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"Are Middle-Management Bibeds Actually Human?"

Working life

By lylehsaxon (Fri Jul 17, 2009 at 10:54:32 PM EST) (all tags)

I'm beginning to think they are not....

I went drinking with a few middle-management types last night and things were going okay until one of them complained that the avocados in some dish or other that we ordered were "rotten". Since they were not in fact rotten, but only slightly on the soft side (I used to buy one every day in California, so I actually have pretty extensive experience and knowledge about this), I stated this fact and ran into a "You - as a lowly & disposable contract worker - are not allowed to contradict his lordship I - lofty middle-level manager!" wall.

Some people... don't know how to act like people. I think in the future if I'm in a position to go drinking with a company person I've not been drinking with before, I should first ask "Are you, by chance, in a middle-management role?". If an affirmative answer to that query bounces back, then I had better think "Red Alert! - Red Alert!! - Middle-management demon dead ahead! Evasive emergency action, commence... now!!!" and say "Let me check my schedule... oh... rotten luck. I'm meeting some friends from out of town then. Maybe some other time!" and then get far-far-far away from the danger before the possibility of triggering some middle-management evil impulse arises.

There's this thing in Japan were it's supposed to be okay to hash things out over drinks, but that only really applies if you're a "seishain" (regular lifetime employee). Disposable contract workers aren't really considered to be human beings and are only jovially tolerated so long as they are friendly no matter what, have titanium smiles able to withstand the most uncalled for insults, and under no circumstances commit the unpardonable offense of actually having an opinion.

At the moment, I'm thinking artists are 500,000 times more human than middle-management... people.

Hierarchy for hierarchy's sake.... :(

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
http://uk.youtube.com/lylehsaxon

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"Are Middle-Management Bibeds Actually Human?" | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Like anything else... by notafurry (2.00 / 0) #1 Sun Jul 19, 2009 at 05:47:48 PM EST

there are good managers and there are bad managers. The trouble is, there is no such thing as good management training; you can make a good manager better through training, but you can't make a bad manager good. And there are far more slots for managers than there are good managers.

I'll go along with that... by lylehsaxon (2.00 / 0) #2 Sun Jul 19, 2009 at 11:43:24 PM EST

In my working life I've run into too many destructive middle-management types, so I'm feeling... not overly positive about them at the moment, but certainly there have been good ones as well. Of course, the position of being in the middle is a difficult one - that I can recognize. With the continuing bad economy though, circumstances are bringing out the worst in some people....

Lyle

The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

There seem to be two schools of thought by Herring

(2.00 / 0) #4 Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 11:46:58 AM EST

Firstly: The job of management is to make it as easy as possible for your underlings to do their job. Smooth the way in front so they can work effeciently.

Secondly: The job of management is to make it as hard as possible for your underlings to do their job. This proves to your bosses that you are Driving them Hard.

I've only worked for a few people who belong to the first school.

[ Parent ]

Too many of the 2nd category... by lylehsaxon (2.00 / 0) #5 Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 01:53:52 PM EST

I tend to think of a company like an old sailing ship. Either people are constructive to the overall health and safety of the ship, or they're useless, or they're destructive. Constructive is best, and useless is tolerable, but destructive begs the question "Why is the company paying them to sabotage the company's future?"

LHS

The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

Destructive can look appealing by Herring

(2.00 / 0) #7 Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 02:36:33 PM EST

For example, our new dev manager's approach seems to be "all of our projects overrun. If we controlled and measured everything to the nth degree it would all be much better".

To management types, this sound right - especially the "controlling" bit. Actually, all of our projects overrun because someone outside of IT commits us to an unachievable deadline on something with a shit ROI. The "controlling and measuring" just adds extra overhead. For instance, I accidentally caused a major shitstorm by saying that we should send job locations to mobile technicians using the same coordinate system that their satnav will use to guide them there. So that they arrive in the right place. I thought that was pretty uncontroversial but apparently I overstepped the mark by saying that.

[ Parent ]

: Sounds familiar... by lylehsaxon (2.00 / 0) #8 Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 05:32:38 AM EST

We've got a whopping 100GB of storage on an internal server that is depended upon by a team of illustrators, translators, and other documentation creators, about 30 people in all I think. The vector graphic parts drawings are extremely expensive, but they regularly delete old ones (that cost several hundred thousand yen per machine) in order not to spend Y6,000 or so on extra storage. It's insane - really insane. But when I pointed out the low cost of storage and suggested it would be in the company's best interests to increase that ludicrously small 100GB (which is alway running between 80% and 98% full, then the machete comes out and it's back to 80%...), I was told to shut up. - LHS

The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

more importantly, who paid ? by sasquatchan (2.00 / 0) #3 Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 09:50:34 AM EST

: Who paid for what? by lylehsaxon (4.00 / 1) #6 Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 02:02:58 PM EST

The flow of money is from equipment buyers who are buying not only the machine itself, but service contracts and that's where I come in. I work on service & repair related training material for the overseas service technicians who have to repair the machines out in the field.

Here's the deal. Sabotaging documentation saves money short term, but if they sabotage it to the point where the service technicians are unable to properly maintain the machines, then the company will begin to get a reputation for making machines that don't work. Once that image takes hold, the company is sunk, and then even those who helped to sabotage the company's future will be out of a job.

Oh! Who paid for the food and drinks? The Y20,000 bill was split evenly between the four people there.

LHS

The shortest way home is the longest way 'round....
[ Parent ]

"Are Middle-Management Bibeds Actually Human?" | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback