People Who Always Defer To Authority Vs. People Who Always Buck The System (employees, paycheck)
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What do you think the main difference is between a person who always bows to authority and a person who is always fighting against whatever authority is in place? Is it just part of their personality? Or is something else at play here?
I'm obviously of the later camp. I feel that no authority is benevolent or unchanging, it is merely the ability to force others into compliance. Therefore I feel it needs to be under constant scrutiny and always have its powers questions so that the power can't get out of control. And when an authority figure becomes a tyrant, that authority needs to be removed ASAP. The authority figure is just a figurehead, and is subject to the will of the people he "controls", without their consent, they have no power, and they need to be constantly aware of it. I would rather have an authority figure constantly in fear of making decisions out of fear of what the people will do than an unquestioned despot who can do whatever they want.
What do you guys think?
Have you been fired often? Cause I'd rather fire you than live in fear of making decisions.
Have you been fired often? Cause I'd rather fire you than live in fear of making decisions.
What I'm getting at is they should know that they are accountable for every decision they make and their is recourse for making an unpopular decision. They shouldn't just be able to get away with whatever they want just because they are in a position of authority, they need to be held accountable by those under them.
And to answer your question, no, I have held two jobs in my life and quit both of them. I've never been fired.
There are times when the system is completely wrong and ought to be challenged. Most of the time, even if you don't agree with whatever is going on, it's often not worth it to hound the issue.
There are times when the system is completely wrong and ought to be challenged. Most of the time, even if you don't agree with whatever is going on, it's often not worth it to hound the issue.
How do you make that distinction? This kinda goes along with another thread I made "Don't Complain About Things You Can't Change" where I posed basically the same idea you just stated.
How do you make that distinction? This kinda goes along with another thread I made "Don't Complain About Things You Can't Change" where I posed basically the same idea you just stated.
One of my former employers had a piece of software that I was basically the point person for at the time. I wasn't an expert in it, but I was the closest thing we had to an expert on staff. It was nearly fifteen years old then, hadn't been supported by the vendor in years, and had numerous, documented flaws both myself, other team members, and my manager had seen. My manager took it up the management chain. No upper management had any appetite to deal with it. We all knew that if the "big one" hit, the CEO would have heads rolling top to bottom.
We had more severe problems over the months and made more noise. At some point, we knew it was a matter of time, had voiced our concerns, and done all we could. Over the course of a few months, both my manager and myself moved on to other opportunities. We shook the tree when it was important and no one listened.
A few months ago, the "big one" hit and over a hundred clients were completely down for most of a week. The SLA penalties went into the millions, which will probably wipe out the entire division's profits for the year, as well as causing clients to not renew contracts when those come due. At least a half dozen people were fired, from the newbie a few weeks in who made the mistake, to my manager's manager, and that man's manager.
That was a big issue and deserved attention and no one cared.
At that same employer, we were in a Regus office for awhile and one of the staff noticed a van outside that had been parked in a prime parking spot for weeks and hadn't been towed off. He was adamant about notifying facility management to get it towed. It was irritating, but certainly not worth shaking the tree over.
I totally agree with what you said. There needs to be recourse available against ALL authority figures.
There are checks and balances against say police officers and tickets with courts and such, sure the court can rule in a crap way (especially when the judges are owned by the "business community") but with Joe, Joe's word is final and you have no recourse, no appeal. If joe owns Joes business which sits on 50% of the towns real estate and is the only real employer in town guess what Joe runs the town, that's a bad deal for everyone involved.
That's how you get feudalism. In fact that's exactly what feudalism is, a hand full of people having private property rights and everyone else is share croppers. If there is no way to attenuate rich peoples control of resources then they will start strategically moving to a fuelel system. The biggest fear to any capitalist is the leverage of violence by govt if they get out of hand. That fear is healthy and the means to make examples out of the worse offenders needs to stand to keep greedy scmuks in check.
We are getting to a point now where the business community has significant influence over the legal system and pretty soon we will start looking more and more feudal with the dissolving of unions, at-will employment etc etc.
I have always had problems with authority, going back to childhood. I have always had a hard time respecting someone simply due to his position. In fact, I've butted heads with just about every supervisor I've had.
I'm a great worker and I do my job very well, but I'm not an agreeable person and I have a hard time keeping my thoughts to myself. I tend to say things management doesn't like and there have been a few times when I have almost gotten myself fired for insubordination.
So you would rather have unrestricted, absolute authority that answers to no one than a system of checks and balances where that authority figure is held accountable to the people they "control"? I've said it before and I'll say it again, the person in power deserves much more scrutiny than the people below them, because that authority figure is in a much better position to screw lots of people over and get away with it. The people on top should fear those below them, not the other way around. They need to know they are accountable to the people, and not just themselves and their own desires.
Heck Jimmy, you seem the one with the unrestricted, absolute authority on this topic.
I elected to not even question you and now look, you're picking the fight.
I have always had problems with authority, going back to childhood. I have always had a hard time respecting someone simply due to his position. In fact, I've butted heads with just about every supervisor I've had.
I'm a great worker and I do my job very well, but I'm not an agreeable person and I have a hard time keeping my thoughts to myself. I tend to say things management doesn't like and there have been a few times when I have almost gotten myself fired for insubordination.
This describes me so well too. I say how I feel and don't care who I **** off in doing it. People don't like that generally, and would rather beat around the bush or just not mention it altogether.
Heck Jimmy, you seem the one with the unrestricted, absolute authority on this topic.
I elected to not even question you and now look, you're picking the fight.
I'm not picking a fight. Your comment obviously implied derision for my point of view, thinly veiled through sarcasm, and I responded with my actual opinion. Might you actually refute what I've said or offer a counter point of view?
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