About people, work & organizations

[mekin]

As promised here:
My observations on people & organizations

They might be skewed towards ideas for creating a good business & a good organization - something I want to achieve sometime soon.
Also, I am in the middle of Maverick - a book that talks of a very different approach to build an organization - a democratic way.. which I am loving

Comments

[priyatam]

I take on Umang's voice here.

1)For whatever time we work, I think the biggest driving factor is the amount of trust the company gives us. I rem in my previous company where the SVP of India operations came down for a floor meeting with an announcement to disable internet access throughout the company (huh?) and after a 10 min long justification, he rolls down a nice little preach
"We trust you guys, you are our strength"

Now, talk about hypocrisy.

Policies, HR exist only for the benefit of the employer and not the employee ...

The other day one of my friend who moved to a UK based tech firm was all in glory and when I asked him why, he said - "I cant believe this, Its been two weeks since I joined this firm, they gave me root access to entire network, unix admin console. My boss says - "with great power comes great responsibility, I trust you"

Now, that is what I call trust.How many companies would you find in India who do this?
(I doubt if they would allow you to install ms office on your own!)

2)I stopped believing that I will find a company that will understand my aspirations
and help me grow. Seriously, I wasted 4 years hoping the same and the bottomline lesson for the day is:-

In a company, nobody cares for you, you better take care of your self and clean your own arse. Period.

Better we realise this than search for an eternity - theOne company ..
(Sounds like searching for the perfect partner!eh?)

3) All big companies tend to glorify numbers and talk in terms of resources instead of people. Well, thats when you realise, its time to move on, we know we have numbers on our hands too

4) Having a good manager (a mentor?) is fine but how long? Remember that the very manager may turn his back towards you when his job is on fire. I once asked my American Manager what's the biggest challenge he faces today in IT projects, to which his answer was "I dont have a problem managing any complex IT project but my problem is when Im asked to fire "x" numbers from my staff, I am shattered. For me, this is the toughest decision"

And mind you, there doesn't exist a Mr GoodHumanManger in practice who refuses to take orders from his superiors (even in the above case) to the tune of risking his job
Its great to have nice co workers but thats about it ...