Keith, I hope you don't mind, I snipped out quite a bit.
On 9 Aug 96 at 19:16, Keith Cowan wrote:
> I have met people who are in the wrong job (the
> career placement system) and I have discovered people who were
> seriously misdirected in their efforts (the job objectives and
> communications systems)
>
> In cases where the opportunity was present to make the appropriate
> corrections, the people flourished in the new "system". Sometimes
> this involved a termination from their current position and company
> and new placement in a better suited career. Other times it was
> merely an exercise in communications.
Having read this I wonder whether what you talk about is part of the
function of your perceptual goggles. It seems to me that people tend
to focus on one element; the system, staff (very out of vogue), or
management as the cause of workplace problems.
If one believes the problem is the system, or poor management, then
one is less likely to attribute problems to the individual,
preferring to see them as something "done to". You mention people in
the wrong positions and careers, and that they can thrive with a
change....but, since I am a proponent at looking at the three
elements, staff, systems, management, I question whether the staff
member is responsible, as well as the other two.
> Have I just been lucky? ...Keith
No, I suspect you see the same behaviours as all of us do, you just
choose to attribute the causes in a way different from how I would
do it.
My underlying assumption is that even when a staff member is screwed
around, they still have a responsibility to themselves to address the
problem. I HAVE seen people who believe the system is out to get
them, or management, and take that perspective wherever they go. The
result is, after the honeymoon phase, their approach, and lack of
personal responsibility makes them expendable (that's a mild word).
The destruction they can render to those around them is pretty
astounding. Was it bad management? the system? the person? In some
measure, the causes would come from all of these.
Robert Bacal, CEO, Institute For Cooperative Communication
dbt359@freenet.mb.ca, Located in Winnipeg,Canada.
*For articles on management, change, training,communication, etc,
visit our home page at: http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~dbt359
--"Robert Bacal" <dbt359@freenet.mb.ca>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>