Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Telling others how to do their jobs

Confucius admonished, "Thou shalt not kaypoh/kaykiang and tell other people how they ought to do their jobs." This he really did say, except he couched it rather more elegantly. I suppose this extends even to people who once held certain positions, and would prefer their successors to do things their way or the highway. If there's something we find hard to tolerate, a candidate has to be other people tinkering with edifices one had so carefully built up over the years.

Of course, we often find ourselves ignoring the wise words of Confucius and insisting that others do things as we would have done if in their positions. This occurs most commonly with regards to issues we care deeply about, namely affairs of the state and football club (not mutually exclusive mind you). We complain about unpopular policies and the inclusion of players we detest the sight of in the first team. Because, rightly or wrongly, we believe the state and football club to be embodiments of the will of the people, we feel a divine right to voice our opinions and demand that these opinions be taken seriously by those in charge.

Now we all know that people in government are elitist and excessively self-important (obviously an overgeneralization, though bear in mind that while overgeneralizations simplify reality, they are not necessarily distortions). And since football is more than a matter of life and death, some managers regard themselves only a notch less powerful than the Almighty. As such, the truth of the matter is there's little to stop politicians, senior civil servants, team managers and club chairmen from running their organizations like personal fiefdoms. If they bother listening to the man in the street at all, it is out of courtesy not consultation. So we should not tell people how to do their jobs not because they are the ones who understand the intricacies of the situation and have to bear consequences of their decisions. Rather, we should not because it makes next to no difference, unless you are in some influential position.

(on a Manchester United forum)

A: WE MUST SIGN XXX XXXX!!!!!!

B: Don't worry, I've just called SAF (Sir Alex Ferguson). He's now working on it.

posted by KynTheMan @ 12:45 PM