I dislike the attitude that he's showing, but I'm glad that he's showing it because the way thinks is not atypical in corporate middle management.
I would hazard the guess that, in 90 percent of companies, a person doing above-grade work that is more interesting than his assigned job-- even if that person is fully "pulling his weight"-- develops a negative reputation that will eventually harm his career. Sadly, perception matters more than what is actually happening.
Also, keep in mind that the real job of management and executives in most companies is reputation management. Their actual purpose is to sustain the reputation of the company so it can trade its wares (produced by the workers) at an advantageous rate. The test of the white-collar peon is how well he supports his manager's reputation. That's why middle managers are allowed to demand total loyalty of their reports. Above-board work that the manager didn't direct ends up minimizing the boss, so any benefit to the company doesn't really matter. I hate that it's that way; companies would be a lot better if people were trusted to work directly for the firm, Valve style, but that's not how most firms operate.
Comments
I dislike the attitude that he's showing, but I'm glad that he's showing it because the way thinks is not atypical in corporate middle management.
I would hazard the guess that, in 90 percent of companies, a person doing above-grade work that is more interesting than his assigned job-- even if that person is fully "pulling his weight"-- develops a negative reputation that will eventually harm his career. Sadly, perception matters more than what is actually happening.
Also, keep in mind that the real job of management and executives in most companies is reputation management. Their actual purpose is to sustain the reputation of the company so it can trade its wares (produced by the workers) at an advantageous rate. The test of the white-collar peon is how well he supports his manager's reputation. That's why middle managers are allowed to demand total loyalty of their reports. Above-board work that the manager didn't direct ends up minimizing the boss, so any benefit to the company doesn't really matter. I hate that it's that way; companies would be a lot better if people were trusted to work directly for the firm, Valve style, but that's not how most firms operate.