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posted by janrinok on Sunday August 03 2014, @04:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the moderation-in-all-things,-including-moderation dept.

An interesting writeup on Harvard Business Publishing blog by Michael Harris, discusses what most of us have already known, but each of us have colleagues (or worse, bosses) who still don't get it:

"In early April a series of reports appeared online in the United States and the United Kingdom lamenting the "lazy French." A new labor law in France had apparently banned organizations from e-mailing their employees after 6 p.m. In fact, it turned out to be more a case of "lazy journalists" than "lazy French": as The Economist explained, the "law" was not a law at all but a labor agreement aimed at improving health among a specific group of professionals, and there wasn't even a hard curfew for digital communication.

Like all myths, however, this one revealed a set of abiding values subscribed to by the folk who perpetuated it. Brits and Americans have long suspected that the French (and others) are goofing off while they the good corporate soldiers continue to toil away. They're proud about it too. A Gallup poll, released in May, found that most U.S. workers see their constant connection with officemates as a positive. In the age of the smartphone, there's no such thing as "downtime," and we profess to be happier and more productive for it.

Are we, though? After reviewing thousands of books, articles and papers on the topic and interviewing dozens of experts in fields from neurobiology and psychology to education and literature, I don't think so. When we accept this new and permanent ambient workload checking business news in bed or responding to coworkers' emails during breakfast we may believe that we are dedicated, tireless workers. But, actually, we're mostly just getting the small, easy things done. Being busy does not equate to being effective."

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Sunday August 03 2014, @02:40PM

    by PizzaRollPlinkett (4512) on Sunday August 03 2014, @02:40PM (#76904)

    I'm not sure managers care if anything gets done. They want people to sit in a chair at a desk for 8 hours per day. If people sit in the same chair at the same desk 9-10 hours, then they're 20% more productive. This is quantifiable.

    Creativity can't be measured, and can't be quantified. So what could managers do with it? They can't force a certain percent more creativity out of people. They're not smart enough to realize that, say, me taking a walk would give me a perspective to solve a problem. Or even do design work, where there are no units of work being produced. (You can't quantify how design work helps prevent false starts and dead ends.)

    So managers basically just ignore what's important and manage what they can quantify.

    Am I anti-manager? I think I am. I didn't used to be that way, and have had the good fortune to have a former military supervisor who was a dream to work for. But I've seen the professional management class (people who have college MBAs and have no real-world experience doing anything but managing) destroying America one department and company at a time.

    --
    (E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
    Starting Score:    1  point
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    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 03 2014, @03:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 03 2014, @03:30PM (#76911)

    I completely agree with everything you have said above.

    I'm a systems administrator with thirty years experience.

    It just gets worse and worse.