SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Researchers at Michigan State University report — Don't offer co-workers help unless asked:
If you thought that proactively offering help to your co-workers was a good thing, think again. New workplace research from Michigan State University found that when it comes to offering your expertise, it's better to keep to yourself or wait until you're asked.
[...] "What we found was that on the helper side, when people engage in proactive help, they often don't have a clear understanding of recipients' problems and issues, thus they receive less gratitude for it," Johnson said. "On the recipient side, if people are constantly coming up to me at work and asking if I want their help, it could have an impact on my esteem and become frustrating. I'm not going to feel inclined to thank the person who tried to help me because I didn't ask for it."
In a strange sort of symmetry, it's also better to not proactively sabotage your co-workers, either; wait until they ask for it.
Journal Reference:
Hun Whee Lee, Jacob Bradburn, Russell E. Johnson, Szu-Han (Joanna) Lin, Chu-Hsiang (Daisy) Chang. The benefits of receiving gratitude for helpers: A daily investigation of proactive and reactive helping at work.. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2018; DOI: 10.1037/apl0000346
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Wednesday October 24 2018, @03:48AM (10 children)
Lacking such a boss, the logic in TFA is operative. Don't offer help until someone asks you to, generally speaking. If they're struggling well let them struggle, that's how they learn. Even if they're doing something stupid you're generally better off to let them figure out why it's stupid on their own, as long as it isn't going to cause injury obviously. And as long as they don't ask for help.
If they indicate they would like some help, and you have the time and expertise, sure, help them. That's another way they can learn.
But jumping in with 'help' unasked isn't usually well received, nor should it be. It's not really help in that case, it seems more like you're trying to show off, or make the other worker look bad.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Wednesday October 24 2018, @03:53AM
It isn't one boss that behaved like this. Most of them.
I get the point about not jumping in. I was discussing occasions when the person wanted help.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Wednesday October 24 2018, @04:33AM (3 children)
It depends entirely on the individuals and the work environment. Most places I've worked this holds true, but at my present job we all pitch in and level the workload. Any time someone has a light workload they ask others if they would like help, and it works out really well.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:34AM (2 children)
E(mphasized)TFY.
Asking 'who needs help' and 'I'm gonna help you, even if you didn't ask' sound like different propositions to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday October 24 2018, @03:10PM (1 child)
Asking people if they want help is what tfa is talking about. I see no mention of forced help.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 24 2018, @03:46PM
That's not how I read ""What we found was that on the helper side, when people engage in proactive help"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by pipedwho on Wednesday October 24 2018, @05:00AM (4 children)
The problem with this in engineering projects (software, electrical, mechanical, civil - take your pick) is that letting someone 'struggle' and do a crap job may end up coming back to bite you and everyone else in the arse at some later point.
There are different levels of 'help' with increasing level of 'annoying':
1: "hey, I'm not using test $device any more, do you need it?"
2: "are you running $version of $tool that has just been set as the minimum required?"
3: "the test agent has been down all day since your latest change, do you want me to take quick look at what's broken?"
4: "why are you importing all these libraries, try $library that is already included in the build"
5: "here's a 5 line script that you can have that does the same thing that you've spent the last two days trying to get going"
6: "let me explain $concept to you, I don't think you understand what's going wrong here"
7: "move over so I can grab your mouse and fix the problem for you"
8: "go get me a coffee while I sit at your computer fixing your problem"
There are definitely benefits for a collaborative team that helps each other to varying degrees. Letting someone struggle in a pool of misery doesn't necessarily help anyone if you end up ripping them a new one in the code review where they have to go back and redo a few weeks worth of work. Especially if a few minutes of explanation could have sent down a more productive path.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:22AM (1 child)
I've been whacked by #5 a few times
(Score: 3, Insightful) by insanumingenium on Wednesday October 24 2018, @08:03PM
Me too! I have also benefited a fair amount by having done the grunt work on #5 to thoroughly understand the problem, and end up way ahead of the people who only have the script.
(Score: 2) by datapharmer on Wednesday October 24 2018, @12:03PM (1 child)
I haven’t tried #8 before. I’ll need to give that one a go. In all seriousness, work is about getting things done. If someone is taking two days to write something that can be done in 5 lines of code and won’t ask for help either they or their manager should probably be fired.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 24 2018, @09:48PM
I used #8 many years ago, out of desperation. I was a contractor installing a data acq system that we had built up off-site. The customer gave me the new guy in the department as a helper and he was toxic--everything he touched was ruined. After a couple of days of fixing things he'd broke, I started coming in hours before normal starting time to get the job done. When he arrived I'd find busy work for him that couldn't damage anything.
Later I found out that he had recently been transferred to this test lab from the company machine shop. Way I found out was amusing, I needed to drill some holes and the drill bits I found were really dull. There was a bench grinder and I asked him if he knew how to sharpen a bit...he came back with perfect angles, looked like the factory grind and the bits were super sharp. The boss at the machine shop must have had him sharpening drills all day(??), he *was* really good at that.