Okay, it's time for a poll.
How many of you work in jobs where results matter more than procedure?
This is what I mean: You're given a project. It's due on a certain date. A certain level of quality is expected.
You complete the project ahead of schedule, and the quality exceeds expectations. Then it turns out you didn't follow the guidelines established three years ago by a committee of people who have never done anything like this project or, if they have, last did it during the previous decade. You did your project more efficiently and met every requirement, and the only net impact on the war is positive. But because you didn't follow the established, outmoded procedure, your project is trashed.
Does this happen to anyone else? What sorts of jobs are like this, because I need to avoid them. I can't imagine that finding a better way to accomplish a task is really frowned on by many organizations other than the military. I'd like to hope that a profit-driven business would never elevate procedure above results.
People are always telling me that the civilian work world is just as bad as the military one. (Never mind that telling me this is like telling a depressed teenager that these are "the best years of your life." Anyone who says that to a young person should be shot in the face immediately.) But just because civilian jobs are as much about who you know, how you play politics, and who's bread you can butter as military jobs are doesn't mean that civilian companies must exalt procedure to the same degree as the military does.
Please, tell me about your job. Is your company this backwards? Because I sure as hell don't want to work for them if they are.
3 comments:
I would have to say primarily nope, as long as the paperwork required was done. However, for good projects paperwork can be ignored or fudged. There are benefits to having powerful bosses. However, I have seen good projects get shot down, because the right person didn't come up with it, witness the bad part of having powerful bosses.
Don't talk to me about policies and procedures. I'm slugging through 5 large binders of policy to make sure my education material doesn't contradict policy, procedure or proper protocol at the hospital. These binders often state "refer to Springhouse for further information" (a reference book for hospital policy making), then I discovered theres a whole different set in rehab.
So I have some lovely classes ready, but details must be cross referenced to procedure.
Grrrrr.
The only other time it raises its head is during atypical cases when someone says "why didn't you follow policy"-- um, cause it's an atypical case that didn't fit with the present writing of policy".
You hit the nail on the head! Not just about the military (since I've never been a part of it), but the work place in general. I'm beginning to believe that the self motivated (as in NOT motivated by how the company can benefit them alone..."climbing to the 'top'" so to speak) people who have some idea of how simple some of the task can be and how some the their (the company's administrators) problems can be resolved quite simply seem to have the most difficult time in the work place. - (well that was quite the run on sentence.)- I've only worked for two major companies, a local theme park, and a local hospital "chain" for lack of a better term. In both places it seemed as if anyone who was NOT trying to make a "powerful" career of it was looked "down" upon by those attempting to slither their way to corporate higher-management or sway their opinion to benefit themselves in one fashion or another. I have witnessed injustice towards excellent, productive, positive, intelligent employees and some poor patient care only to benefit a manager and how they’d look good or to protect one of the higher up’s buddies or beneficiary. Quite simply…if you’re not an ass kisser or you get in between an ass kisser and the ass their trying to kiss you’re going to get burned.
This is opportune time to vent about this little tid-bit of injustice that had caused me to have a few sleepless nights…
There is a girl I know that actually put her job on the line to intervene with mistreatment of a grossly disabled patient. It’s not as if those who were involved were doing it to be cruel to the patient, personally, nor were their intentions out of cruelty at all, they just didn’t want to look bad and cause conflict with authority…
A nursing home transportation company had come to pick up a quadriplegic patient from the hospital in which she (the girl) worked at without the proper equipment to transport the patient back to the nursing home safely and humanely. With knowledge of the potential unsafe transport of the patient, the charge nurse of the unit and the hospital supervisor for the evening allowed the patient to be discharged and turned patient care over to the transportation company only to make the bed/room available to the next patient/paying customer, alleviate stress for their buddies, and to make their numbers look good for upper administration. Unfortunately the patient’s safety was not taken into serious consideration until this girl saw them attempt to load the patient face down on the floor of the transportation company’s van. When the girl reminded them that this in no way how to treat another human being, not to mention that it is a HUGE legality issue for the hospital, transport company and nursing home, was anything done to stop the entire thing from going down. The situation was easily resolved with some resistance from the nursing home, Transportation Company, and nursing staff at the hospital. After about 3 hours, the patient was safely out the door and on his way to the nursing home and a bed became available to the next paying customer and very little stress was placed upon the hospital staff (except for the defiance from those who ultimately looked bad). Unfortunately the girl whom intervened, and posed as a patient advocate, was reprimanded for not paying enough attention to her job a secretary and sticking her nose in other people’s business when she should have turned a blind eye.
I see something entirely too wrong with this, yet crap like this happens in every corporation and I suspect the military itself. Unfortunately people who cannot become “comfortably numb” to injustices that surround them, cannot turn a “blind eye,” and do not function like a robot, controlled by money and power, will continue to find it difficult to be truly happy in any sort of career they fall upon. If I could figure out a way to be truly happy and successful in the work place while providing a positive atmosphere for those with aspiring new ideas I’d write a book about it!
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