When an employee, be it C.E.O. or Security Guard, feels
aggrieved, the method adopted is often "unworking."
This is to be differentiated from doing nothing. Unworking
requires action which impacts negatively on the fortunes
of the company.
It stops just below malicious destruction of property,
as the unworker does not wish to be fired. Holding
the post until finding another job or retirement at
full pension is the goal.
Unworking is easiest to see when examining management.
Manager
I use the term, "Hiding in the Office" to describe the
behaviour of a manager whose authority curtailed,
ceases to visit the floor or evidence interest in the
day to day operations of the company.
Creating the unworking manager is quite simple; reinstate
an employee fired, countermand a direction given.
All it takes is one insult to the authority of a
manager and you have now created the Unworker.
Unworking Managers arrive at work and sit in the office.
All decisions will be passed upwards. No initiative will
be shown at any time.
Unless given specific instructions as to what to do in
regards to a specific incident, the manager will do nothing.
Employees, quickly perceiving their is no Manager do what
they please. Chaos seeps in. If infractions are brought to
the attention of the manager, s/he will do nothing but make
feeble attempts to contact superiors.
As the Manager will make no decision, the quantity of
work passed upwards means the Senior Person has to
manage the business.
To fire the Unworking manager is impossible. S/he will
sue for wrongful dismissal and easily win. After all,
s/he has followed "policy" to the letter.
Mid Level
When an employee, be it a Secretary, Clerk, Engineer, is
resentful over a slight, Unworking becomes an Art Form.
A Secretary will make sure certain documents can't be found,
messages are not conveyed and often cause equipment to become
inoperative.
As most companies use Windows, tweaking certain emulations
will turn the computer into a paper weight.
As most secretaries save everything to hard drive, well,
there goes that two hundred page report.
As most companies do not have a real techie who could
quickly diagnose and correct the problem, the IT person
will spend hours, days trying to "fix" what isn't broken.
This means the Secretary can not work at her desk, or
needs another computer, or has a work holiday.
As most bosses don't know a micro-chip from a potato chip,
and most in house techies operate on the Must Consult
Someone Else frequency, buying new computers is usually
the "fix".
This method works well for data entry clerks and any one
whose work entails a computer.
Other Employees
The next genre of Unworking concerns forgetting, i.e
forgetting to order cartridges for printers. Fabulous
voyages to unproductivity, (the goal of unworking)
are begun.
By sending wrong information, i.e. where a company is
located at 123 Blue Street and the address given is
123 Bule Street, one can assume deliveries will be
problematic.
Reversing numbers, 876-8432 transcribed as 867-8423
assists in confusion.
Simply put, a few small errors can be very effective.
The best method to Unwork is to Create the Monster.
Enter the Monster
The Monster could be anything intrinsically trivial.
It could be a rule, a practice; anything can be turned
into a Monster.
Workers have gone on strike because the Senior Accountant
didn't say good morning to them. Making an issue out of
nothing is the hallmark of a world class Unworker.
Once there is a Monster which absorbs time and energy
and of course, money, the Unworker has a reason why
s/he is not working.
Lower Level
The focus on lower level employees, when they are constantly
supervised, might suggest Unworking will be difficult.
Seeing a line of clerks banging at a computer or answering
calls looks like work. Of course, if these clerks are giving
the wrong information it is Unwork.
Locking doors and file cabinets and going away with the key
are magnificent examples of Unworking. Leaving clients
standing on the pavement while you hide in the bathroom
should prove the adage;
If you ignore Customers long enough, they'll go away.
Allowing someone to park where another will be boxed in,
especially when s/he must be at an important meeting is
genius.
One of the most fabulous examples of Unworking occurred
when a despised manager removed a rubbish bin from one
corner to another.
The workers took to throwing their garbage where the bin
wasn't, the cleaner took to complaining about the garbage,
the Manager called a meeting to inform the workers about
the bin, which led to an argument and a walk out.
Unworking can be prevented by not allowing workers to
become aggrieved. Respect them, listen to them, put
yourself in their place.
Remember, even under slavery slaves broke their tools.
