Quote:
Originally Posted by Jinn
I think this question could be heavily influenced by the "collar-dness" of the place you're working. I'd venture to say that MOST of TFP works in white-collar jobs, where people tend to have a higher (or advanced) education, and who live in the middle to middle-high classes and have things like children, spouses and mortgages to pay for. In those cases, the person is intrinsically motivated to keep going to work and do enough at work to get paid.
In "blue collar" jobs, you have a lot of high-school dropouts with drug habits and POs following them around. No amount of "administrative" pressure can turn a person who has chosen this lifestyle into a highly-productive and motivated employee who is concerned for the success of the company.
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This is one of the most bigoted narrow-minded things I've ever read.
I am married to blue collar, a sister to blue collar, a friend to blue collar and surrounded by blue collar people most days of my life and I can assure you, Sir, that not one is a drop-out, druggie, drunk, criminal or miscreant of any kind.
Some have college educations, some high school diplomas; their pay rivals that of many higher-education backed careers and their loyalty or lack thereof to the people they work for is not dependent on how much education they have.
/end rant
To the OP:
Failings are not wholly dependent on one or the other, but rather on the "fit" of person to person and person to company.
A friend of mine landed what he thought was the dream job he'd been waiting for, only to be fired a year later after months of going head to head with his superior.
This boss of his had no experience or education in the field for which he was made manager-IT security, network maintenance and development. He had a degree in Math.
Before the friend was fired, he discovered a few things about where he was working:
1) The previous person at that desk walked out after only 3 months and never came back.
2) The person previous to that one was also unceremoniously fired after one year.
3) His manager was a personal friend of some higher-ups.
When I first got this job a year ago, I was, after only two months, thisclose to being fired. It had nothing to do with my performance, per se, but rather the lack of mutual understanding between my boss and myself. In short, I was getting on her nerves with my work style.
Even now, one year later, we still get on each other's nerves-she's a panicker, I work better under pressure. She's a perfectionist that can not bring herself to waiver from old ways-I am a "whatever works this time around" person.
How people mesh within a given unit is every bit as important as how well a job is done. If there is even a hint of malcontent for any reason, the task will falter and when the task falters, it lands on the shoulders of the person doing the task. Hence, that person appears less than desirable as a keeper.
I do think it's management's job to be very clear on what is expected, and the employee's responsibility to be honest about what he/she can handle.