Why do managers get mad at people who help their customers in creative ways?

[Deja Q]

I'm getting fatigued of the "How does this fit into our generalized system?" bullshit when:

(a) sometimes peoples' needs cannot neatly fit into their Napoleonic nonsense

(b) sometimes any new system encounters elements so old, one cannot go by those standards when bringing situations up to specs

(c) "by the book" methods are boring

(d) there's always a solution


Or are creative people typically spat on by the "by the book" folks?

Man, there are days I wish the job market was better.

[MonkeyFunk]

1. You raise an interesting question

one that goes beyond creatively helping customers. WHY do bureaucracies do "by the book" stuff that seems silly?

I think it's for a couple reasons. Almost every policy was put in place to address some problem, often a long long time ago. One idiot who can't figure out how to do something ruins it for everybody else for eternity.

The other issue, sort of related to the first, is that people can't be trusted to be smart. It's anoying when a smart, creative person can't just do things the "right" way instead of the prescribed way - but then there are a lot of dumb people out there, and I'm GLAD they have rules to follow.

[Deja Q]

2. In most situations (e.g. the 'medicine by numbers' most doctors practice), I agree.

But solutions to problems that are seen outside the 'scope' of an area, even though most believe such problems are relevant.

It's an all or nothing approach.

There are times when I agree with "black and white" thinking.

This ain't one of them.

Especially if we're in the "support" business.

In my case, it is a set of rules and most people I know say it's all being done because most of the supervisors are witless, shills for a certain product, or both.

Or, in other words, the "all the eggs in one basket" approach. Who holds the basket, and would you let them go out with your daughter?

[Iris]

3. I think it's because their afraid of someone finding out they don't know what the "bleep" they're

doing. Seriously. Haven't you had managers that are all smoke and mirrors?

[Ptah]

4. I think the ombudsman can help you. I saw her last here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6389179&mesg_id=6389869

[wain]

5. The customer is why you are in business

The customer is more important than the process. Screw the management that thinks otherwise. And not all management thinks otherwise (I speak for myself).

:)

[Cobalt-60]

6. any display of intelligence or initiative from a subordinate is a job threat

particularly to marginal managers.
And especially if they have already been trashing the people involved to their superiors.

[Kutjara]

7. A lot of it depends on the "value" of the customer.

High volume, low margin businesses basically don't give a damn about individual customers. Solutions tend to be of the "one size fits all" variety, and if the size doesn't fit you, then you can fuck off; there's plenty more where you came from. Customizing solutions for customers doesn't make economic sense for these businesses, so they tend to frown on employees that do.

As the value of the customer to the company rises, however, you start to see more and more creativity and problem-solving "can do" attitude. I work in the enterprise software market, where a single customer can represent a huge proportion of a vendor's annual revenue. You better believe we bend over backward, forward, and every other way to ensure happy customers. Woe betide the engineer, technician, codejockey or project manager that loses a major customer.