Taking responsibilities.
Published by Esteban Glas on May 13th, 2007 | This post lacks all category except for: philosophical rant
Completely personal opinions and impressions follow.
Do you feel people in general take less responsibilities than they used to?
I’ve found talking about this with friends and colleagues, and we agree on most of it. We’re under the impression that people in general (whether they are managers or the last link of the chain), are increasingly eager to avoid any responsibilities.
Overall I seem to be getting more and more “I don’t do that”, “It’s not on my duties” kind of phrases, not to mention the times one you do get people to commit only for them not to deliver.
I’d like to say it’s generational, but I see this on people spanning quite different ages; “cultural” comes to mind instead. But I find the term too broad to make me happy about using it.
I haven’t yet give much thought on why I think this happens; but I think it might have to do with rewards. People I know that take responsibilities (beyond their call) find reward in completing their jobs, no more, no less.
What are your thought on this?
One Response to “Taking responsibilities.”
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May 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Esteban,
I agree completely. In “Large” workplaces, I believe some of it has to do with matrix management and the way things are structured. People cannot control the totality of what the business seeks to hold them responsible for, or they may feel helpless, or worse, victimized by the impacts of decisions made in other places. As a result, they defensively compartmentalize even more, trying to draw clear lines around what they are, or are not accountable for. Large businesses may then try to counter this with various high level measurement and reward programs. In these, top level measurements are chosen, that in theory, every employee’s actions due affect to some degree. We could debate the effectiveness of these, and perceptions around them, but to what point?
In the larger world, I also see the lack of accountability. But accountability is often so politicized. 100 years ago, when natural disasters struck, people were devastated - there were few if any large scale insurance bail outs, and the federal government was not equipped to respond overnight. In fact, they might not even know by the next day. Today, everyone has an expectation of entitlement - that someone, somewhere should come and fix their situation. The idea of accountability is what someone else isn’t doing fast or well enough. I am saying that we should help each other out, but ultimately people should take responsibility for, and accept what happens to them. They are now owed anything. I saw on the news today, a little 4 year old girl was kidnapped out of a hotel room, while her parents were at dinner, a short distance away. Shortly, the media turned to ask whether the parents should be held responsible. Of course they are responsible, but then so is the person(s) who did the kidnapping.