Some personal insights so far in this module: as the weeks go by, the topics for the blog post every Sundays seem to be getting more personal. Is it only me whom is finding more ease in applying what I came across in the past 20 years or so into each topic?
Entering into conflicts with other people (not animals) has never been a strange situation to me, ever since as a kid I came to realise that there is a world existing around me. My theory is, with interaction there bound to be disagreements, and when it gets out of hand the magnitude of the reactions of the conflicting parties usually determines the outcome of the issue; isn't that how wars are started?
This conflict, which troubled me greatly to decide upon out of so many to write a blog post about, happened when I was working as a temp under a rather famous and hence huge company in Singapore. I got this job through my mother's connections with her colleague, whom happened to be the manager of a department within that company; an unorthodox method that I suspected led to the building up of the upcoming clash with my superiors. The scope was simple enough: proof-reading policy documents and ensuring that their information matches according to my data entry. However being in an office environment and being my first paid job, I was completely unguarded against any politics.
It was an unspoken truth in Singapore that while you are taught in schools that it pays to be honest and efficient, but in reality it backfires on you when you work in offices. My ‘high’ efficiency, because I finished my work too ‘fast’ and ended up doing nothing for the rest of the day, incurred the wrath of my superiors. In addition, I was neither brave enough to communicate with my superiors to build rapport, nor were they willing to take the initiative to show me the ropes around in the office. Not surprising, conflicts therefore arose and I was forced to resign, after a grand total of just 31 days into the job, including weekends. Until now I do regret that this short tenure with the company ended in a sour note; it imprinted within me a very negative impression about office politics, and I guessed my superiors, 3 of them, were not impressed either, especially since they too knew my mother.
I always wondered every now and then, will the scenario be different had I not stick to my own beliefs that clearing my work as soon as possible is the right thing to do? Or is it my apparently aloof, unapproachable attitude the root of all the problems?
Sunday, February 7, 2010
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Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI find it a bit strange when you mention about “entering into conflicts with other people (not animals)”. Well, how do you even have a conflict with an animal?
I have met similar problems when I was doing my temporary job before university semester starts. There are times when I completed my work too quickly and ended up having nothing to do for the rest of the day. Thus, I was asked to go home after I have completed my work. As I was paid hourly, having been asked to go home early is actually to my disadvantage. I guessed I am luckier than you as I have not had any major clashes with my superior that forced me to quit the job.
I feel that things will be better if you had not stick to your own beliefs of clearing your work quickly when your superiors started to be unhappy with you. Sometimes what we learnt and applied in school cannot be applied in the working society.
As this is your first office job, I hope you have learnt something useful from this experience.
Li Hua
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteIt definitely brings back memories when i saw the term office politics. In my past temporary job where i worked for at least 5 months, office politics is definitely unavoidable in the work place. However in my situation, most politics only concerned the permanent staff and only sometimes it affect us, temp staff.
Firstly, I had realized that when a temp staff is recommended into a company by a staff from the company, there do exist possibilities that the temp staff will be looked at with a different perspective, sometimes in a bad way.
Secondly, I would like to say adaptability is an very important factor, I would not say not being efficient is bad, but it really depends on your superior and the work environment.After u have realized the culture of the work place, in your case, u should have reduce your efficiency by a little or try to "act" busy after you have finished your work. Superiors hate to see staff doing nothing.
Lastly, since its your first job, i believed it provided u an insight which you would not have if u had not work. Do not be afraid to be efficient at work as it is one of the important values that are looked by employers.
Jason
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI had a similar problem when I was working too, just that my boss was sort of more patient, and he gave me some good advice.
I was also doing work too fast, ended up having too much spare time in the office doing nothing. My boss told me that when the superiors give a dateline or a timeline for a certain task to be done, they normally set enough time for you to complete the task, and dont expect you to complete before the time is up.
So in a way your office situation might follow this in such a way, that they are unhappy that work is done before the time allocated and that you have nothing to do. Thus in this way they are inflexible. But when you consistently hand up before the time allocated, they might have this concept that the work was not done properly, and may be the reason why they were unhappy with your performance.
One way to solve this, when you start noticing that efficiency is not the way to go, is to pace your workload out. Take more time to accomplish a certain task, ensure that the assignment is done the best way that you can.
Another way is to take the time to learn something at the workplace. Maybe your work requires you to use Microsoft Excel, so during your free time explore Excel's functionality and try to pick up shortcuts that can help you the next time you make use of it for you work assignment.
Hope my suggestion is of help.
Cheers,
Cher Lia
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that sticking to one’s beliefs is important, but we should learn to adapt to the environment too. For the situation you mentioned, it is good to be efficient, but you could learn more about what is required and perhaps do the tasks given better.
As for the job scope, I am sure that there are things outside the job scope that you can do, especially after completing your assigned tasks. You could offer to help others who may need help, try to learn more about the company culture or just try to improve on the quality of your assignment.
As for the getting the job through connections part, I personally feel that it would not be a problem if your performance is up to par. I understand that being one who is doing their first job, it would be hard to achieve the standards required. Being one who got in through connections, I am sure that they have higher expectations. Therefore, I feel that the right thing to do is to improve on your own abilities to come out with better quality work and not just finish the work fast.
I hoped that my comments are helpful to you.
Leonard (C06)
Hi Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI can empathize with your feelings in this conflict. During my 8 month holiday, I decided to work as a teacher at my old secondary school. I too got through by connections, getting the job over more qualified people. I suppose that my familiarity with the people and the system there was the deciding point. Considering I also occasionally spent time at work doing nothing and yet incurred minimal wrath, I would come to the conclusion that it is not your efficient work that is annoying your superiors.
As for whether you did the right thing, I suppose it is really up to you. By getting the job through connections and not entirely through merit, there is already a certain stigma attached to you. The only way you can remove this stain is by interacting with your co-workers and bosses, and building camaraderie with them. Thus, I would think that having an aloof, unapproachable attitude would not have endeared you to your colleagues and made you look snobbish and unwilling to interact. I think that was the root of the problem rather than the efficient work you were doing.
Finally, the part conflicts with people and not animals felt rather inappropriate to me. One cannot enter a conflict with an animal as they do not have the same level of intelligence as us. However, the main point was that it detracted the value of your argument. Other than that, it was an excellent post.
Regards,
Kimberly