|
Responsibility Versus Control
in the Workplace |
| Worker responsibility is inefficient in the short term, but is
efficient in the long term. |
Following orders without input is efficient in the short term, but is
inefficient, if not costly, in the long term. |
| Treat a person like an engineer, through
self-fulfilling prophecy he will think and act like an engineer. |
Treat a person like a helper, through
self-fulfilling prophecy he will think and act like a helper. |
| Getting the job done has priority. |
Command-and-control leadership has priority. |
| Workplace adapts to change, becoming a leader
of changing technology. |
The workplace adapts to the status quo,
becoming a follower of changing technology, when competitors forced them to. |
| There is opportunity for innovation. People
by nature search for ways to make their job easier – with responsibility,
they have authority to take action. |
People following orders do not have authority
to take action to make their job easier. They have learned not to have an
opinion or make their opinion known. They accept the status quo and will
fight change. |
| Leadership can discover and promote employees
that have demonstrated natural talent for a given skill. |
Where employees only follow orders, natural
talent is not recognized or discovered. |
| Employees are considered an investment.
Employers want to increase the value of their investment. Expanding
employees’ capabilities will increase their value. New
talent and ideas increases efficiency. This may be costly up front, but it
reduces cost on the backside. |
Employees are considered a cost. Employers
want to lower cost. They do this by limiting training to narrowly focused
tasks. This may lower cost up front, but it is costly on the backside. Very
often a new employee is hired for a tasks a current employee could have
handled. |
| Responsibility reduces the need for mid-level leadership. |
Control increases the need for mid-level leadership. |
| Responsibility attracts people who seek to be on the leading
edge of technology. |
Control attracts people who reject change, they
accept their current status. |
| Problems are solve while minor, if not
avoided. |
Problems only get solved when recognized by
authority. |
| During idle time, workers with responsibility
brag how they solved or prevented problems. This is training time, passing
on information to coworkers. Positive attitudes about the company are also
exchanged. |
During idle time, workers idle talk is about
outside activities, what they did last weekend and what they are going to do
next weekend. This time is used for an escape from the work environment.
Negative attitudes about the company are also exchanged. |
|
The sharing of knowledge increases efficiency. |
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| Both men appear to be doing the
same amount of work. One is working smart - searching for a better way. The
other only follow orders - waiting for the whistle to blow |
