======================================================================== THE ADVICE LINE: BOB LEWIS http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Wednesday, September 22, 2004
LATEST WEBLOG ENTRIES ======================================================================== * Dress code injustice * Crisis prevention ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- INFOWORLD PRESENTS A SPECIAL REPORT ON STORAGE MANAGEMENT The unrelenting growth of data storage needs, which set off a chain reaction of solutions targeted at the Fortune 500, has filtered down to affect IT operations of small and midsize businesses (SMBs). This report features 10 tips to help purchase storage management solutions. Additional information, including results from InfoWorld's research on the storage market is also included. Sponsored by Veritas. REGISTER AND DOWNLOAD NOW http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=8DCC12:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- DRESS CODE INJUSTICE ======================================================================== Posted September 19, 12:12 PM Pacific Time Dear Bob ... You say the issue of dress codes refuses to die. So I think you have to admit that while to you, it seems rather petty, to many other people, it is a major quality-of-job issue. I also disagree with your flippant, "women get the short-end on other issues, so let them dress however they want" attitude. By that, you are saying that double-standards are OK. Fine, then that justifies other, and more onerous, double standards. The idea is that a person's business attire should reflect that they are not at home, not at the beach, not on vacation. It should also pay close attention to what the person's function is in the workplace. I disagree with you that being ticked about management letting women walk around barefoot is petty. It is unprofessional. Just like your recent writer's remarks about some of the outfits his female co-workers wear. - Not done with dress codes Dear Not Done ... The question isn't whether the 55-year-old female manager who wears a microskirt is right or wrong in her choice of attire. She's wrong. The question is whether it's worth an erg of your energy and a millisecond of your time to worry about it. My answer is that it isn't. Women can go barefoot. Men can't, at least where you work. In the workplace, unless everyone wears an identical tunic, femine and masculine attire are going to be different. This is just an example. My own perspective is that a barefoot woman looks feminine. A man in his socks often has smelly feet. That's me and my taste. In the absence of smelly feet I don't care either way. If the dress code, stated or otherwise, where you work says women in bare feet are okay but men aren't, it might be unfair but again, it doesn't pass the erg/millisecond test. Put more generally, there are problems worth the time and energy to fix, and there are problems that are best handled by ignoring them. On a more personal note, what concerns me is this: There are people who really are victims of serious injustices, and I applaud these people when they stand up and fight for their rights. Then there's a different category - people who start with a need to be the victim of something, and so search for inequities they're on the losing end of. If anyone looks hard enough they'll succeed in finding them. But it's a bad idea, because it's takes the unhealthy mental habit of finding someone to blame for our own problems, and adding an intense search for a problem to blame them for. I'm concerned you might be headed in that direction. - ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=8DCC0D:2B910B2 CRISIS PREVENTION ======================================================================== Posted September 18, 11:36 AM Pacific Time Dear Bob ... What is it about management culture that causes some to delay decisions until after the last minute before giving me the assignment? Is it (as I suspect) common to most large organizations, and which if any have come up with ways to deal with the problem? More to the point, what are some of those methods... - Crisis delegated Dear Crisis ... It depends on the manager. Many are underwater these days. They're like the old plate-spinning act in the circus - they keep getting more plates spinning until they have only just enough time and attention for the plate that's wobbling the most. They get that spun up just in time to rush for the next one. Not that this makes your life any easier when it happens. If that's the situation, your best course of action is to offer help early and often. "Do you have anything going on I can take off your hands?" can make you a lifesaver, and actually make your life easier because you get the advance warning you need. There are other managers who simply find making decisions difficult. So they dither until the deadline. If that's what's happening to you, there isn't much you can do about it, other than suffer and hope that eventually, somebody notices their deficiency and extricates them from a responsibility they aren't up to handling. There's a larger answer, which gets to what organizations can do to prevent this kind of thing from happening, and that's to train managers in how to delegate. It won't fix the manager who delays, but it will provide that manager's boss with better tools to make sure the procrastinator stays on track. It's a lot like project management in that respect: When you give someone an assignment with a deadline, there are ways to find out they're behind before the deadline arrives. Mostly, it has to do with paying attention. - ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=8DCD94:2B910B2 Bob Lewis is president of IT Catalysts, Inc., http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=8DCC13:2B910B2 , an independent consultancy specializing in IT effectiveness and strategic alignment. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Advertisement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Need more help than you can get from Advice Line? Upgrade to IT Catalysts' new Advisory Service ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=8DCC0F:2B910B2 ). It's an economical alternative for IT leaders who need objective, outside advice and ideas without the huge fees charged by the large IT punditocracies. 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