Do you have a job which doesn't make you feel alienated and depressed?

[mauvais]

I have a job that lets me post here with surprising regularity should I so desire, so in answer to the question, no.

 

[existentialist]

It's not about earnings, it's about the fact that management is a wholly unnecessary thing invented to give the rich an excuse to be rich. It's about the fact that a bad manager can sack a good worker, or a stupid manager can tell a smart worker what she should be doing.

In certain kinds of organisation, that may well be true - but it's not typical of what a manager is and does, or how the relationship with staff should work.

A competent manager will recognise that he is a generalist, co-ordinating the work of specialists. His role is to ensure that they are able to operate effectively together, and to act as a specialist regarding his department to the generalists upstairs, who in turn report...etc.

Because the alternative is either some kind of headless chicken co-operative where everyone on the "shop floor" is automagically co-operating and co-ordinating horizontally with each other or some kind of People's Committees running things, of the workers, for the workers, by the workers. That can work in small enterprises, but doesn't scale very well.

 

[spanglechick]

I'm really good at managing - which is rare in education. I'm a crap "leader" I can't be arsed with vision and change and aspiration. But I'm good at making sure things get done at the right times, and looking for ways to save my collegues and me time in our boring admin duties.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

my work intranet sort of thingy has a 'health and wellbeing' section which includes a page on 'depression and suicide'



wonder what the reaction would be if a few of us leave it visible when the manager is wandering round...

 

[J Ed]

I've been sick of TEFL for years but just started at a school that's actually well run and gives us tonnes of resources to work with. I'm really enjoying it.

I am glad that things are going a bit better for you mate, is the school in Spain?

 

[Favelado]

I am glad that things are going a bit better for you mate, is the school in Spain?

Thank you. Life is a bit better. Still in Madrid. Health is 80% better too. Teaching is good when they give you the tools to do it properly

 

[hot air baboon]

In certain kinds of organisation, that may well be true - but it's not typical of what a manager is and does, or how the relationship with staff should work.

A competent manager will recognise that he is a generalist, co-ordinating the work of specialists. His role is to ensure that they are able to operate effectively together, and to act as a specialist regarding his department to the generalists upstairs, who in turn report...etc.

Because the alternative is either some kind of headless chicken co-operative where everyone on the "shop floor" is automagically co-operating and co-ordinating horizontally with each other or some kind of People's Committees running things, of the workers, for the workers, by the workers. That can work in small enterprises, but doesn't scale very well.

.....W Edwards Deming basically invented post-war industrial management...a prophet without honour in his own country the Japanese absorbed everything he had to teach & then proceeded to methodically wipe out or render terminally uncompetitive vast sectors of western industry.......at which point the executives surveying the wreckage suddenley became interested in what he had to say...

Although the core of his method to improve quality was the use of statistics to detect flaws in production processes, he developed a broader management philosophy that emphasized problem-solving based on cooperation. He exhorted managers to "drive out fear," so that workers would feel free to make improvements in the workplace.

Mr. Deming denounced management procedures like production quotas, performance ratings and individual bonuses, saying they were inherently unfair and detrimental to quality. He said customers would get better products and services when workers were encouraged to use their minds as well as their hands on the job.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Miss-Shelf]

that thing about workload ....i am up late doing admin and UCAS reference

 

[friedaweed]

Most of the time I love my job. It fits in with my life and fulfills a part of me that pastry doesn't reach.

 

[Dharmakhameloen]

Love my 'job', I started doing it as a volunteer at 15 and I'm still kind of doing the same thing at 42. I haven't had an employer as such for a good 15 years... I doubt anyone would have me now, which suits me fine.

Even though I really enjoy what I do, last actual job I had - supposedly a 'dream' position - the environment was just fucking awful. Dreadful wankers on coke and empire builders around every corner. Four weeks in I decided I'd do exactly one year and bail... never regretted it. It wasn't a good year, but it was a lot easier knowing I was going to leave.

I still get a weird nervous feeling just walking past the building.

 

[emanymton]

Does being self employed count as a job? I've always used job to specifically mean employed by someone else. Is that just me?

 

[Tropi]

No.

 

[Winot]

Does being self employed count as a job? I've always used job to specifically mean employed by someone else. Is that just me?

I'm self-employed and I count it as a job. My clients can piss me off as much as a boss can. Obviously I can choose not to work for them, but if I do that with too many, I don't earn anything.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Does being self employed count as a job? I've always used job to specifically mean employed by someone else. Is that just me?

I'm employed by my own company...

 

[existentialist]

Does being self employed count as a job? I've always used job to specifically mean employed by someone else. Is that just me?

I think being self employed most definitely does count as a job, yes.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

I'm employed by my own company...

I thought you were part of a mega bucket shop chain. Is it kind of like a franchise model or do you have a free choice of suppliers and back office services?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I thought you were part of a mega bucket shop chain.

Could not be further away.

Is it kind of like a franchise model

A tiny bit.

or do you have a free choice of suppliers and back office services?

Yes, 100%.

Tis my company, my VAT returns, my HMRC bullshit etc.

 

[Yetman]

Worked for 10 years in a safe job with decent pay, my own hours, work from home, pension all that but the thought of still doing it when I was 60 terrified me. Left it last year and went to uni to do something that I'm actually interested in. Best decision I ever made.