High Profile Cases - what really happens in the workplace

**Houses4Rent** · 14-May-14, 03:10 PM

Hi

I agree with Adrian

I too withdrew from the corporate world as I was tired of having to play games and not being heard. Being German and a (former) rather analytical engineer I guess the straight talk is programmed in my DNA. I then started my own company in a totally different industry and now I speak my mind even to my paying clients. Most learnt to accept it as they realsied that I am (mostly) ultimately right and that I am doing it for their own good. The ones who continue to not like my ways and fail to see the bigger picture and my motivation behind it can take a hike.

JanChris: how did the story end? Woudl it not have been easier/less risk to tip off the relevant authorities/the customer anonymoulsy?

**HR Solutions** · 14-May-14, 03:18 PM

The reason for mentioning this was that not all "afrikaans" people or "afrikaans" company owners fall into the category that you made mention of.

Yes I do agree. I merely said that from my experience the problems normally originate from older companies .... but not all.

Houses 4 rent is agreeing and disagreeing. So it would seem that in the corporate world it is slightly different. I must be honest I do not have too much experience in this as we normally deal with smaller companies ie not the Nedbanks, Foschini's etc (ie corporate)
But certainly in smaller companies I do not get the feel that you cannot speak your mind.

**adrianh** · 14-May-14, 03:52 PM

You really can't. I've worked for big and small IT companies. None of them want to hear you speak your mind. You have to count your words very carefully and make sure that what you have to say is not too far from their ideas and views. It is terrible in small companies. Imagine that the boss wrote 80% of the system in Cobol in the '80s and he is mentally incapable of making the leap to Object Oriented Programming and Relational Databases. He buys the latest version of Delphi and SQL Server and then wraps all his Cobol code in a new jacket. He alters every aspect of the Windows interface to work as it did in Cobol and then goes on to treat his SQL Server database as one would use a Dbase III database. Then the guy gets cheesed off when you tell him that you simply don't work like that. To cut a long story short, every one of his employees, except me of course, simply say that if that is what the doo$ wants then so be it. It didn't take long for me to get kicked out for disagreeing with the boss....

**HR Solutions** · 14-May-14, 04:01 PM

Aaaaah ok now youre talking about IT - Yes IT guys are a different breed of people all together - they tend to be the introvert type wherever they are.

**Greig Whitton** · 14-May-14, 04:12 PM

In my experience, people who claim to speak their mind generally don't use it before they open their mouth. "Honesty" and "tact" are not mutually exclusive.

**adrianh** · 14-May-14, 04:25 PM

Define "tact" when your immediate superior is a brainless twat!

**BusFact** · 14-May-14, 04:45 PM

This is not just a work place scenario, this is life.

Honesty is generally a good characteristic to have. Employers will prefer someone who tells the truth rather than lies. But they will also generally prefer someone that keeps quiet at what the consider the right times. Most bosses don't really want to have a full blown discussion each time one of their employee's has a different point of view. Unless you are in a progressive company or in a creative environment, most bosses just want the job done. There is a time and a place for presenting your opinion, despite what the management books may imply.

Everything you do has a reaction. You can decide to be a whistle blower, but then there are repercussions - people get upset. You can decide to keep quiet and there are repercussions - you feel guilty or the problem gets worse.

Honesty isn't necessarily going to help your career I'm afraid. It might make you feel better ... for a while.

This is an ethical call each of us has to make from time to time, and each situation has to be judged on its own unique circumstances. There are no easy answers.

**adrianh** · 14-May-14, 05:20 PM

BusFact - Well put. We all learn eventually what the appropriate answer is to the question: "Do I look fat in this"... The fact still remains that being honest at all times is not a good trait to have.

When you do the job interview you are asked whether you are honest, whether you have integrity etc. Then you get the job and the first thing they do is expect you to lie to the customer about the progress, time required and cost of a job! The mechanic can't say that he could fix your car for R5,000, no, he has to take the party line and agree with his superior that your engine needs to be redone for R50K.

The bottom line is that companies generally do not want real people who are able to think for themselves. Companies want "resources" (robots) who are able to operate within a very narrow set of parameters without complaining or trying to hard to understand why they have to do what they have to do. Many people are able to shut themselves down mentally and work within those boundaries but some of us are simply unable to do this. I cannot function in an environment where I am expected to move a piece of paper from one end of the desk to the other without thinking about where it came from, where its going and what the best way is to move that piece of paper. Some of us, let's call us "creatives" for lack of a better word, need space to be able to create, evolve an idea and develop something without constant interference and "over the shoulder supervision". This is why some of us simply abandon the world of being an employee and strike out on our own.

**JanChris** · 14-May-14, 10:39 PM

Adrian, You have just copied a page out of my book and it seems that we were the authors. I agree with you 100%. It is in many cases that you end up being more qualified than your superior and because of his inability to do his job, he does everything to make you look incompetent but his boss never seems to ask himself, why do I now have 5 people doing that same job. I have seen this on many occasions. I now wonder how competent his boss really is.

So glad to see that I am not the only person experiencing this in the workplace although large companies continue to "cover up" the mistakes of the incompetent friends/family that are employed.