I See Pointy Haired People....

Right now I’m stressed out. Tangentially stressed out. Clients are running amok. Fingers pointing here and there so fast that I wish I had a pair of shears so I can prune those bony twigs. Job professionalism is something of a rarity in these regions. In fact, I can’t remember any corporate outfit that I’ve had the pleasure to work under and with who can wear the proud professional tag. Oh wait, yeah now I remember. Multinationals whose HQs are not located in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines.

Most organizations I’ve worked under, and with whose HQs reside in these countries, have an appalling lack of basic professionalism and work-place discipline. Then they hire over-priced consultants who know next to nothing about their workplace operations to give them advice that anyone with a smattering knowledge of Management and Business 101 can dish FOC.

Too much is done in shocking shoddy fashion, without proper planning (even if planning is done, it is mere window dressing and the plans make excellent scratch paper), too much is based on trust (trust is an iffy thing and it extends so long as the person’s memory is sufficient and that they are not buffeted by unknown pressures) and less on documentation, and not enough emphasis on operational cost. Politics is a favorite; that in-grained Asian habit of business through close connections and who you know. Merit, quite often, is a side note.

Heck, I’ve almost been party to very shady dealings and murky corporate maneuverings that could amount to corruption, not to mention actually witnessing it right before my very eyes. The moolah involved were nothing to sneeze at too. I’m glad I still find that it all galls me and I pray that the day will never come when I find myself jaded and just go along for the ride.

It is ironic that Asians have a cast iron reputation for penny pinching in business deals but are dismal in keeping operating costs or running costs down in a humane way and though proper and careful execution. Actually, I think this is universal.

Speaking of which, why is it that whenever a Caucasian (no offense meant to anyone here) talks, clients sit-up and take notice but us Asians, who can do the job just as well any others and can articulate things on a level that someone from outside Asia can only guess at due to cultural peculiarities, find it so hard to convince clients of taking us seriously? We’ve got to get our heads examined.

I still can’t, for the life of me, understand why is it that people can treat others and their charges in a way that is condescending and demeaning (that’s a rhetorical statement). Again, it might be our in-grained responses as Asians that authority is to be respected without question. A master-slave relationship if you’d like.

Thus, when we attain positions of responsibility, we take it as our right to boss people around as we like. I find working closely, with open channels of two-way communications, with my team members a more palatable option. It makes it easier for me to make ugly decisions and to reprimand too. Not that easier means that it’s a piece of cake.

I’m no management guru and God-forbid that I’d turn into one. I can agree with most management books, some of them are gems in their own right, but I think the best way to manage people under you is to remember how it was when you were in their shoes. Fair, equal and honest treatment for everybody. It ain’t full proof, I know, and it requires a heck of a lot of personal investment in your charges but once you see your team working like a well-oiled machine, it’d put a tear in your eye.

Maybe a change in career is in the air? Trouble is, I like my job more than I hate the ugly bits that come with it. Sigh…in this, I’ll leave it to God to guide my steps. The most rewarding bit about this job is not really the management’s effusive approval of a job well-done (although I wouldn’t mine that *grin*), nor the client’s praise for a well-run project and hitting the milestones as scheduled. It is seeing your charges gel well with each other, learning from each other and maturing under you as the project moves along.

Corny eh? Well, so it is but that’s what’s most rewarding for me.