🚀 go-pugleaf

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
On Sat, 28 May 1994 19:35:44 EDT, James Bach wrote:

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>bushe@sfu.ca wrote:
>
>: People bring themselves to their jobs.  If they have a basic view of the
>: world as a scary place out of their control they're going to see that at work
>: too.  Those who see the world as a basically safe place and see themselves as
>: in control of their own lives, not surprisingly, find the "boss" easy to
>: approach.
>
>This has been my experience as a first level manager, which is one of the
>reasons I got out of management.  I had to work with several people who
>were basically fearful.  They had a sort of victim mentality, for
>whatever reason.  I tried everything in the management book to increase
>their confidence but one of the problems was that I really didn't have
>empathy for them.
>
>: When I was involved in QWL and STS redesign work at General Motors early in
>: my career, it was easy to see management as the "bad guys" and to feel that
>: it was their responsibilty to "drive out fear".  I was not prepared to see
>: how much those who, in my mind, were oppressed by the hierarchy, were
>: dependent on that hierarchy to contain their "natural" fear - that is, their
>: basic sense that the world is not a safe place and strong and wise leaders
>: are required to keep the world safe.  Those who are most
>: fearful are also those who most need to believe that someone up there knows
>: what is going on and will take care of them, whether it is big business, big
>: unions, or in the case of Canada, big government.
>
>: Try to remove the illusion that someone is in control and knows what is
>: going on and some people will call you a revolutionary and want to lynch you.
>
>Thank you for contributing this insight!  I never noticed this dynamic
>until you mentioned it, but it rings true.  This means that driving out
>fear is in some sense about building character in each individual.
>
>Tall order!
>
>: When we don't have
>: rules anymore to regulate our interactions and decision-making, we just
>: have you and me in an ambiguous, anxiety filled dance of who is going to
>: influence who.  Here, more so than in highly structured situations, the
>: impact of a person's own attitudes and proclivities are most apparent.
>
>This is a brilliant observation.  Have you written any books or papers?  I'd
>like to read them.
>
> ETC.......
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>James Bach                        | Section Chairman, Monterey Bay ASQC  |
>Senior Staff Engineer             | Chapter Chairman,                    |
>Languages Quality Assurance       |   Silicon Valley Software Quality    |
>Borland International             |   Association, Santa Cruz Chapter    |
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

James,

Thanks for your response.  I would like to continue this correspondance but
you did not give your email address and when I hit my reply key I get the
listserv address.  I and others have written on some of these themes and
I am currently into an intesive study of "empowerment from the inside out" -
how people actually experience empowerment (and "empowerment programs") in
organizations.  So write back with your email address and we'll talk more.

Sorry to the rest of you who didn't want to read through all of this...
Gervase Bushe Ph.D.
Faculty of Business Administration
Simon Fraser University
Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V5A 1S6

internet:bushe@sfu.ca
(604) 291-4104