Organizational Confusion, Inefficiency and Struggle
This posting is a re-posting of a post made two years ago on my LiveJournal blog. As I am taking that down, I am transferring some of the old posts to here. However, I find that the situation I was experiencing then is not so different than what I am experiencing now.
One semester down, several to go. Xavier is certainly a challenging program to study my MBA at. Definitely, 11 credits was too many to take in my first semester. This summer already feels a little more relaxing, even though it is not by much.
I have tried thus far to make my journal thought provoking and interesting. I have no idea whether I have succeeded or not. I have enjoyed writing the posts I have written so far. I find though, at this point that perhaps my journal should also include some personal experiences, which it really has not to this point. Why I am going out of my way to explain this, I am not sure, but I felt that it was an important thing to do.
I am struggling to hold my world together. Work has become more demanding, and more challenging in terms of time constraints, but does not seem to be becoming the more well-rounded experience I would have hoped it would as I have proceeded in my studies. Much of what I do is the same old, same old. As I seek out new challenges and opportunities, doors seem to be only cracked, not opened. I do not think that management is strongly focused on advancing me or any of the other employees in my branch. I am not clear on whether this is a function of the state of the business, or an apathy towards the development and advancement of employees. I do know that a number of other employees also seek advancement, and they definitely find the doors slammed closed in their faces.
What concerns me is this: in today's business setting, what makes a company successful and viable is the human talent and resources it possesses. Anymore, an organization cannot simply hire any warm body and hope to succeed. Employees need to be valued, developed, and advanced along their careers. Talent is not inherent in all people, and an affinity towards certain job functions definitely is hard to develop. Some people are really into finance, but most are not. Some people really show talent in technology fields, others do not. Yet, organizations seem to be relatively ineffective at matching up talent with job function, at matching up career path with employee career goals. This would seem to be one of the most important functions within the organization, and yet this strategic function is often low on the list of priorities.
I currently work on one of our premiere service offerings. I definitely have a talent at it, and am a hard worker. Yet it does not align with my career goal, except in the fact that it gives me experience in an area I would enjoy managing. Will the management opportunity ever appear? Who knows. This is the dilemma I struggle with. Other people have untapped talents and would be very interested in entering into this service area, but are blocked because the company does not want to release them from their current function. Why? Because managers do not like change, and do not like to replace good workers with unknown variables. The problem is, the organization will lose that employee eventually anyway, because they will find work elsewhere doing something they enjoy. Why not keep that talent in-house? This confuses me.
I spent many years studying the behaviors and decisions of managers around me, always tempered with the perspective of learning from what they do, what their successes are, and what their failures are. I continued that study as I began and finished my Bachelor's degree. Now I am progressing through my MBA, and I struggle because I feel I have learned a lot from these managers, but have failed to move onward in my career despite my extensive experience and knowledge. Is it a personality defect that holds me back? Unlikely. I think it is the status quo, and the determination of ineffective managers trying to maintain it even when it is not in the best interests of the business.
I am a complete maverick. I break the rules, I rock the boat. I say the things that others will not say, I do the things that others will not do. Out of this maverick behavior, I have had many recognized successes. I am, by all accounts, a valued employee. Yet I think managers fear that, with power, I will disrupt their status quo and shake their world up. Surprise surprise, I would definitely seek to do that, within reason. My most hated phrase in business is "We've always done it that way." Why? Because it lacks the committment to total quality and continual improvement that all organizations, whether for or not for profit, should have.
I think the end result is that my employer will ultimately stagnate and struggle for many years, and may go through a number of reorganizations and downsizings, before the mother organization wipes out the remaining vestiges of the former organization and makes us simply another branch of the mother organization. I see a future where XGS, Inc. becomes simply Xerox, and our prior ineffectiveness gets brought into the ineffective Xerox whole. While I do not think that Xerox is in a downward spiral, I do feel that it has a long way to go to be able to effectively compete in its various markets. I think what has held Xerox up for so long is the constant innovation and development of new core competencies out of which it can charge premium prices to make up for its ineffective pricing on mature services and products. However, that can only get you so far. Innovation is good, but without sustainable business practices and efficient processes and policies, an organization will become bloated and cost heavy, and unable to compete in a global marketplace.
So, I wait. I hope that before I complete my MBA opportunities will arise that will allow me to advance within Xerox. But that hope may be an empty hope. What the future holds is uncertain and vague. However, armed with experience and an MBA, I should be able to kick down some doors elsewhere and find an opportunity that I will find challenging and fulfilling. One can only hope, dream, and work hard I suppose.
One semester down, several to go. Xavier is certainly a challenging program to study my MBA at. Definitely, 11 credits was too many to take in my first semester. This summer already feels a little more relaxing, even though it is not by much.
I have tried thus far to make my journal thought provoking and interesting. I have no idea whether I have succeeded or not. I have enjoyed writing the posts I have written so far. I find though, at this point that perhaps my journal should also include some personal experiences, which it really has not to this point. Why I am going out of my way to explain this, I am not sure, but I felt that it was an important thing to do.
I am struggling to hold my world together. Work has become more demanding, and more challenging in terms of time constraints, but does not seem to be becoming the more well-rounded experience I would have hoped it would as I have proceeded in my studies. Much of what I do is the same old, same old. As I seek out new challenges and opportunities, doors seem to be only cracked, not opened. I do not think that management is strongly focused on advancing me or any of the other employees in my branch. I am not clear on whether this is a function of the state of the business, or an apathy towards the development and advancement of employees. I do know that a number of other employees also seek advancement, and they definitely find the doors slammed closed in their faces.
What concerns me is this: in today's business setting, what makes a company successful and viable is the human talent and resources it possesses. Anymore, an organization cannot simply hire any warm body and hope to succeed. Employees need to be valued, developed, and advanced along their careers. Talent is not inherent in all people, and an affinity towards certain job functions definitely is hard to develop. Some people are really into finance, but most are not. Some people really show talent in technology fields, others do not. Yet, organizations seem to be relatively ineffective at matching up talent with job function, at matching up career path with employee career goals. This would seem to be one of the most important functions within the organization, and yet this strategic function is often low on the list of priorities.
I currently work on one of our premiere service offerings. I definitely have a talent at it, and am a hard worker. Yet it does not align with my career goal, except in the fact that it gives me experience in an area I would enjoy managing. Will the management opportunity ever appear? Who knows. This is the dilemma I struggle with. Other people have untapped talents and would be very interested in entering into this service area, but are blocked because the company does not want to release them from their current function. Why? Because managers do not like change, and do not like to replace good workers with unknown variables. The problem is, the organization will lose that employee eventually anyway, because they will find work elsewhere doing something they enjoy. Why not keep that talent in-house? This confuses me.
I spent many years studying the behaviors and decisions of managers around me, always tempered with the perspective of learning from what they do, what their successes are, and what their failures are. I continued that study as I began and finished my Bachelor's degree. Now I am progressing through my MBA, and I struggle because I feel I have learned a lot from these managers, but have failed to move onward in my career despite my extensive experience and knowledge. Is it a personality defect that holds me back? Unlikely. I think it is the status quo, and the determination of ineffective managers trying to maintain it even when it is not in the best interests of the business.
I am a complete maverick. I break the rules, I rock the boat. I say the things that others will not say, I do the things that others will not do. Out of this maverick behavior, I have had many recognized successes. I am, by all accounts, a valued employee. Yet I think managers fear that, with power, I will disrupt their status quo and shake their world up. Surprise surprise, I would definitely seek to do that, within reason. My most hated phrase in business is "We've always done it that way." Why? Because it lacks the committment to total quality and continual improvement that all organizations, whether for or not for profit, should have.
I think the end result is that my employer will ultimately stagnate and struggle for many years, and may go through a number of reorganizations and downsizings, before the mother organization wipes out the remaining vestiges of the former organization and makes us simply another branch of the mother organization. I see a future where XGS, Inc. becomes simply Xerox, and our prior ineffectiveness gets brought into the ineffective Xerox whole. While I do not think that Xerox is in a downward spiral, I do feel that it has a long way to go to be able to effectively compete in its various markets. I think what has held Xerox up for so long is the constant innovation and development of new core competencies out of which it can charge premium prices to make up for its ineffective pricing on mature services and products. However, that can only get you so far. Innovation is good, but without sustainable business practices and efficient processes and policies, an organization will become bloated and cost heavy, and unable to compete in a global marketplace.
So, I wait. I hope that before I complete my MBA opportunities will arise that will allow me to advance within Xerox. But that hope may be an empty hope. What the future holds is uncertain and vague. However, armed with experience and an MBA, I should be able to kick down some doors elsewhere and find an opportunity that I will find challenging and fulfilling. One can only hope, dream, and work hard I suppose.
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posted by Strycher @ 11:19
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