Case Study - Mark

Here is another case study. But this one is different. I should call it an anti-case study. Because this is the relation of a story of what NOT to do.

This is the case study of Mark.

Mark worked as a cubicle employee for a bank. He always seams to despise management. Until the day he was offered a management job. That day, Mark changed. He set a carrer path for himslef: "now I'm team manager, in five years I'll be department director..." and so on. Mark also lost ground with his friends (this was reported to me by a former friend of Mark). Since he was management now he forsaw no reason why he should speak to the same old cubicle people that used to be his friends. So he built a psychological wall between him and them.

Mark defended the bank's policy against any thing, even when those policies were questionable in terms of employee respect, engagement and commitment. Because Mark reported himself to a nevrotic manager which is so insecure and has such low self-esteem, that she has to micro manage everything, and she holds her department Darth Vader way: she is a employee commitment soul braker. Lets call her Darth.

Darth's way of management is to set a reign of terror over the employees. In order to maintain her employees' productivity, she unleash her team leaders on the floor as watch dogs of productivity. Moving row by row, watching the employees as they work. And even if this was against Mark's own philosophy (according to what Mark's former friend told me), Mark followed her rules to the letter. Just like the other "yes men" team leaders that Darth likes to surround herself with.

One day came that an employee got a special request. Here I don't know the details. It had to do with his work schedule and some course he had to take at school. Mark indulged to accomodate the employee in some way. But it would appear that what Mark did was against the company's policy. So to keep the story short, Mark was investigated and questioned like a witch trial by the company's investigators and Darth. Then it was ruled that Mark needed punishment. He would be demoted and relocated.

And to add to the insult and humiliation, Darth sent a memo on the floor for anyone to read stating that "... Mark is no longer part of the department and of management for reasons of lack of judgement..." This, I won't comment further.

What is the morale of this case study?

1. Avoid working for nevrotic manager.

2. If you cannot avoid working for a nevrotic manager, fight his policies when its unlogical.

3. The safest way to fight against a nevrotic manager without being eaten alive is to embrace my philosophy of total independance (aka make money from multiple sources, avoid debt, don't depend solely on you current job)

4. Never spit on your former friends just because you are getting ahead of them in you career.

5. Never put all your eggs into the same bag as Mark did in focusing solely on his manager career and not building an alternate source of income nor opening his possibilities with other employers. He had a vertical view instead of a horizontal one.

Mark's experience should serve has an example to anyone who only see the corporate ladder's way up and nothing else.