Foreign Concepts

Mgm't 101+

Hunter Metatek's column "You're Not Fired!" (Jan. 20, 2005) reminds me of a college course I took on human behavior in complex organizations. The professor required us to come up with creative solutions to work- related problems. Anything was possible other than intentionally creating more work or firing anyone.

The first few weeks were difficult. But in time, we learned about "third heart" feelings, about emotions, about approaches that were so against the Management 101 stuff.

In discussing employee David Lightman's situation at ACME, Metatek gives no indication that anyone tried to understand why Lightman's work was falling short. Could it be that Lightman was caring for a chronically ill child at home? Or that he had personal issues with marketing vice president Chuck Slick?

Perhaps Lightman would have been better suited for another position within the company. Maybe he could have been a tremendous help in marketing, but was never given the chance for lack of credentials.Did anyone at ACME ever ask Lightman what he liked doing? Maybe he was really good at fixing printers but lousy at ordering equipment.

The managers responsible for firing Lightman could use that college course. Thank heaven I don't work for ACME!

David Krings
Software Support Engineer
Company name and e-mail address withheld by request

Hunter Metatek replies: At ACME, we try to get to the bottom of why an employee is performing unsatisfactorily. We take personal or family problems into account, as well as possible ulterior motives behind the supervisor's complaints--none of which had any bearing on Lightman's situation.

David, rest assured that if you worked for our company, you'd be well taken care of.

Kudos to NWC

I want to congratulate the Network Computing staff for the great job it's doing. I've just completed my first year of reading the magazine, and I have nothing but good things to say about it.

I always find the articles current, interesting, well-researched and to the point. I subscribe to other magazines for which I pay a lot of money each year, but they all pale in comparison to the value I get from NWC.

David Whitehouse
Maintenance Support Specialist
Company name and e-mail address withheld by request

Corrections

In "Linux Models a Few New Hats" (Feb. 17, 2005), the term "MAC" refers to SELinux's Mandatory Access Control architecture.

In "Content Switches Shift Into Overdrive" (Feb. 17, 2005), the "Performance Test Results" bar graphs for the various vendors were mislabeled. They have been corrected here online.

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