>Please forward to IFWP list.
>Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 18:17:02 -0500
>From: "Harold Feld" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: [IFWP] From Harold Feld
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>Esther, sorry this got cut off, with your permission, I will take the
>opportunity to finish this and respond to Roeland's comments.
>
>>>> Esther Dyson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/07 6:00 PM >>>
>>would love to read the rest of this....
>
>>Esther Dyson
>>Interim Chairman, Initial (thinking) Board <g>
>
>At 12:19 PM 07/03/99 -0500, Harold wrote:
>>Forwarding:
>>
>>First, let me say that ICANN is to be credited
>>for its actions on the DNSO front. While I may not
>>ultimately agree with the position taken, it is reassuring
>>that the board appears to have actually thought about
>>what they were doing and to try to reach some kind of
>>compromise. A positive step.
>>
>>OTOH, there is an increasing title level of use going
>>on here that is on the one hand absurd and on the other
>>hand troubling. It is the use of titles of people working with
>>ICANN and the ever increasing references to "staff" making
>>recommendations and formulating positions.
>First, lets start with the generic term "staff" being used more and more
>frequently as referinbg to some undisclosed body of people doing
>analysis and making policy recommendations. "Staff" in an agency context
>has a very specific meaning, although this can vary a bit from agency to
>agency.
>Staff are a support arm designed to make policy recommendations, usually
In my organization, "staff" are a support TEAM. There is no single
individual to thank. Also, I'd like to reference "staff", with out naming
them individually, precisely because of the term's anonymous nature.
>This brings me to Roeland's point. Roeland wrote:
>"When someone asks their staff to do something, then what do
>you call it? Do you suggest that the person take personal credit
>for the actual work, even though they haven't executed it themselves?"
>
>Of course not. I would rather see people thanked by name. For
>example, I understand from people who were in Singapore that Molly
>Shaffer Van Houweling did a truly heroic job getting things
>together and keeping them functioning, as did other members of the
Sometimes it is neither appropriate, nor desirable, to expose staff to
vagaries of the lime-light. It could reduce their effectiveness.
>I also disagree with Roeland's statements regarding titles as defining
>"Roles and Responsibilities." Titles define heirarchy. I have served
>in a variety of positions, at DOE and elsewhere, all with the rather non-
>descript title of "staff attorney." While this certainly helped to clarify
>that I was at a certain level in the organization, it did nothing to
>tell people what I actually did.
In commerce, it is sometimes useful to have a vague position. Note that I
rarely use the CEO sig-line, although I am entitled. Esther doesn't use the
sig-line she is entitled to either. BTW, I have another title I am entitled
to use, but I never do, except in very formal occasions, CoB.
>I will also refer to the generally anti-heirarchal trends in managment
>as defined first in Hammer's "Re-engineering the Corporation."
There are a lot of ways that Hammer is FOS. I question that he has really
run a heterogeneous organization. I have both hourly and salaried perm
staff. They operate under different rules, roles, and responsibilities.
They also carry differing risk loads.
>I do not believe that you need heirarchal titles and detailed job descriptions
>to be a "real" corporation. [Others will, of course, disagree. There is no
>"right" answer. OTOH, if ICANN purports to be a flat organization in the
>Internet tradition, it should adopt a flat corporate model rather than a
>heirarchal model.]
It isn't only size that make the command structure a requirement. There is
the inter-operability requirement and protocols. org to org interactions
are sometimes very formal. In that case, titles and R&R are a clear
requirement.
___________________________________________________
Roeland M.J. Meyer -
e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Internet phone: hawk.lvrmr.mhsc.com
Personal web pages: http://staff.mhsc.com/~rmeyer
Company web-site: http://www.mhsc.com
___________________________________________________
KISS ... gotta love it!
