MEMO

TO: All managers
FROM: Brewster Munson
SUBJECT: Dealing with POOP in the workplace

Every day, one encounters a certain amount of POOP in the corporate workplace. One cannot attend a meeting, read a corporate memo, or enjoy a brief lunch without dealing with POOP. In spite of the best efforts of highly trained corporate managers, POOP remains a fact of corporate life.

How then should the individual corporate citizen deal with POOP? First, accept the existence of POOP. Do not try to deny a POOP situation or sugar-coat it. The faster you can recognize corporate POOP, the easier it is to move on to the next step.

Step two is an attempt to understand where the POOP is coming from. Knowing the source will greatly help you with step three, limiting the influence of POOP. Remember, if left unchecked, POOP can affect the morale and well-being of an entire organization. So, whenever possible, try to accept a small amount of POOP as inevitable, while preserving your action possibilities.

Above all, try to maintain an open mind when dealing with Persons Offering Opposing Perspectives. After all, not every radical-sounding idea is automatically detrimental to the corporate interests. Even the daily lunch break, originally presented as a POOP agenda, has proven to be a beneficial practice if correctly supervised.

Never confuse POOP with PEEP. Persons Expecting Equal Participation are generally young and idealistic, and careful handling by middle managers usually reduces PEEP behavior significantly. Still, an emotionally-involved PEEP can become a POOP regarding a specific issue or corporate policy.

To reduce the incidence of PEEP to POOP transformation, we have developed the Peers Observing Peers program. Through a series of rewards for reporting suspicious or non-productive peer behavior, the POP program has managed to reduce PEEP2POOP significantly.

Remember this formula:

PEEP without POP equals POOP.

Or, stated more positively, PEEP plus POP reduces POOP.

Finally, do not confuse POOP with PLOP. The phrase "Persons Lacking Our Perspective" has negative connotations and should not be used to describe Persons Offering Opposing Perspectives. Thus, POOP is acceptable, PLOP is not.

To summarize: POP your PEEP, accept POOP, reject PLOP.