Philosophical Questions LO16912

Denis Cowan (cowandp@iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au)
Mon, 09 Feb 1998 10:09:08 +1100

Replying to LO16902 --

G'day.

my response to Ben's questions.

Regards

denis

At 22:46 7/02/98 -0500, Ben Compton wrote:
>Clearly my ideas on employee ranking and competition are creating a stir.
>It is not my intention to be a pain in the ass. All I'm doing is pointing
>out some facts that so far no one has recognized as being true

Facts ?? Truth ?? I perceive them more as notions based on an
individual's perception of the world. So I will use the words agree or
disagree rather than true or false.

>... So I will
>ask them explicitly, and independent of the employee ranking and
>competition threads, and see what happens.
>
>1. Inequality in ability is a natural state of existence? True or false?

Agree

>2. An employees value is, to a large extent, determined by their
>performance? True or false?

Agree but with a provisio, . Peformance at what ? Doing the work ?
Pleasing the boss ?, Good at politics ?, The court jester ?, Being the
fall guy so others feel good ? Being the token person so the organization
can feel good ? Being technically competent ? etc. etc.>

If by performance you mean productivity - I disagree. My experience as a
consultant is limited mainly to Australia. One of the major complaints I
hear from people is that organizations do not appear to value productivity
or quality of work but how you fit within the current culture.

>3. Not all employee are equally valuable to their employer? True or false?

Have difficulty with this one as I do not perceive there is one definition
of value. Possibly all people are valuable but for different things. So
the worker who is competent in keeping people motivated during difficult
times may be as valuable as the worker who does most of the hard work.

>4. Each person is ultimately responsible for their own competency and
>their own learning? True or false?

Agree.

Another provisio. I agree on the basis that no one else is responsible
therefore the individual must ultimately be responsible.

denis cowan , brisbane , australia. fax ** 61 7 32681869
email: cowandp@gil.com.au, Efficiency+@gil.com.au
http://www.gil.com.au/comm/profcounsel/profcoun.htm

-- 

Denis Cowan <cowandp@iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>