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Wednesday, October 1, 1997

Generation X will hurdle injustice in workplaces

INTELLIGENCE: To reap reward of hard work, existing practices must stop

In America, injustice is justified by a series of myths. There is the ever-present myth of race to justify a near-caste system. There is also the myth of a government ruled by the majority of the people. One of the most pervasive and far-reaching falsehoods is the one of American meritocracy.

Sure, if you study hard, work hard and have natural talent you will most likely make a decent living for yourself in this nation of ours. The other half of this statement is that this is true anywhere in the developed world. My problem lies with the barriers that hardworking and talented people face in the American work environment.

Nepotism, cronyism and sadism are more descriptive of contemporary capitalism than meritocracy. Merit is a rare thing. While skill is one of the factors that determine success, it is more often skill in office politics than in one's given profession. Our system is composed of thousands of miniature dictatorships in which one is forced to choose the lesser of evils. Quasi-feudal relationships are the judge of worth instead of good old hard work.

The proponents of the quality-producing effects of the market are besieged by everyday realities that Americans face:

1. There are no logical actors. People base their decisions on emotion and how well they like a person. Promotions and office political power are doled out to those who can most successfully navigate within the circles of top management. Acting rationally is not always the most productive choice for the company. This is even more often true for society.

2. Hard work is just hard work. Most of the time corporations and businesses have no system to reward or even recognize those who work longer, harder and better. As a matter of fact, many times people are given an incentive to work less. Oftentimes, lower-level managers purposely stifle excellent workers that may replace them under more objective circumstances.

3. Never underestimate the power of kissing ass. A good golf game, inviting the boss over for dinner and bending company rules in order to placate a person in top management are all strategies that I have seen employed with great effect. The workplace is filled with sycophantic cronies that will serve your head on platter to advance their own agendas.

4. CYAA! (Cover Your Ass Always.) In the current work environment, if you can be blamed for a mishap, you most certainly will.

5. Nearly all businesses with more than 50 workers are dysfunctional. The collective neurosis of a group of people thrown together to compete against each other and the world is mind-numbing.

6. You are expendable. The idea that a UCLA degree made me an essential asset crossed my mind once. ... I quickly backed down from this position. Most people want to work at companies that have security, stature and good wages. By definition, these are established businesses that have reached a level where one individual will not make or break company success. All that is needed is competence. While employing the best sounds good and gets us feeling warm inside, it is not essential to success on most levels of employment.

The problems of the workplace are quite clear to those in it. The unbelievable success of Dilbert and the huge trend toward home-based business is indicative that all is not well in paradise. You must be thinking by now, "Work sucks? Tell me something new."

Technology is new. This generation is new. As with all the problems of society, the solutions begin with us.

There has been an explosion of young, educated entrepreneurs who have been able to live off the fringes of business by acting as consultants, temporary workers and contractors. However, the old structure of business remains at the center. While "Generation X" and young people after them have had more freedom, it has been at the expense of job security, pensions and health benefits. This is selling our generation short.

We are the most educated and technologically advanced generation this country and probably humanity has ever produced. The promise of capitalism is that merit will be repaid with reward. When the social agreement is not being met, it is time to rethink how we are doing things. The irresponsibility of the generation before us is incomprehensible. They have aborted a social revolution, spent our labor before we have produced it and left us with a country in decline.

It is up to us to pick up the ball they have dropped. We must dispel the excuses of race, class and "rational actors" that cover for the greed, sloth and bad decisions of people in charge of our institutions. America has never been a meritocracy, but true merit will flourish in an environment free from the lies of the past.