Re: Management wars

In article <3p04h4F82qb5U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Pete Dashwood <dashwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[snip]

>In the negotiations for it, I had to contact people who have managed me,
>people who have worked with me and people whom I have managed, and there was
>required to be a mixture of males and females. They are scattered around
>the world and it was quite a job.

Quite a job, indeed... I'm usually lucky if the folks on my
contract-before-last are still at the desks at which I last saw them; I'd
have no idea how to get in touch with folks.

[snip]

>(Fortunately, they were all very supportive, and positive, but
>it made me
>think about what I've done right, what I could've done better, and what sort
>of approaches are most likely to be effective in the upcoming project.)

Fortunately they were all still available!

[snip]

>1. Do I agree at a personal level with the products of this company, and
>consider them useful or, at the very least, not harmful to the populace, or
>am I working here simply because I need to make a living, or because it is
>handy to home, or whatever...?

A variation of Google's 'Don't Be Evil', aye.

[snip]

>Profit to the exclusion of
>all else, is a bad thing.

Excluding profit, however, can lead to eviction and living on the streets
in a cardboard box... balance in all things, aye.

>2. How will working here improve my personal growth?

It will keep me from living in a cardboard box... after that comes
schooling.

[snip]

>If you have a manager who is 'on your
>case'
>and makes life difficult, consider your options. You could quit or get moved
>to another department, but what happens when the next guy is just as bad? At
>some stage you are going to need to deal with 'bad' management.

Try combining Schiller's 'Against stupidity the very gods contend in vain'
with Ellison's 'After hydrogen, stupidity is the most common element in
the universe.' It's out there, one deals with it and if the concentration
in a particular area exceeds tolerable levels one changes location.

[snip]

> 1. Never lose your temper in the workplace. If you feel anger rising,
>walk away. Calm down, then try again.

After I mustered out of the military I promised myself, among other
things, that unless it is an emergency I will not raise my voice. I've
extended this to not allowing others to raise their voices to me, as well;
when such a thing happens I respond 'Sir/Ma'am, there is no need to raise
your voice to me'... and if the volume does not decrease *then* I walk
off.

> 2. Raise issues privately with the person concerned, never in public.

This is contrary to the Standard Management Strategy of 'castigate in
public, apologise in private'... which I have responded to with 'Please
make sure to tell me this when there are as many folks around as
originally.'

(note - I'm usually known as being the quietest, most polite person around
on a given site... so when others see someone getting 'bent out of shape'
towards me it usually reflects badly on the one getting bent, eg, 'Didja
see that? She was shouting at *him*, he's always quiet and calm... what's
wrong with her?'

> 3. Don't engage in petty wars (a devastating nuclear attack is OK as
>long as it is decisive and over quickly :-)).

Petty is in the mind of the beholder... keep in mind the dictum about the
visciousness of academic politics.

> 4. Listen to what is being said and what isn't being said. Think about
>it before you act.
>
> If you are in a job where your manager is making your life a misery,
>contact me privately and I'll try and help. IT (particularly, but business
>in general) will cause conflict. How you deal with it is entirely within
>your own power, even if, organisationally, you have none...

Conflict can result in Very Good Things... set a flint against a steel and
the gift of Prometheus results. As Heraclitus put it, 'They do not
understand, that which is pulling against itsself is held together; such
is the harmony of the bow and the lyre.'

>
>3. Set yourself daily personal goals. What do I intend to achieve today?

If nothing else, eight hours towards a paycheck... anything beyond that is
gravy.

[snip]

>4. If you get up in the morning and dread going to work, try and isolate why
>you feel that way, decide if there is anything you can do about it. (If you
>really can't, and all attempts at discussion have failed, consider other
>employment. No one
>should be 'sentenced' to a working life of misery and
>unhappiness...Besides, you'll just drag others down around you... :-))

Those who have chosen their parents unwisely, thereby not being born into
independent wealth or a great inheritance, run the risk of not liking
their jobs... or there are folks out there who get up and say 'Oh boy,
another eight hours at the fertiliser-plant shoveling manure... aren't I
*lucky*?' I, personally, am fortunate... the more I say 'I'm having Fun!'
the more others look at me, slightly concerned, and say 'But... you're
doing Good Work'; in the USA baseball is the National Passtime and
complaining about your job comes in second.

When I got my first suit-wearing job lo, those many years ago, my
co-workers were proud to announce how miserable they were. They cited a
common example, I'll call him Kneeburt, and would say 'Remember Kneeburt?
He'd always say 'Now keep in mind... this should be *fun*!' (pause)
Kneeburt isn't here any more.'

I recall relating this to my Respected Father as a sign of what it takes
to get ahead in the world and he said 'Not really... think about it.
These are small circles you work in, if Kneeburt went on to something
worse don't you think they'd be gloating about it?'

Shortly after that I went the independent consulting route.

>
>5. Decide that you will do the very best you are capable of. It isn't about
>rewards or status, or acknowledgement (although all of these are nice to
>have); it is about applying your skill as a professional, to the best of
>your ability.

See above about avoiding eviction... as many other parts of Life seem to
be this, too, might be about Balance, in this case balancing delight in
work, misery from work-related stuff, personal growth and keeping a roof
over one's and one's childrens' heads.

[snip]

>6. Seek to extend your knowledge.

Ow. This might be seen as telling the Russian Wolfhound 'seek to be like
the chihuhua' or the Arabian stallion 'seek to be like the Percheron'...
different folks appear to have different temperments and some people
appear to be quite happy doing the same thing, over and over and over
again, in a fashion which would drive others 'around the bend'.

[snip]

>7. Separate work from person. If someone is critical of your work, or
>doesn't take your advice, don't take it personally. You are no less of a
>person because someone didn't like something you did.

Unless, of course, the criticism is expressed as 'What kind of idiot would
write code like this?'

(ans: 'One idiot pretends to be able to write code... someone else
believed, hired him and has kept him on salary for (time); who is the
greater idiot?')

>
>SECTION 2
>
>Here are some principles that I think ANYONE WHO MANAGES PEOPLE should
>consider:
>
>1. The most valuable asset that any company has, is the people who work for
>it.

This is not, in my experience, evidenced by the treatment given them.
I've turned down contracts because of this... the conversations have gone
like this:

Pimp: 'They just called, you aced the interview and they want you to start
tomorrow. Congratulations!'

Me: 'They liked me? That's nice... I didn't like them, I don't want the
job.'

Pimp: 'WHAT?'

Me: 'Aye.'

Pimp: 'HOW COME?'

Me: 'They could not tell me where I would be sitting.'

Pimp: 'WHAT?!?'

Me: 'Simple... I end every interview with a question of 'could I see where
I'd be sitting? I like to get a sense of where I'll be spending my
working hours'... and they didn't know. Now... they're going to be paying
a lot of money for my work. If the manager said 'I want to spend
US$200,000 for a color printer - a one-time cost that's readily
depreciable - one of the questions asked would be 'where are we going to
put it?' They show that kind of concern for machines but not humans...
sorry, I don't want the job.'

>The company should invest
>in its people. That means delivering promised training, encouraging people
>to do extra curricular studies, and generally supporting and helping people
>who are trying to improve their skill base, and/or their personal growth.

This has been discussed, at length, and bears no repeating at this time.
The contrary stand is that if you train your people they get more skills,
if they get more skills they think they are more valuable, if they think
they are more valuable they'll want more money... and that means that you
not only have to train them but you have to pay them more lest another
firm hire them away.

DD

.

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