I’ve recently taken up an office on rent. The new place, like all other huge office complexes, has a lift capacity woefully short of the actual traffic of office-goers in the complex. While it may be frustrating at times to see people press the ‘down’ button when they want to go up, and travel to the last basement and come up again, thereby denying the right to the basement dwellers to travel to their destination on time; it also opens up an opportunity to overhear a lot of office talk and stray conversations on the phone.
Initially, I used to shun these elevator rides, preferring to walk up the five floors that I had to. Increasingly, I find these rides interesting. I take an unnecessitated break every two hours or so, and wait with the other folks on the ground floor (and even travelling down to the basements when I don’t need to – by the way, I’ve figured out the ‘interesting’ sounding folks who are most likely to talk about their places of work and their managers!)
What is worrying is that a large part of this talk is full of negativity, and not about general stuff in life (even though there is enough of personal angst against a purportedly loved one), but against the organisation that they work for, particularly their reporting manager. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve seen some people with their managers on a coffee break, latching on to their every word and agreeing to targets in the most obsequious of manners, and then talking to their colleagues in the elevator about how a complete slave-driver their manager is. And I’ve heard language that is in no way civil, not by a far quarter.
And this makes me wonder, which side of the equation is going wrong?
Is it the managers that suddenly find themselves in a seat of authority? Were they the ‘slaves’ of yesteryears? Are they trying to get their own back? Is this that vicious circle that will forever perpetuate the hatred between the manager and the team? Does power go to their head? Will they crack the whip because their designation allows them to? Are they still subject to pressure that they just pass on to their team?
Is it the team members, on the other hand? Are they seeking sympathy from their colleagues, are they trying to get close by emphasising that they are in the same boat? Are they running away from hard work? Is this generation living so much in the present that tomorrow does not matter? Has the plethora of opportunities made them complacent about achieving in the short run with one organisation? Deep down, do they understand the ‘unreal’ demands from their reporting managers, or are they pretending that the targets are too tough?
Will the earning opportunities through social media make intelligent minds move away from India Inc.?
Lot’s of questions, what do you think?