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%$Header: /home/dashley/cvsrep/e3ft_gpl01/e3ft_gpl01/dtaipubs/esrgubka/c_bma0/c_bma0.tex,v 1.4 2001/08/18 18:37:56 dtashley Exp $
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\chapter{\cbmazerolongtitle{}}
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\label{cbma0}
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\beginchapterquote{``Being responsible sometimes means pissing people
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off. Good leadership involves responsibility to the
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welfare of the group, which means that some people
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will get angry at your actions and decisons.
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It's inevitable, if you're honorable. Trying to get
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everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity:
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you'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting
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the people who need to be confronted, and you'll avoid
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offering differential rewards based on differential
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performance because some people might get upset.
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Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices,
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by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone
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equally `nicely' regardless of their contributions,
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you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll wind
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up angering are the most creative and productive
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people in the
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\index{Powell, Colin}organization.''\footnote{General Powell's
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presentation (\cite{bibref:d:powellleadershipprimer})
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is an absolute goldmine of tremendous quotes. There were
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many equally striking contenders for this spot (the opening quote
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of the chapter about bad management).}}{General Colin Powell (Retired)
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\cite{bibref:d:powellleadershipprimer}}
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\section{Introduction}
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%Section Tag: INT
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With the comic strip
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\index{Dilbert@\emph{Dilbert}}\emph{Dilbert},
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and several books, \index{Adams, Scott}Scott Adams made his fortune
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anecdotally characterizing bad management. Certainly, in any
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country, \index{bad management}bad management
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is an abundant natural resource
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and a shortage of bad management is not
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on the horizon.
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We are less concerned with the humorous aspects of
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bad management and more concerned with the practical
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aspects. In this chapter, we offer opinion on the
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following topics:
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\begin{itemize}
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\item What \emph{is} bad management (i.e. what do we mean by
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\emph{bad management}
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and what characterizes bad management)?
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\item What do bad managers do?
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\item Which employees are most sensitive to bad management?
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\item In practical situations, how should one deal with bad
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management?
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\item What are the best strategies for escaping unrewarding
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work situations?
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\end{itemize}
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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\section{Characteristics Of Bad Management}
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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\section{How To Detect Bad Management During The Interview Process}
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The interview process is naturally an opportunity for a prospective
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employer to form impressions of a prospective employee; but it is
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also an opportunity for the prospective employee to form impressions
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of the prospective employer. In this section, we supply some suggestions
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about what to look for during an interview.
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\subsection{The Automobile Taillight Analogy}
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One of us (\index{Ashley, David T.}Dave Ashley, \cite{bibref:i:daveashley})
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has an acquaintance who has described his method of evaluating
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a used car (for purchase) as checking every electric light in the
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vehicle to be sure that it works. The stated rationale is that if
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all of the light bulbs in the vehicle are maintained, the probability
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is high that other [major] vehicle maintenance has also been performed.
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Similar reasoning \emph{may} (or may not!) apply to evaluating
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a work environment.
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Stated more formally, it may be advantageous to find easily observable
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indicators which correlate well with the quality of the work environment
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at a company.
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We are not sure precisely what indicators should be used,\footnote{We welcome
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suggestions here \ldots please e-mail us \ldots{}} but the two
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strongest indicators that immediately come to mind are coding standards
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and lessons learned.
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\begin{itemize}
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\item \textbf{Coding Standards.}
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During the interview process, it may be a good idea to inquire about
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what coding standards are in place within the organization, to
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ask to examine the standards, and also to inquire how the coding
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standards are enforced (in some cases, tools such as QAC or
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PC-LINT may automate this
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process). The rationale for inquiring about coding standards
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is that maintaining order in the primary workproduct of
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software development---the code---is a fundamental goal.
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An organization that has no coding standards in place probably
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has other serious problems.
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\item \textbf{Collection Of Lessons Learned.}
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In any organization that produces embedded products, product failures
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of one kind or another have probably occured. These may be cases
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where a software defect has made its way into production, or even
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software product build process failures where a software defect
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was due to the build process or where a software load was not
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reproducible from version control archives. A mature organization
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would document and collect these failures, in order to feed them
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back into the training (so that software developers don't make a
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similar mistake again), into the process (if any changes in the process
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would decisively prevent recurrence), and the tools (if the defect
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is automatically detectable). During the interview process,
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it may be prudent to inquire if product problems are documented
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and fed back to prevent recurrence, and to inspect documentation
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of past product problems. An organization that does not collect
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product problems and try to prevent recurrence may have other
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serious problems.
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\end{itemize}
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\subsection{The \emph{What You See Is What You Get} Rule}
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During the interview process, any prospective employer will have a tendency
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to misrepresent chronic problems as acute problems. As a general rule,
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\textbf{problems of any type observed during the interview process are
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\emph{chronic} in nature, no matter what claims are made by the employer.}
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An analogy involving overweight people may help to explain this point.\footnote{We
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mean no disrespect or insensitivity towards people struggling to maintain a
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healthy weight. However, the analogy is rather good, and for this reason
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we would like to use it.} It is very common to meet an overweight person
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who describes themselves as ``trying to lose weight'', i.e. being actively
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on a diet. However, a study of overweight people who are ``trying to
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lose weight'' would probably reveal that nearly all of them are struggling
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with a chronic problem---nearly all were probably overweight five years
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in the past and will be overweight five years in the future. For this reason,
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when one meets an overweight person, it is a safe guess statistically that
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the condition is chronic.
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Organizations are very similar to individuals in that patterns of behavior
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are slow to change. Diets do not usually work. Individuals find ways---even
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while on a diet---to consume ice cream and hamburgers. Organizations are
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similar in that self-reform measures rarely succeed. Organizations, like
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individuals, find ways to sabotage their own stated objectives.
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For this reason, any anomalies observed during the interview process are
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almost certainly chronic rather than acute; no matter what claims
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are made by interviewers.
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\section{The Employment ``Dating Game''}
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\section{Authors And Acknowledgements}
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\noindent\begin{figure}[!b]
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\noindent\rule[-0.25in]{\textwidth}{1pt}
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\begin{tiny}
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\begin{verbatim}
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$RCSfile: c_bma0.tex,v $
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$Source: /home/dashley/cvsrep/e3ft_gpl01/e3ft_gpl01/dtaipubs/esrgubka/c_bma0/c_bma0.tex,v $
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$Revision: 1.4 $
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$Author: dtashley $
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$Date: 2001/08/18 18:37:56 $
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\end{verbatim}
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\end{tiny}
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\noindent\rule[0.25in]{\textwidth}{1pt}
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\end{figure}
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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% $Log: c_bma0.tex,v $
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% Revision 1.4 2001/08/18 18:37:56 dtashley
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% Preparation for v1.05 release.
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%
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% Revision 1.3 2001/07/06 23:46:55 dtashley
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% Edits. Addition of K-map diagrams to Boolean function chapter.
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%
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% Revision 1.2 2001/06/30 23:32:07 dtashley
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% End-of-month safety check-in.
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%
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% Revision 1.1.1.1 2001/06/19 21:26:28 dtashley
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% Initial import.
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%
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%End of file C_BMA0.TEX
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