war and work revisited

Sometimes, your brain is so fried you can't string two coherent sentences together. So I'm going to try again, this time without all the academic references. My postulate is that war is like work, because both are inescapable downward spirals of misery.

The root of the problem is that war has no rules. In Arthurian times, knights were guided by a code of conduct. In modern times, we have learned that the victor writes the history books, and people will do whatever it takes to win a war. Snipers, land mines, asymetric warfare and terrorism are all examples that people no longer care about how a battle is won, as long as it is won. And faced with ruthless and unscrupulous adversaries, one has little choice but to follow suit or be destroyed. Thus, the conditions and atrocities of war get from bad to worse.

They say business is war, surely work is war too. In an environment where one aspires to outshine one's peers, people go to extreme lengths to curry favour with superiors. The worst symptom of this is the "if you're not working, you're not working hard enough" mindset. Efficiency and productivity are punished because your value to the organisation is measured in how late you go home, and whether you work on weekends, not how much work you actually produce. From the myriad of complaints I hear, this is a problem endemic to the entire country. And if this does not resonate with you, you probably get paid by the hour.

You work late; I work later. Like war, there are no rules at work. At least, there are no rules that say you have to leave by 7pm, if not you will get your pay cut for being inefficient. But if we do not correct this problem of work-life balance, we will never be able to stem the outflow of quitters searching greener pastures. But how does one reverse a trend that has almost become Singaporean culture?

I am thankful that for now, at least, I have a rare boss who does not subscribe to such practises. Sadly, he is an extremely capable man whose career advancement has obviously suffered because he dared to swim against the tide, and play by different rules. That's a whole problem on its own but for now, one gripe per post.