Sabotage at Work

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Sabotage at Work

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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Points: 734434
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June 1, 2020 at 12:00 am

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call.copse SSCoach Points: 17960 More actions · Answer 1

"To lower morale and production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work."

This is a fairly observable phenomenom, it's fair to say. Toadying generally seems to go further than it really should, even now.

below86 SSChampion Points: 11513 More actions · Answer 2

"Working in committees and large groups is all too common, at least in US organizations. We hold meetings and have discussions with large groups instead of making decisions.'

In the places I've worked this seems to be the opposite. Seems like a few people in upper management make decisions without including everyone affected by the decision, especially those in IT. You just need to make sure the right people are in the meetings.

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RayC-714046 Mr or Mrs. 500 Points: 555 More actions · Answer 3

Working for county government, I can say that the OSS methods are alive and well. Inefficient workers/managers are in abundance, promoted regularly, and given raises equal to the efficient workers. I don't believe I have worked for a private employer where having meetings to prepare for other meetings is a common practice. I can't tell you how many hour long meetings I have sat through, and only needed to be involved for about 5 minutes of it. And the amount of time it can take for decisions to be made is unbelievable. But, since it is a government office, it is not something that is likely to be taken down by these OSS tactics.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 734434 More actions · Answer 4

I've had corporate meetings about meeting. I once had a meeting for the kickoff meeting for the project. To get organized to kick things off.

I think I see private enterprise as inefficient as anything I've heard about in government at times. There can be just as much inefficiency. Certainly a person can sometimes cut through things in private work, but with inattention, they can easily let things bog down.

Rod at work SSC-Dedicated Points: 33900 More actions · Answer 5

Lots of interesting things here. I thought the suggestion of working slow was poignant. Great reminder, to me, to do a good job, rather than just enough to get by.

I really like your point about how management might, at times and for different companies, cut corners by not investing in tools to help staff do their job more efficiently.

Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

jasona.work SSC Guru Points: 50083 More actions · Answer 6

So, I can now say I've worked on both sides of the fence (private and gov,) and run into people and managers that fit the editorial to a T.

I didn't read the OSS manual, but in private industry I've had a boss who regularly gave me a hard time, while praising others. Worst was when such issues would then get raised on "annual" reviews. "Oh, you put in a couple Saturdays to do this thing my boss wanted us to do (re-organizing and neatening up the server racks,) I expected you to do this, you get a "average" rating for this." Yeah, real demoralizing.

Now that I'm in gov, the never-ending meetings are real. Meetings that the most I have to input sometimes is "I'm here" with the teleconferences. At least when we have in-person meetings (pre-COVID) the bosses could look at the agenda and tell me "yeah, we're set with you for now, if we need anything else we'll come get you," and let me get on with my day.

skeleton567 SSCertifiable Points: 5671 More actions · Answer 7

Rod at work wrote:

Lots of interesting things here. I thought the suggestion of working slow was poignant. Great reminder, to me, to do a good job, rather than just enough to get by.
I really like your point about how management might, at times and for different companies, cut corners by not investing in tools to help staff do their job more efficiently.

I'm with you on this one Rod. I think its always to do it better the first time than to turn out poor quality, simply due to the difficulty of getting back to it to fix problems.

Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )

svucetic Valued Member Points: 62 More actions · Answer 8

Agree fully Steve that “unfortunately, too many managers aren't willing to perform that self-evaluation”

Seems the toadying and inefficiency phenomenon is much bigger than we like to see or admit. I've worked for both private and government organizations in different part of the world (in Europe and north America) and interestingly the problems are comparable.