Re: An ugly job incident

["Beckton, Jon" <jbeckton -at- MHS7 -dot- TNS -dot- CO -dot- ZA>]

Fellow Techwhirlers,
In common with most of you, I have spent over an hour this morning wading
through the *numerous* posts relating to this matter. Please forgive me for
adding one more to the pile but, there's one point that has gone unsaid.
Bear with me while I try to clarify that.

First, Robert McMartin wrote:

>So should George have been shutdown for his statements.  NO.  I took
>what he was writing as his personal opinion.  If he upset a few people
>on the list, live with it.  Sometimes the truth hurts.  Do I agree with
>what George said, won't say, but I will defend to the death his right to
>say it.

Hear, hear! This is a given. Free speech has its downside as well as its
upside. It means that you have to listen to things you don't really want to
hear in order to have the freedom to say what you want to say. Then there's
always our old friend, the Delete key.

I don't know if any of you remember a DOS game, from the days of
steam-driven computers, based on the excellent "Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy" by Douglas Adams? At one point in the game, you're asked to type in
a phrase, two words I think. A little later, some text comes up on screen to
the effect that "You typed in ***** ***** . These words slipped through a
wormhole in the time/space continuum and emerged on the planet Grrrk!,
warped and twisted, as the order to the massive battle fleet then gathering
to attack. Intergalactic war raged for many millenia, resulting in the total
destruction of seven planetary systems and three civilizations, before the
commanders of both sides realised that it had all been a misunderstanding.
In future, please choose your words with more care." George, Bruce, please
take note

While not defending him (better words could have been chosen) I'm sure that
George didn't mean what he said in the way it came out. It seems a shame to
lose a thoughtful and valuable contributor for the sake of a moment's
aberration. As a child, some (mumble mumble) years ago, I, and most other
boys of my generation (and most other generations, I'm sure) were taught
that you don't hit girls, no matter what the provocation. The girls, of
course, knew this and played it for all it was worth. This has had the
lingering effect on me, and many others, George included, I'm sure, that we
don't really know how to react when faced with the situation described in
the original post on this matter. Instead of treating all equally, we prefer
to mollify rather than confront. Gee, I still open doors for ladies and you
can't get more non-PC than that!

As to Bruce Ashley's post, the words he used were quite legitimately, IMHO,
used to illustrate the point he made. I don't know if this was the reason
for his consignment to the nethermost regions but, we're all adults here,
one assumes, and shouldn't be shocked by this.

Oh, the point! Loudmouthed managers, male or female, are generally so, as
other posters have said, because of insecurity, poor self-image, because
they think this is how managers should act or a myriad other reasons. It's
been my experience that this type of behaviour generally has the opposite
effect to that intended. People "dig their heels in" and find ways to thwart
the loudmouth. The point is that there are better ways to manage than the
big stick. May I recommend Wright and Taylor's "Improving Leadership
Performance" as a Christmas gift to give to any managers from Hell you may
be suffering under.

To finish (at last) with a generalisation and to quote the mystical Pooh
Bear, generalisations are generally "a BAD THING!"

Hamba Kahle
(Go well)

Jon Beckton
jbeckton -at- mhs7 -dot- tns -dot- co -dot- za
South Africa

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