http://talkingstory.org/2005/07/whos-the-real-tyrant/ Starting new conversations in the workplace! Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:13:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://talkingstory.org/2005/07/whos-the-real-tyrant/comment-page-1/#comment-2278 Rosa Tue, 26 Jul 2005 04:45:31 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=812#comment-2278 Maybe we need to do something radical Adrian, like abolishing salaries altogether and paying everyone by the hour ... then again, there are all the self-employed who work these crazy schedules and don't pay themselves anything at all! So you are right, it comes right back to our values driving our behavior. Maybe we need to do something radical Adrian, like abolishing salaries altogether and paying everyone by the hour … then again, there are all the self-employed who work these crazy schedules and don’t pay themselves anything at all!
So you are right, it comes right back to our values driving our behavior.

]]> http://talkingstory.org/2005/07/whos-the-real-tyrant/comment-page-1/#comment-2277 Adrian Savage Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:10:08 +0000 http://talkingstory.org/?p=812#comment-2277 You're absolutely right, Rosa. Those kind of hours have become a management fetish. I'm old enough to remember when folk were rushing around predicting everyone would work only a two-day week, or millions would be unemployed, due to the impact of computers and automation. Whatever happened to that, I wonder? What's at the root here are screwed-up values. Valuing hard work is an integral part of the American mind-set, perhaps due to the country's puritan history and origins. Nothing wrong with that in itself, until people start looking at how hard the work is and thinking it might be worth even more if it was harder. Now it's no longer about working to get what you want, it's about working hard to show what a worthy person you are, whether it's needed or not. How crazy is that? You’re absolutely right, Rosa. Those kind of hours have become a management fetish. I’m old enough to remember when folk were rushing around predicting everyone would work only a two-day week, or millions would be unemployed, due to the impact of computers and automation. Whatever happened to that, I wonder?
What’s at the root here are screwed-up values. Valuing hard work is an integral part of the American mind-set, perhaps due to the country’s puritan history and origins. Nothing wrong with that in itself, until people start looking at how hard the work is and thinking it might be worth even more if it was harder. Now it’s no longer about working to get what you want, it’s about working hard to show what a worthy person you are, whether it’s needed or not.
How crazy is that?

]]>