Courage My Love - March 18, 2011

The Myth of Management

Ok, we had management by walking around, management by concensus, the regular old school "I am the boss" managment, and seriously, none of them are worth a pinch of coon shit. Managment is a myth. Industry is propelled along by the work of the average Joe. You can intimidate, coerce, coax, motivate or coach Joe, but in the end, it is Joe's work that moves the company forward. What you can do for Joe, is respect that he or she actually does the work and you don't. Don't keep secrets from them, don't discipline in an arbitrary fashion. Set the rules of engagement and let Joe take you forward.

Yes, you manage in the sense that Joe must comply with certain coda, such as a number of units per hour, or xx amount of hours of work or some other, hopefully measurable target. Joe must also behave, within the legal requirements of Society, and perhaps a few local work related requirements such as being at work on time, doing the work you are asked to do, and in general working for the money the company is willing to exchange for his or her time. Other than that, you manage squat. Sure have a group hug every once in a while, but don't overdo it, because it will become a right instead of a freely given. You probably can't make Joe's work too much more interesting, or challenging, in most industrial settings it is what it is. Widget A gets assembled to Widget B, or Widget C is machined to a dimension of X.

What you are really there to do, is to tote up the numbers, make sure that Joe really does the work the company pays him or her for and most of all - take away the barriers that prevent Joe or could prevent Joe from doing his or her job. Give them the tools to do the job and then basically, get out of their way. Drop in on a regular but unscheduled basis and ensure that Safety rules are adhered to, feel free to praise loudly and often anyone who works safely.

I have an insanely good education, and 35 years of industrial related experience both as a worker and as "managment" and I have realized for the last 25 years or so, that we do not acknowledge the people who actually do the work very much. We all pat ourselves on the back, and yes, accept the bonus, but how many of us ever say thank you and mean it??

Ok, I actually wrote that a few weeks ago, pre earthquake. It is now the 18th of March, and we are still doing rounds of doctors for the pre-transplant thing. WTF, you could die waiting to get on the freaking list for a transplant. We have been at that for months now, her health is not improving, and still there are a million tests and doctors to see. It sucks, just freaking get on with it. Of course, doctoring is a business like any other and they don't really want candidates who will fail. I mean think about it, you do 100 transplants a year and if 99 of them failed, you would not get a lot of support for the transplant team. The candidates for transplant have to be sick enough to need one, but healthy enough to survive one. How sad is that.

Not nearly as sad, it seems as being Japanese. Like many, I have been watching it unfold again and again on tv. It is horrific, and hypnotic. Like 9-11, if it ain't happening to me, I can get a vicarious thrill from watching it. And we do, a tiny part of our brain is going "Thank god it's not happening here". And seriously it is a good thing it is not happening here right now, we are wickedly unprepared and supremely arrogant. As we can see, life and everything you love can disappear in a heart beat.

Again this will affect where I work, but life will go on. We rise again. I also feel a little helpless here as I watch tragedy unfold elsewhere. What can I do? How can I help? I make a donation to the Red Cross and that is the best we can do.

You know, being human takes courage, my love.