Wednesday 15 November 2000

Pic of the day: Archive photo from my trip to the west coast. Besides the beautiful landscape, there is the road, a great piece of engineering, built into the steep mountainside. And ending blindly in the middle of nowhere, not a house in sight. The people who decide these kind of things suddenly found out that no, we want to do something else with the money instead for a while. That's a generation ago now. Do you wonder how great is my respect for authorities? Read and find out.

Motivation gathering

Today was dedicated to a "motivation gathering" with our workforce from this province. Luckily the gathering was here in Søgne, only 25 minutes walk from home. Some smart guy was preaching for most of the day, about stress and change and layoffs and caring about one another.

I shall admit that I had rather low expectations. Partly because no one seemed to know what we should be motivated for. A total stranger speaking to us for reasons unknown. I have to concede that the guy was professional; but after the fact, I still don't know why this gathering was held. Nor was there any indication that the speaker knew.

There is indeed a major restructuring under way. But this is largely taboo; and in fact one of the few things we were told beforehand was that the gathering was not about the restructuring. The issue is officially still not decided. The idea that some people may need to move to work at another office is too horrifying to talk about until it is a fact, it seems. So the workers are basically left to guess, which they do in small groups. Exactly the way it should not be done. Does that surprise me? You bet it doesn't.

***

Let me also say a few choice words about the restructuring. It is for all practical purposes a centralization. The number of workers will be approximately the same (in the short run) but they will work in fewer and larger offices. (This does not apply to us here in the city, we are quite many enough already.) I am unconvinced that this is such a great thing. I am unconvinced that this is the right time. Let me elaborate.

Rapidly improving technology makes distance less important. If anything, it will be easier to work at a small office and still be part of a larger professional milieu. For each passing season, this new structure makes less sense.

And of course, the workplaces move from more rural areas (where houses are cheap) to towns (where houses are expensive). There will be need for new expensive office space. It will also probably mean that some workers will have to sell their inexpensive houses and buy more expensive houses in pressure areas. Why does nobody ever think of putting the new, larger office in a cheaper area? Now there will be extra costs, and in the long run presumably this will be covered by trying to do the same work with fewer people, resulting in more sick leaves, lower productivity and further losses.

Am I saying that I think this is a stupid move? Yes. Am I saying that I think my leaders on a national level are less intelligent than I? Of course! I can't believe that could ever be a question. If they were intelligent, they would not commit the human sacrifice that leadership is. As Socrates said (according to Plato at least): In an ideal state, people would fight to avoid being rulers, the way they now fight to rule.

***

My workplace locally has nearly 70 workers, though many of them are part time. That is too much. Not too much for the work we have to do, but too much to work efficiently. I concede that there can be downsides to a workplace with only two people, in terms of having the resources to delve into more specialized problems. You are almost doomed to stay on the surface, to know a little about everything but never know everything about anything. But too many people is not good either.

When a small group of people work together and there are no serious personal conflicts, organization is automatic. We may be born with instincts for cooperation, and/or we may be raised to it. Anyway, there is very little overhead in a small group. But at some point the organic cooperation breaks down. You need to spend resources on organization and control. You need to use time to keep track of who is doing what for how long and where are the papers. Eventually you get jobs that consist almost entirely on keeping track of other people, which the other people naturally consider spying.

As organizations grow, the resources used to control each other take up more and more of the total. You get various levels of management, who detract from production rather than add to it. Eventually the chain of command takes on features from the party game "telegraph" (or whatever it is called in your area) where a message is twisted beyond recognition before it reaches its goal.

***

"You can't motivate people without a motive" said the speaker. "It's no help arranging motivation seminars if you don't have a goal." Sadly he did not tell us what the goal of this motivation gathering was. But though the box may have been empty, the wrap was simply astounding. Huzzah! I couldn't have done better myself.

And we got free food, too.