Conversion of data & associated logic from ISAM to RDB
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From: Howard Brazee on 16 Apr 2007 15:00 On 14 Apr 2007 13:42:36 -0700, "Alistair" <alistair(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: >Thanks Pete, a good response. I think that a problem with management >is that we all think that we can do better if only we were in their >shoes. I doubt it. Think of sports stars. The stands are full of people criticizing the quarterback - people who know that there's no way they would survive on the field. >The reality is that we would probably be worse at management >than those we criticise. I know from having had disagreements with >managers in the past that there often is much that they see that we do >not know of, at the coalface, and I have certainly been grateful for >their shields from time to time. Even if I had the competence (which I don't) - I once had to fire somebody. That was once too often, I won't be in that position again.
From: Michael Mattias on 16 Apr 2007 15:26 > Even if I had the competence (which I don't) - I once had to fire > somebody. That was once too often, I won't be in that position > again. In my experience a common mistake is making the best <anything> the <anything> manager. Far too often this does nothing more than subtract a quality <anything> while adding a crummy manager; a bad deal no matter how you do the math.. MCM
From: Anonymous on 16 Apr 2007 18:54 In article <2qh7231fi9tlotbqmdi3afv7ue7fsn2ijj(a)4ax.com>, Howard Brazee <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote: >On 14 Apr 2007 13:42:36 -0700, "Alistair" ><alistair(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: [snip] >>The reality is that we would probably be worse at management >>than those we criticise. I know from having had disagreements with >>managers in the past that there often is much that they see that we do >>not know of, at the coalface, and I have certainly been grateful for >>their shields from time to time. > >Even if I had the competence (which I don't) - I once had to fire >somebody. That was once too often, I won't be in that position >again. I am reminded of a tale, perhaps apochryphal: in a class at Harvard a professor gave an example to a roomful of MBA candidates, a conflict between a line-worker and a supervisor. One student said that the line-worker should be fired... after all, anyone can work an assembley-line but a good supervisor is hard to find. The professor left the lectern, stood in front of the student and declaime that this was the *stupidest* thing he'd heard in all his years of teaching and that he would not tolerate someone capable of generating this kind of nonsense in his class... and the student was to get out, *now*. The student (and the rest of the class) sat, dumbfounded... and the professor then swept the books and papers (this was in the Oldene Dayse, before students had computers) on to the floor and shouted 'GET OUT OF MY CLASS, *NOW*!!!' The student gathered his stuff and left the room... and then, when the professor had returned to the lectern and resumed the class, crept back in the door and sat in the last row. The professor then stopped the discussion and called out 'So, Mr Jones... tell us all what it is like to be fired.' DD
From: Anonymous on 16 Apr 2007 19:02 In article <37h7235mfp72i68g1vc2dv7hatkjh56ukf(a)4ax.com>, Howard Brazee <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote: [snip] >My wife was complaining about some minimum wage workers who were >incompetent for their jobs. I asked her - what should these people >be doing? We can't force competency. Leaving aside the question of 'who hired the incompetents?' - which, of course, places the blame on Management - I would ask 'what is there that encourages/rewards anything other than the 'some pretend to work while others pretend to pay them' mentality?'... which brings into question the entire Corporate Structure of Labor, Management and Executive groups. (my Sainted Paternal Grandfather - may he sleep with the angels! - used to say, long before things like Career Ladders and Empowerment were ever buzzwords, 'you can tell who gets a piece of the till by the way they move') DD
From: Pete Dashwood on 16 Apr 2007 20:41
"Howard Brazee" <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote in message news:2qh7231fi9tlotbqmdi3afv7ue7fsn2ijj(a)4ax.com... > On 14 Apr 2007 13:42:36 -0700, "Alistair" > <alistair(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: > >>Thanks Pete, a good response. I think that a problem with management >>is that we all think that we can do better if only we were in their >>shoes. > > I doubt it. Think of sports stars. The stands are full of people > criticizing the quarterback - people who know that there's no way they > would survive on the field. > >>The reality is that we would probably be worse at management >>than those we criticise. I know from having had disagreements with >>managers in the past that there often is much that they see that we do >>not know of, at the coalface, and I have certainly been grateful for >>their shields from time to time. > > Even if I had the competence (which I don't) - I once had to fire > somebody. That was once too often, I won't be in that position > again. That you would feel this way, shows you were probably a good manager, Howard. I have fired less than half a dozen people in 20 years and every time I looked on it as a failure on my part as well as theirs. It is never easy, and it is always a last resort after warnings and attempts to redirect, or because they have done something so outrageous and beyond the pale that it is just unacceptable. It is the horrible little weak pygmies of managers who actually enjoy firing people. Fortunately, these guys don't usually last too long... Pete. |