This sounds like whining – and it probably is – but if you have a potential answer (or just want to tell me to shut the hell up) then please comment.
I am a low-level cog is a large corporation. I work with someone else who is also a low-level cog of a slightly different sort. We’ll call me person J and this co-worker person B. It should be understood that both J and B are at exactly the same level of senority in the company – neither has any clout over the other.
It should also be noted that the organization stresses the importance of recognizing where change could and should be enacted in order to maintain efficiencies through all areas of the company, and expects all its employees to participate and make suggestions.
B is asked to keep track of some data, and devises a system to do so, involving the need for certain actions by J and all of the other people who do J’s job.
J realizes that the actions being requested are redundant, and a time-waster (15 minutes per day x 30 people performing redundant task, not to mention the collosal waste of paper), and eventually thinks of a better way to perform said actions which will maximize efficiency and minimize errors. J then presents her idea to the supervisors.
Supervisors think J’s idea is great! Yay J! However the idea will require B to also slightly modify the way she does things.
B resists change. Supervisors let B’s stubbornness overrule their request for change.
Nothing changes.
J remains bitter.
UPDATE: 5:44pm (for clarification purposes) If you were J, what would you do now? What would you do to better the situation, when up and quitting isn’t a viable, or responsible option?
Haha… it’s just because theirs are COMPLETELY over the top.
Now where’s my butane….
oh sure, *they* can make facetious, unrealistic comments… but when *I* do… 🙂
you could put strychnine in the guacamole… or write a letter to the tourism board and have the place condemned.
BIG GRAINS OF SALT…
set the building on fire
Oh yeah, and then I would let my supervisors know of the change in B’s attitude and then they’ll think that not only are you brilliant for coming up with this new and efficient way of doing things, but that you have great people and negotiating skills as well!
If I were J, I would talk to B and let her know that I wasn’t trying to steal her thunder, that her idea was a great one, but there might be room for improvement if small changes are made. If I were J, I’d make it seem like she was the one who came up with this great idea, so that her feelings and ego aren’t bruised and yet the work gets accomplished much faster/easier/etc.
Jen: I dunno, I don’t consider “making myself happy” to be running away from anything. I’m just sayin’.. what was asked was “what would you do if you were J.” Well, if I were J, I wouldn’t be happy being a cog, and therefore the intricities of the coglike behaviour would be irrelevant. 🙂
count on j to give good advice. i second his advice 😉
The job seeking is well underway. In the meantime, I much prefer *solving* my problems rather than running away from them.
Seek a job that pays better and gives J a less “coglike” feeling. 🙂
Of course, my biases may come in — being a cog tends to annoy me. 🙂
If I were J? I *am* J, albeit lower-case…
In a case like this, try to outstubborn the stubborn. If the supervisors think your idea is great, press them. Remind them how much time and money they will be saving the company. If B has the power to bottleneck the whole department just by resisting change, then your supervisors have to re-examine either the person or the policy.
In any case, approaching your supervisors is doing something, while the alternative (short of keying B’s car) is doing nothing. And I’m sure you’ll feel better doing something 🙂 Better than bitterness! Someone once said that “holding a grudge against someone is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies”.
Stupid TPS reports.