Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Let's waste time chasing cars around our heads
Just watched a TV show produced in the UK some time ago titled the Human Zoo. It had me thinking, (since Tom is about to start uni, I should actually exercise my brain sometimes)! It's a show (like many other which have preceded, and no doubt will still come) over a 'psychological experiment' and how people react when put in different situations, and why etc. It is on every week, and tonights topic was over 'leadership'. The group of people (somewhere around 15) was divided into two - half was the red group A and the other half was the blue group B. The task was for the people of group A to instruct the people of group B to build a structure with certain materials, but not help them. A sort of similar scenario as with managers vs workers. It caused me to start thinking within my job (and im sure everyone elses as well) there are far too many managers...basically everyone with half a brain is a manager in something which actually means nothing except the thought of being powerful. I too am faced with a job which sometimes makes me a 'project manager' but it is almost worth laughing at such a title! Sorry, such a long introduction to what my point of the entry is... I find it very sad that I am surrounded with people (and Im sorry to say it again, but in Australia it is worse) who consider their 'job position' such a powerful and important status, that they may forget that others dont feel the same way. Needless to say, that at the end of the day (in the experiment on telly), the B team (workers) ended up being required to cook the dinner for the A team (managers) and created such a good atmosphere for themselves, while the team of 'leaders' ended up eating in silence and fighting. One could say that the managers actually won, because the workers did eventually do everything they asked, and this power is multiplied each time they are obeyed. However, I am not arguing that people should be followers and not leaders, it is just an observation on how (as I see it) too many leaders causes unhappiness (no, totalitarianism is probably not the answer either - I actuallly dont know what the answer is...). I could keep on discussing this for a while (to myself...), and I know that many people wont agree, but this is just my view. I know this isnt always applicable to everything, but it did make me smile and know which team I would rather belong to.
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4 comments:
No where is that as much as a problem as ın the Publıc Servıce. 5 levels of management to clear before anythıng gets through to a Mınıster - rarely do any of them add any value to the message goıng to the Mınıster - just make one or two lıttle amendments - just to 'make theır mark' and justıfy theır posıtıon. The answer (ı thınk) ıs to gıve more of the responsıbılıty and therefore rısk to the workers - elımınate mıddle management. Although I do feel slıghtly uncomfortable wıth what appears to be such an economıcally ratıonalıst solutıon. Has me thınkıng though...
I do agree, and still am not sure where I stand here... because on the other end of the spectrum, am not sure if I am a fan of anarchy and am very cynical of whether true communism is in fact the answer. But would hate to work in public service, and is the answer actually to give more people responsibility, because isnt that going to cause extra levels of management to pass for the now further away 'lower class' workers...?
Still need to do a bit more research - I always feel so ignorant about such issues and feel a little reluctant to voice my view because it is easily swayed...
PS Nick, the travelling hits a real jealousy nerve in me, and am sure it will hit hard when you get home! Dont worry too much for the time apart from Heather - it will only make things so much better for when you reunite! (although I dont fancy the apart time anymore... a year in total was enough for one lifetime!)
Yeah apart time isn't much fun, but ıt'll be fine.
Funnily enough some recent reading has swayed my views somewhat. I knew my communısm vıews were ıdealıstıc and not very practıcal, and ıf there ıs goıng to be real progress for the underprıvıleged then capıtalısm ıs a powerful tool - as long as ıt ıs used as a tool and governments stıll ıntervene.
Jeffrey Sachs - 'The End of Poverty ın our generatıon' - really great book.
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