Employees retaliate against bad bosses by slacking off

You're article has point out

You're article has point out an interesting aspect of what goes on in many companies. I like how the argument is made here: employee-employer relations aren't always so great. On the other hand, the term "abuse" is kind of vague. Plus, it's sort of ironic that the statistics also show the percentage of employers who DON'T speak about the problem. So how did they come up with those stats if no one spoke up??

Mitch, that is an

Mitch, that is an interesting point (that bad bosses may result in the firing of decent employees who just happen to be under the wrong leadership/someone that doesn't motivate them. A client of mine, Taleo, just posted a video on "Career Horror Stories" that we worked on. I thought you might be interested in watching since it is Halloween Eve and all. We did a bunch of man on the street interviews and talked with local San Franciscans about some of their worst job experiences. I hope you enjoy it! Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItyPjyuEJK8

I really admire the way you

I really admire the way you approach to tackle this matter which became a global issue . I will be observing your future works and submitting my own views and results of my personal researches.

nakliyat

I haven't been part of a

I haven't been part of a software project in the last ten years that wasn't underspecified, underbudgeted, oversold, etc.

The prevailing marketing fad is to get any slapdash product into customers' hands and make it work later, so marketeers promise impossible features for ridiculous deadlines, before a line of code is written.

Then the executives task the managers to draw up spreadsheets and project plans that magically show developers delivering the product on time, before a line of specifications is written.

The beancounters determine the number of people, skills, equipment, tools, etc. allowed to complete the project. This is always a vast underestimate which makes everyone feel good except the people who do the actual work.

Is it any wonder that managers have trouble getting the 'colleagues' on the bottom to believe they're part of a 'team'? Managers who are manipulative and confrontive are often seen as 'can-do' managers who get the talent to perform...even if it does require some old tricks like hectoring developers until they give the 'ballpark' estimate the manager wants to hear, and then flogging the workers to meet 'their' estimates, which weren't theirs at all.

"Abusive" is a word subject to widely varying interpretations. I'd like to see a survey of "abusive" practices by managers, but you'll never see one conducted by a professor of management, or see the results published in Computerworld. It seems that once again it has been scientifically proven that developers are slackers who need to be 'managed' aggressively and painfully.

a commitment to active

a commitment to active communication is meaningless buzz.

one of the biggest aspects leading to "employee disenchantment" in our industry: ignoring the fact that the employees are analytical, calculating, methodical people. when an employee with X years of experience calmly explains that the project is one of:

a) underspec'ed
b) under budgeted (time, personel, hardware, etc.)
c) over sold
d) etc.

these points are generally brought to light from a variety of calculations the employee has done...

and they get ignored, and the death march (spiral) begins.

when management begins to realize that "sayin no" is a form of expertise, then, and only then, will things improve.