Generation X will hurdle injustice in workplaces

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.