My apologies for being a bit quiet lately. My family and I are getting ready to move to again… buying a house… and making big life changes here. But it’s all good. We’re excited and happy!
My apologies for being a bit quiet lately. My family and I are getting ready to move to again… buying a house… and making big life changes here. But it’s all good. We’re excited and happy!
MadOgre,
Moving sucks. I have done it enough times that I should have it down by now, but I don’t. Hope it goes well for you.
Always enjoy your perspectives when you are on Armed American Radio.
Good luck and keep a positive attitude! We just finished moving and making renovations to the new house – for the first time in 25-years, I can’t imagine going through this/that again!
I saw on Linked In that you are working in NC. Congrats, moving sucks but buying a house is great. As much as I read your stuff, I feel like you are part of the family. Good Luck Brother!
George, you staying in NC?
I’ll be working in Charlotte.
Ah…so you got that job?
Yup!
Good luck with the move.
Just curious, what will you be doing in Charlotte, and what happened with the holster gig that brought you guys east? I’d love to break out, leave Md. and head west…..
I left G-Code last March. It was a stepping stone to get here.
Where is here?
John C. Dvorak September 17, 2014 PC Mag
http://www.pcmag.com/opinions?__rmid=microsoft-believes-it-is-going-72435788
6.html
There has been a lot of talk in the press about how Microsoft CEO Satya
Nadella wants the company to rediscover its soul. This will take place once
he fires 18,000 employees. …..
Corporate culture is like any sociological phenomenon: it’s organic. It
grows over time. …
When people work in a company, they need to figure out a few things right
off the bat. Let’s look at the stages an employee goes through and consider
the corporate culture along the way.
The Stages of Employment
SURVIVAL STAGE. When first hired, this is critical. If you cannot last a
week because you said something stupid or broke some unknown (to you)
protocol, you’re doomed. This period can be any length of time but it is
usually early, when you are learning about the company and keeping your trap
shut.
SOCIALIZING STAGE. Everyone approaches this differently, but you need to
make friends who will teach you the ropes about the company and with whom
you can bond and scheme. Often this involves associating yourself with a
subgroup within the company. These subgroups, which can be very powerful and
even destructive, permeate every large organization, like it or not. Often
upper management force re-orgs to break up these groups, sometimes referred
internally as “empires” to re-establish chains of command and make the
company run smoother. A company that does a lot of re-orgs has a lot of
problematic subgroups that form easily.
I associate these subgroups with prison gangs. Books are written on this
topic.
EFFICIENCY STAGE. The next stage in an employee’s life is the awkward teen
phase. You have to actually figure out what it is you are supposed to be
doing. Even if you are on an assembly line, where it would seem pretty clear
cut, it is not.
….
…
This is where corporate culture comes in again with the biggest impact. It
also shows why corporate culture is so hard to change. By trial and error
the employee determines what he or she can or cannot do. Perhaps being very
lax actually get compliments because you are not creating roadblocks.
Perhaps going overboard with creative new ideas and adding to the plans on
your own is what inspires kudos. Corporate culture will determine this more
than anything. In one company creativity is rewarded, in another company it
is shunned because that is not your job.
After this aspect of the job is navigated, the employee goes into the last
mode.
RESIGNATION STAGE. The person finds his or her groove and just does that
until they are moved into some other position, often based on arbitrary
metrics. The process resets to various points within the framework of
survival, socialization, establishment of efficiency, and resignation.
…..
I highly recommend the original article even if PCMAG.com will fight you tooth and nail to keep you from reading it…
Geoff
Who fits into a disbursed DoD culture.
Lived in the same house for 35 years. Moved 5 years ago and hope to never do it again. The move was just up the road a bit to a house we built rather than a house we just bought. Still, we loved the old place. My daughter grew up there. She and her husband ended up buying it from us, so it’s still “in the family.” Places grow on you, or can.
Best wishes on your move George, and may your new residence be where you put down roots for a long time.