Yet another job change for me!
This time the resignation had a two fold effect on my life.
1.I started writing blogs again.......(Say Cheers!)
2. I have seriously thought about how to be happy at workplace and came up with some interesting observations.
If there is a third effect, it could be that this time's resignation turned me significantly poor. The company's attempt to slap on the face of my resignation by imposing an obsolete company policy regarding penalty for the artificially created shortfall in notice period. Anyway, that doesn't matter much as I still am able to wear the "JD" brand of underwears (Italian Design), which the HR Manager who imposed this policy upon me will never be able to wear in her life! More on this issue later.
Standing exactly on the mid point of this volatile situation,I pondered as to why this kind of things are happening to "good people"(I know in Pakistan a terrorist is also considered to be a good man!) like me? Perhaps the root cause is that, I am not good in doing BBJ (Blow Job to Boss!). Whatever, I have realized that at the root of everything there lies a force of denial - a conflict, which when unresolved for long period of time takes the form of a resignation in me. Upon thinking further on it, I got a more realistic picture of the dual form of employment conflict. In an organizational set up there could be two different types of conflicts.
Case1: Conflict between employee and employer
Case2: Internal conflicts within the employee
Case1: This is often like King Hamlet's funeral and queen Gertrude's second wedding. Consider the following dialogue from Shakespear's classic drama "Hamlet" on morals.
Horatio: My lord, I came here to see your father's funeral
Hamlet(Prince): I Prithee do not mock me, fellow student
I assume it was to attend my mother's wedding
Horatio: My lord, indeed it followed hard upon
Even though Horatio came to attend King Hamlet's funeral, Prince Hamlet thinks that Horatio came for his mother's second wedding!! In one of the malayalam movies I watched as a school boy, the constable asks himself whether he is working in a tea shop or in a police station when the inspector asks the constable to get him a tea! This is the same what is happening in many prestigious organizations too. Employees come for the funeral, but their bosses invariably think that the they indeed came for seeing his mother's second wedding(What else to say, if not "Fuck Off"?).Over a period of time, the employee start to think that he infact is an "Organizational Horatio" or alternatively the "Corporate Horatio", whatever you may call it!!
This is where we need to onsider what kind of impact EMPATHY would have brought to our working culture. What if the managers are a bit more aware of other people and the shit they are going through? I indeed is looking for such a working atmosphere!
Case 2: When it comes to ideal jobs, there are three parameters that limit our choices. This is best explained by the Venn diagram of Budd Caddell.Imagine three venn circles representing work you like to do, work you are good at and work that pays good money. See the diagram below. This is a great way to reflect on your work and are you doing what you are actually doing in your life. And what should you do to be really happy in work / life.
[Courtesy : Bud Caddell]["Learn To Say No"....this is where the problems of many people are having their home].
I tried putting my own perspective on the venn diagram and the results were not positive. Also, I guess my last job was probably outside the Venn Diagram: I am not very good at it, I definitely don't like it much and it does not pay good money(they pay well though).
However, I am a practical person and am not afraid of doing whatever I feel the right thing to do, including resignation. I am sure my next job will at least find its place inside the Venn Diagram!!
