations. No exaggerated hoopla. No braggart behavior. No cloaking their dis-eased condition with a fake facade of self-praise. That foreboding sense of change we all felt that day slowly showed itself over the next two years and it has sucked the life out of many who remained employed and watched the entire transition.

     Management at our facility valiantly fought to hold off a lot of the negative, selfish changes Cingular already practiced in its wireless call centers across the U.S.A. before the acquisition of AT&T Wireless. As AT&T Wireless employees, we received quarterly bonuses plus an end of year bonus as part of our income. It helped to offset the fact we received no commission as inbound customer care representatives when we saved an account from cancellation, upgraded a phone, a rate plan, or added a feature(s), etc. The bonuses were wonderful incentive for maintaining positive morale and customer service production. AT&T Wireless understood that well-cared for and well-paid employees created a positive, healthy work environment that contributed to low employee turnover, less sick days used by employees to unwind from a highly stressful job, and sincerely happier employees who cared about their customer's issues and concerns and had the energy to fairly and compassionately resolve customer concerns. In 2006, Cingular started to pay commission of sorts for sales of added phone features. But the little bit of money earned off those sales was basically like thirty (30) percent of our quarterly bonus. It drastically paled in comparison.

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