I agree with what Michael says about this anti-entreprenural attitude
being hazardous to a company.
>What is the source of this "putting in my time" point of view? It is
the opposite of the
>attitude of an entrepreneur, and I think that in the long run, it may be
hazardous to the company.
The problem for companies, as I see it, is what to do with people who
display such an attitude. In my attempts to move our company closer to
a Learning Organisation, I have come to believe that this attitude is
the biggest stumbling block. These people are suspicious of any changes
suggested but are the ones constantly complaining about the way things
are. I think the question that needs to be asked is, how did they get
that way in the first place? They no longer trust management because
there has been too long a history of management not being truthful and
of the "the worker" constantly bearing the brunt of the bad business
decisions. These people need to be shown (by management) that things
are different. It may take a long time but trust is something that is
very difficult to win back once you have thrown it away.
>Why do people choose this - what looks to me to be- quite a painful
existance? He hates his job, but
>won't get a different one (that he likes). He hates the system, but
defends it from folks like myself who actually care about the system
>enough to try to improve it or help it grow (change).
I don't think that people do chose to behave like this. This attitude
has come upon them so slowly, over years of abuse (perceived or
otherwise) from management, that they may not even realise that they
think differently to some other employees. I think the reason that
people are so wary of those who do challenge the status quo is that they
are afraid of them and the impact they may have on their lives. They
may not be happy with their lot but they consider it to be fairly safe.
They fear anyone or anything that will upset their little world. They
believe that experience has shown them that change usually means things
will get worse, not better.
It is a very sad perception of the world that these people have, but it
is very real for them, and the problem they create is very real for any
company. There is also great danger that their opinions and 'beliefs'
can infect any new blood brought into the company. I think we ignore
the effect of these people at our peril - this type of attitude can be
very insidious in a company.
To me, the philophophy from which the Learning Organisation springs
would not accept these people simply being made redundant (I may be
naive in this). Therefore the only course of action is to change the
way they think and help them to become employees who are an asset to the
company. How do we do this? I don't know - I'm still working on that
one!! Any ideas?
-- Maria Ivancic BHP Information Technology ivancic.maria.ml@bhp.com.auLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>