SYNC - όλα τα Ελληνικά Podcasts

This podcast is the reading of an entry to an old blog of mine (good old days...) from February, 2006. The language of this podcast is English. The text follows: Employee appraisals, at least in the way they are conducted in many companies these days are a joke. Here is a list of reasons: 1. The line manager, who conducts the appraisal, is supposed to be the person who can guide and help you improve your work and progress in the company. Do you get to choose the person who is really capable to perform this important task among those with "natural authority" and good reputation? No. You are assigned someone appointed from the top, someone with good political connections in the company. And if you happen to realise that he is incompetent and you wish to change him... bad luck. 2. The 360 degree feedback from collegues becomes an exercise in gossip, heavily influenced by personal relationships, special interests, managerial fights, personal likes and dislikes etc. The line manager can then take or not take it under account according to his personal taste i.e. whether this feedback is in agreement to his personal views or not. 3. The list of attributes associated with each company rank that an employee is supposed to be judged against is the Procrustean Bed that everyone has to fit. You cannot expect all people to either accept or adhere to what are someone's idea of proper corporate attributes. People are very much different to each other and that is what makes them great. 4. The link of salary vs. performance is a myth. There is no such thing. If you play politics the right way, do not compromise the authority of those above you and properly manage/please your managers then you may be lucky enough to get a few more notes in your monthly check, given that this does not upset the fat bonuses and the salaries of their friends and allies in their petty wars between themselves. And the source of all these problems is the hierarchical organisation structure that most companies use for their employees which impose relationships of the manager - subordinate type. Here are some ideas to change this situation: 1. Decentralisation of Decision Making - All employees should be involved in the decision making process for the future of the company. Although it is important to use as input information from those who track the market and talk to the customers, the policy of having decisions being taken behind closed doors and then forced from the top to the employees makes people consider themselves to be simple mechanical work units which are supposed to perform some tasks without having anything to say regarding the future of their work or the company as a whole. 2. Choice for Line Manager - The employees should be allowed to choose the person who plays the important role of the line manager, their "coach" as this person is usually described. If they are not happy with their line manager they should be in the position to choose another one using a simple procedure without that reflecting bad to either the line manager or the employee. At the same time, the relation between the line manager and the employee should be based on mutual respect and not force of power. 3. Self-Management - Introduce the concept of self-management for the employees and the teams they work in. Usually, when a hierarchy of managers is used for managing projects and tasks, if something goes wrong there is a transfer of blame from top to bottom and the reverse producing no results other than bad morale. If however each employee is responsible for managing his work while at the same time he can participate in the management of the team or group then there can be no such useless activities. Each employee feels equally responsible as well as important for the team and the project. 4. Flat Organisational Structure - Remove the manager - subordinate relationships between employees so that they all perform their various tasks without considering someone on top of them with some "artificial authority". The relationship between employees should be based on mutual respect and not fear for discipline if the subordinate compromises the power of his manager. 5. Delegation vs Assignment - Tasks should be delegated to fellow employees according to their abilities and interests based on decisions taken by the whole team. Assignment of tasks from above makes the employee feel as if he is not allowed to make any contributions to the company other than the tasks he is told to perform from above by people who do not necessarily have enough information, knowledge or experience to take such decisions. 6. Voice of the Employees - The employees should have a voice, some kind of formal body which expresses their views. This is very important in order to ensure that their rights are protected and that their views are correctly presented to the top management.

This podcast is the reading of one blog entry from my old blog from 2006. The language of this podcast is English. The text follows: The idea that a company can only operate with hierarchies of bosses, the corporate managers, is very old and stupid. The concept of having managers in a company is an old habit which sooner or later anyone who gets a job has to face and deal with. The excuse for the hiring of these legions of useless and unproductive people is based on the programming we all receive since birth of the “fact” that a master is necessary for any group of people to organise and achieve something. Without a master to manage and organise the activities of the group there can only be chaos. Like puppets, we are trained to seek a Master Puppeteer to pull the strings and make us all work efficiently and in harmony with each other. This myth serves the interests of those who are either incapable or unwilling to produce some real and useful work. And these people have their own stupid books to read, recipes of success to follow, special terms and ridiculous phraseology they use at every chance, and even special courses to learn how to best manipulate and take advantage of people in order to improve their productivity and make their managers richer. They call that People Management, a term which I personally find offensive to any working person because it really means People Manipulation. And they have university degrees as a proof of their superior knowledge on the manipulation of human resources which they call MBAs and for which they pay large sums of money to obtain. At least, this is a clever tactic of the universities since they can use all the extra money they can get from these idiots for those who do real degrees. I still remember the time when I was at Imperial College and it started its MBA course as a way to fund real research projects. Clever move by some clever people. In today’s world with all the information available at anyone’s fingertips and the various marvels of technology and software, there is no real need for these managers. People can easily organise their work and manage themselves by exercising self-management techniques which do not require any special degrees or expertise other than common sense and perhaps a good organiser. How can one get rid of the boss habit? Here are some ideas: 1. Manage yourself. You can do it better than anyone else because you know yourself like nobody else. 2. Delegate tasks yourself to those you know they can better handle them and accept those delegated to you by your colleagues. Don’t ask managers to assign tasks. 3. Establish good contacts with those who do the real work and talk directly to them, not through their managers. They will appreciate this. 4. Get your manager out of the decision making loop and make decisions yourself together with those good contacts you have established. 5. Build a culture in your work environment which promotes self-management, good communication paths and the delegation rather than assignment of work. 6. Do not, ever, read any of these pseudo-scientific recipe books about management of people and resources. Their content is similar in philosophy to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and therefore they will insult your intelligence and self respect.

My thoughts on leaders, hierarchies and the concept of freedom. The language of this podcast is Greek.

My thoughts on Politics and political parties. The language of this podcast is Greek.

A new phenomenon, unique to Greece: receipts for sale (for tax purposes)! The language of this podcast is Greek.

Various thoughts on Science and Religion. And some interesting links on the subject of Prometheus/Lucifer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_Unbound_(Shelley) http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Προπατορικό_αμάρτημα http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/s/sin_and_rebellion_archetypal_transgressions_against_the_gods.html http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Lucifer The language of this podcast is Greek.

This is the first podcast of Prometheus Unbound. An explanation regarding the origin of the name of the podcast is given. The language of the podcast is Greek but this may change in the future.