http://www.stevenmsmith.com/content/view/110/72/
The summary is that this guy pitched the idea of a hypothetical job applicant named Albert to several managers to see whether or not they'd hire him. Albert is described as someone who has exceeded work goals for the past 5 years and he gets along well with others, but while seeking full-time pay, he refuses to work more than 20 hours a week and also demands that his time not be wasted.
Steven Smith (I assume that's the writer's name?) mixes it up a bit by putting this hypothetical situations in 3 different contexts: Software development, production, and sales. For sales, it was clarified that Albert would always bring in more than 105% of his goal, but never more than 110%.
In each case, the managers declined hiring Albert. When Steve asked them:
QUOTE: "What's preventing you from hiring Albert?" A manager sneered as he said, "The notion of him only working 20 hours per week is insulting and his demand that his time not be wasted is absurd. He is being paid to do what he is told. And think of what he could produce if he worked a regular (40-60) hours. If I can't motivate him to work hard, I don't want him" The creases in my forehead became more pronounced as I said, "But isn't the guarantee of him producing 105% of his quota worth something to you?" "Doesn't matter. I might be able to hire someone who would work more hours and make 200% of his quota," countered a sales manager.
...in my experience businesses don't really hire employees to take care of a particular task. I'm the only Systems Administrator in my office, but that doesn't mean that I have full control of the systems under my care. Often I have to do things I don't agree with because a decision has been made by upper management (none of which are IT professionals). Their reasoning is that I may have specific knowledge about the sytems, software, etc, but I don't have much knowledge of the big-picture -where the company is headed, etc. I used to ask "who's fault is that?", but I don't anymore.
Businesses (in general) have changed their structure. They prefer to work from the top-down rather than relying on the skills and knowledge of people in more hands-on roles who actually see the work that gets done day-to-day. The reason? Lack of loyalty might be one.
It used to be that people rarely changed jobs. They'd stick with one until retirement. And, as we all know, that just doesn't happen anymore. Who started it? I don't know. Who's perpetuating it? Both employers and employee's I'd imagine. But, if the employer can't count on you to be there next week, month, year -then it's risky for them to have you be a part of the decision. You may buy them into some odd platform that only you know. You might not document the solution well enough for the next guy to be able to pick up the ball and run with it. That's a fair reaction on their part.
But, this top-down system results in fuzzy, detached job roles that, in my opinion, is hindering growth as well as that much-strived-for "team spirit" or a feeling of being a part of the company rather than just an employee.
Managers want to see you in the office. They want you to be available to fulfill a task or implement a solution whenever they might come up with one. The idea of a job role being fulfilled and the employee running on autopilot is no longer the ideal. Poor Albert proves that it's not even wanted anymore. Managers, like the one quoted above, now see the ideal as being a person who will "do what they are told". So, I guess the only knowledge I bring is HOW to do what I'm told? The ability to plan ahead isn't necessary. ...No wonder outsourcing is so popular.
Could this be a result of too many (bad) managers and their egos? -I don't know. All I know is that I often feel wasted as an employee. I look around me and believe others feel the same. While the one manager in my (small) office is out today, we are all left clueless as to how to fill our time. The monitors I can see while walking through the office are displaying one of two things: solitaire or entertainment websites. No one hesitates to put the entertainment aside when a customer calls, but surely there's something more productive for us to do? But, without any value being put on us initiating anything, we fall back to waiting for the next task. In the meantime, we're not only our time, but the company's as well.
Oh, look -time for lunch! :-P
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