this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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Antiwork
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The entire relationship is transactional. It is top to bottom. The bottom got no vote, no rights and if the top ain't pleased the bottom gets no food housing or healthcare.
So yeah, no. If you as a manager were told by your boss that there were 'redundancies' that needed to be addressed, no problem. Fire away. But if the people below say you know maybe let's unionize, then they are usually first to be fired. I'm sure as a manager that's just common sense.
Well, for starters I don't tend to work in places where the employees need to unionize. I did once, and I left ASAFP.
I believe more along the lines of Ouchie's Theory Z - make sure employees are living well in and out of work etc. If every hour requires micromanaging for things to get done then it's broken and I'd want no part in that. I've negotiated for higher pay than my own for some direct reports.
So, hypothetically, you tell me you want to collectively bargain and I would be fighting to let it happen. You want me to go union busting? Then my ethics are clearly not in alignment and I would be hard at work on a GTFO plan.
I've studied the hell out of wages, wage distribution and how it graphs out over the decades and it's not pretty. It's really terrible.
I've fired a 3 person team but I gave them every chance to get on board with the newer way of doing stuff and they flatly rejected it even though it was the new industry norm and it was going to improve their resumes. It was even going to improve work life balance and limit after hours intrusive stuff down to 0. All those things happened and the new folks had no idea that before I showed up the previous team was stressed out, worn out and pissed off but couldn't handle changing even if it was a win win win.
If every manager in your field of work is awful, I would suggest trying to plot a course elsewhere. Or be a manager yourself.
A good and supportive manager gets more, higher quality output from their team than managers that are micromanaging and working through threats. The delta measured between the extremely bad and extremely good is 120% meaning that a well managed smaller team gets more done and is happier than the bigger poorly managed team.
That whole storming, forming, norming, performing thing? Hard to get to performing if the team is worried about top 3 Maslow's hierarchy needs, and impossible if the team composition doesn't stay stable.
If you need to unionize then I hope you are successful. That manager is a person too. If they are a shitty person then vote with your feet. If you need to explain boundaries definitely do. If you're an autistic introvert make it clear - they might be an autistic extrovert and unaware.
Best of luck!
You make a lot of good points. What I'm saying is simply that I don't want to be in a social situation where I am forced to befriend someone who holds the sword. The top down structure makes friendship inherently disingenuous. Friendship can only happen when you are equals.
Well, you can aim for some level of trust, support, and mutual compassion. The corporation is an uncaring machine hellbent on stockholder value.
I'm friends with quite a few former direct reports. Even a couple I had to fire. And I am friends with several former bosses.
It's a role, and a responsibility
Some filthy folk might try to know you better to manipulate or control you so having some guard up is wise.
Personally I think of people as coworkers all the way up to the CEO. We're all human.
I hope you get to work with inspiring bosses or leaders so you can recognize them when you are shopping for a new boss.