great idea
Muppet greetings fail to fire up staff
JAMES DOHERTY
IT WOULD strike David Brent, the fictional boss from hell, as a brilliant management idea: instead of greeting staff with the usual "good morning", encourage them to address each other with a 1976 song from The Muppet Show.
Yet, despite millions of us recoiling in horror at some of the motivational tactics employed by Ricky Gervais’ character in the BBC comedy, The Office, managers at a new B&Q warehouse due to open told the bemused staff that morale at the DIY store in East Kilbride would improve if they greeted each other in the morning with lines from the whimsical Mahna Mahna song.
On hearing the first line, the staff would be encouraged to continue with the baffling, if catchy, chorus, which continues: "Do doo be-do-do".
However, the motivational stunt, dreamed up at a management brain-storming session, has backfired, with some staff now threatening to quit work.
One member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: "East Kilbride managers were at a training day when it was announced they would replace good morning with Mahna Mahna.
"The staff had just returned from lunch and all the managers were in a training room, sitting in a semi-circle and looking really pleased with themselves. Then one of them blurted out ‘Mahna Mahna’ at us without warning. We just stared blankly back at them.
"Then another manager repeated the phrase, and asked what our first reaction was when we heard it. When someone mumbled back ‘do doo be-do-do’, they all burst out laughing and were nodding at each other, saying, ‘Told you so’."
JAMES DOHERTY
IT WOULD strike David Brent, the fictional boss from hell, as a brilliant management idea: instead of greeting staff with the usual "good morning", encourage them to address each other with a 1976 song from The Muppet Show.
Yet, despite millions of us recoiling in horror at some of the motivational tactics employed by Ricky Gervais’ character in the BBC comedy, The Office, managers at a new B&Q warehouse due to open told the bemused staff that morale at the DIY store in East Kilbride would improve if they greeted each other in the morning with lines from the whimsical Mahna Mahna song.
On hearing the first line, the staff would be encouraged to continue with the baffling, if catchy, chorus, which continues: "Do doo be-do-do".
However, the motivational stunt, dreamed up at a management brain-storming session, has backfired, with some staff now threatening to quit work.
One member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: "East Kilbride managers were at a training day when it was announced they would replace good morning with Mahna Mahna.
"The staff had just returned from lunch and all the managers were in a training room, sitting in a semi-circle and looking really pleased with themselves. Then one of them blurted out ‘Mahna Mahna’ at us without warning. We just stared blankly back at them.
"Then another manager repeated the phrase, and asked what our first reaction was when we heard it. When someone mumbled back ‘do doo be-do-do’, they all burst out laughing and were nodding at each other, saying, ‘Told you so’."
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