An
anecdote and an afterthought
Every
Monday the staff had to stay back for an hour after office for the Weekly
Assessment Meeting. Boss would speak out
his Scrutiny Report. He blamed each
member of the staff for one failure or another.
“Sir,”
one of the staff dared to ask one day, “don’t you ever find anything good in
any of us? We complete all the tasks in
time, bring in huge profits, and the company is running well.”
“Whoever
said the company is not running well?” thundered Boss. “This is your
problem. You are a thoroughly negative person and hence you see
everything negatively.”
The
staff responded with a positive silence.
After Boss had taken charge, over a dozen staff had lost their jobs for
crimes far less serious than questioning Boss.
Afterthought
A
docile worker who does as ordered without question is the ideal worker in the
corporate world. Famous French
intellectual, Foucault, said that. The
perfect fodder for the Capitalist factory is an automaton, not a human
being. Don’t think, just do your
work. Don’t ask questions. The corporate firm is a Panopticon with
detailed hierarchies, a complex chain of authority and training. Each level of the hierarchy keeps watch over
the lower ranks. Every behaviour that is
seen by the authority as deviant will be punished. There is only one standard behaviour. Boss decides the standard. If you can’t accept that standard, you quit
the firm. Or else, you will be
removed. As simple as that.
So true.. unfair.. but that's how the corporate world works. Well written Tomichan :)
ReplyDeleteDickens could have written a still better "Hard Times" were he alive now.
DeleteThanks for the compliment, Pallavi.
The nuances of the corporate world, well captured, Tomichan. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Poonam. Happiness in the corporate world is not an easy pursuit.
DeleteTrue picture of corporate world!
ReplyDeleteVery concisely and correctly put forward.
It's consoling to see that there are many people who feel the same way about the corporate sector!
DeleteHi,
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I would die of suffocation in such a job!
ReplyDeleteMany are condemned to tolerate such jobs out of helplessness, Pankti.
DeleteNice to see the corporate situation discussed.it is only through discussion & introspection that corporates can move forward & get out of deep entrenched traps. Thanks for the post
ReplyDeleteDiscussion and introspection are drowned beneath profit heaps, if not massive egos.
Delete