On 5 Aug 96 at 7:38, Michael McMaster wrote:
> The idea that managers are needed to set standards of performance
> because people lack these does not match my experience. As Robert
> points out, if we begin from such assumptions, there isn't much
> chance for an LO to occur.
I agree (well,not much of a surprise). Not only does it not match my
experience, but it seems like a very oeld school of thought about people,
as being empty vessels pulled sometimes this way, sometimes that by
whoever has power over them.
I wish Joan would explain what specifically these thoughts are based on,
so perhaps we could understand where this notion comes from. It seems
almost archaic, throwing us back into medieval times when knowledge and
education were held by the lords, and not by the serfs, so that the only
sources of standards, values, etc might come from the lords on high.
> My experience is that most employees have standards that are higher
> than their managers and are generaly frustrated by the low level of
> standards - or even apparent unconcern for them - exhibited by
> managers and the system at large.
Except for somewhat rare performance problems, I find the same thing. In
fact, one of the reasons I resigned my last position, and struck out on my
own, were the low standards in place....I was frustrated at wasting my
time, not accomplishing anything meaningful because of management's low
standards.
> The nature of our corporations and the larger society that they
> emerged from gives us a message that management should set
> standards.
That's probably true, but interestingly enough, the "standard"way of
setting work standards is o have the employee set them, in conjunction
with the supervisor. I think Joan's contention is that management sets
standards related to values, though, but again, this implies a situation
that is not the case. When we start from the premise that adults acquire
the values and standards of management and cannot and do not have values
of their own, we demean employees, and people in general. Since almost
everyone has a boss, that means that people are valueless except for what
is poured into them by the person above them. Frankly, the notion seems
bizarre to me. . Both also perform to their own standards, are highly
rated > employees in their companies and don't wait for management to take
> action.
The notion of standards/values that Joan postulates, is one that may apply
to children/parents, actually. Fortunately, our workforce is not filled
with children...although perhaps we do have too many parental managers.
Robert Bacal, CEO, Institute For Cooperative Communication
dbt359@freenet.mb.ca, Located in Winnipeg,Canada.
*For articles on management, change, training,communication, etc,
visit our home page at: http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~dbt359
--"Robert Bacal" <dbt359@freenet.mb.ca>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>