I just don’t want my employees thinking that their jobs depend on performance. I mean… what sort of place is that to call home?

- Michael Scott, Branch Manager, Scranton

I’m a huge fan of The Office. It took me a little while to actually get into the show, but the characters are well developed, the shot-like-a-reality-show angle is oddly refreshing, and the laughs (often unintentional) are non-stop. The show seems to be pretty popular among many of my HR friends, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence – it can teach you a lot about human resources!

Michael Scott: The (Wannabe) Leader

People say I’m the best boss. They go, “God, we’ve never worked in a place like this. You’re hilarious, and you get the best out of us.” [lifts up World's Best Boss coffee mug] Um, I think that pretty much sums it up… I found it at Spencer Gifts.

- Michael Scott

Michael Scott’s not a bad guy. He’s just a terrible boss (despite what his mug says). He’s obnoxious, racist, sexist and incompetent – but he means well. Michael is a pretty obvious case-study in what not to do as a boss, but he has some redeeming qualities that can teach you a lot about what you should do, too.

If Michael has one saving grace, it’s that he genuinely wants his employees to enjoy life at the office. If you’ve read the Sandbox mission, you know that’s something I’m pretty passionate about, too. Michael goes out of his way to make sure his employees feel recognized and rewarded for their work. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the Dundies episode from season 2.

Tonight is the Dundies – the annual award night here at Dunder Mifflin – and this is everyone’s favorite day… So you know, any employee will go home and he’ll tell his neighbor, “Hey, did you get an award?” and the neighbor will say “No, man. I mean, I slave all day – no one notices me.” Next thing you know, the employee smells something terrible from his neighbor’s house. The neighbors hanged himself due to lack of recognition.

- Michael Scott

How good are you at rewarding and recognizing your employees? If you want to keep your employees motivated, it’s important for you to validate them and recognize their efforts regularly.

Jim Halpert & Stanley Hudson: High Potential But Not Engaged

Jim Halpert (left) and Stanley Hudson have a lot of unrealized potential. Stanley is a solid performer who consistently does just what he needs to – nothing more, nothing less. He’s clearly disengaged. He spends every moment that he’s in meetings filling out crossword puzzles, and makes it quite clear that he comes to work just for the paycheck.

Jim could probably run the company if he actually wanted to. Over the last four episodes, he’s displayed leadership, innovation, and an unsurpassed ability to unite his coworkers around a cause. So what’s the problem? Those qualities only manifest themselves when he’s doing something that detracts from worker productivity.

Every manager encounters employees like this at some point in their career. The fix is to understand what motivates them. Whether it’s having fun, being well compensated or just being recognized for a job well done, make sure you’re providing enough of it.

Dwight K. Shrute: Stellar Performer But Bad Team-Player

Dwight may be the single best salesperson at the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch. He’s also a horrible team-player. I think everyone has some variation of Dwight in their office. He’s the employee who makes great numbers but cuts everyone else in the office down and kills morale. How do you handle Dwight? Coaching – lots and lots of coaching, and in some circumstances, termination.

Too often, companies allow bad behaviors to perpetuate just because an employee hits the bottom line. What those organizations fail to realize (or acknowledge) is that while their stellar but obnoxious employee may directly improve the bottom-line, he or she may indirectly lower it even more significantly. Bad team-players can bring down a whole work group with their presence, and kill the productivity of that team. It’s essential that you either coach that employee’s soft-skills up to an acceptable level, or manage them out of the organization. In the long-run, they’ll only hurt you.

Toby Flenderson: The Useless HR Rep

Toby is everything that is wrong with this company.

- Michael Scott

Toby is the classic “personnel” guy – he moves paper around, keeps records, and (spinelessly) attempts to enforce corporate policies. Michael has zero respect for him. And as much as he’s a characture of the 1980′s HR folks, he’s unfortunately not too far off from how some human resource professionals are even today.

HR plays an important role in aligning employee behavior with organizational goals. The best way to be respected as a business partner is to move away from the administrative work and instead provide strategic value to the company.

Toby is, if nothing else, a not-so-subtle reminder of the kind of HR professional you should make sure you never become.

Your Own Episode of the “The Office”

When you really think about it, your office probably isn’t all that different from the one on TV. Those are some of my favorite characters, and what I think you can learn from them. Who are yours?

I couldn’t end this article without include at least one clip from the show:

Images courtesy of NBC