There is no "I" in God
Now this is interesting - the roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, Rev Vincent Nichols, in a speech about the failure of secular society to inspire, is quoted as saying:
"If everyone in an organisation, be it a hospital, or a bank, or an industry, simply worked precisely and solely to their job description, the enterprise would grind to a halt within days. Indeed, what makes for a successful enterprise is precisely a shared vision, an underlying sense of purpose, a team effort in which personal whims and autonomy are put to one side for the greater, common good."
Anyone else read that and think what utter bollocks? If you've ever worked for the type of company that has things like a "mission statement", then I think you'll agree that all of that corporate stuff does bugger all for achieving a sense of unity or anything else. Companies try and get their staff to buy into the whole "shared vision" shit because it wants to get a grab-handle on their souls in order to better manipulate them. It's a way of getting employees to do things like work awkward shifts, or do unpaid overtime, or take on more responsibility without pay, supposedly for the common good. However it's really just a way of squeezing wage costs to better placate the share-holders and feed the pukingly massive bonuses of the company directors.
Luckily, the British are not very susceptible to this type of thing, and most people do their jobs in as half-arsed a fashion as they can reasonably get away with. This is because the vast majority of jobs in the western world are exploitative and potentially soul destoying, and require the sort of unrelenting effort that few human beings can keep up for any length of time on something so pointless without losing their minds. Getting everyone to work precisely and solely to their job description, far from being the thing that would bring any organisation to a halt, is a Utopia most companies can only dream of.
9 comments:
http://strider333.blogspot.com/
And what about the majority of jobs in the non western world?
Everybody knows that the majority of jobs in the non western world are spiritually enhancing, with exceptionally good pay and conditions.
Don't you think he may just have meant -
If you are able to assist someone along the way - do it! Even if it is outside your job description, or outside the workplace.
Hey we all need a bit of a hand sometimes - even just a smile at the right time can make a difference to someone's day.
I share your view that management can abuse their workforce by the type of moral blackmail you speak of and this is to be deplored.
"we all need a bit of a hand sometimes"
True, but those who need a hand most are the ones that work the unpaid, unsociable overtime to help those who don't really need a hand as much.
All a part of our capitalist society, I know. Regrettable but necessary.
Like you said, most are unwilling to get sucked in by it all.
But there are always some poor suckers, and I know I should take pity and feel for them when they are flicked off the boss's staff like a bit of fluff from a jacket.
But the people I've met who buy into it all have a really annoying habit of talking about the company as if they had some authority in the decision making process.
Some deluded souls seem to think the company is like family, we're all in it together.
It's hard to feel for them then.
As for blaming it all on secular society, I don't think an honest look at this country as it was when religion had a genuine authority will reveal a pretty picture.
From what I remember in history class, the priests lived it up while the peasants gave what they could to the church.
Bit similar to what we've got now then.
I think there's two things here.
One is the point I made about the corporate bollocks thing. The people who tend to go give that extra mile in their jobs, in my experience, don't tend to do it for a company's "mission statement". They tend to do it because they are naturally hard-working, conscientious, and good at what they do. Unfortunately this often benefits the company more than it benefits the worker, with the promotions going to the "ambitious" people who are very good at playing the game, and getting in with the right crowd, but not necessarily the best at their job or the most conscientious.
The second point is Rev Vinc point, that a country does better working towards a common goal with shared values, and that those shared values are best provided by the Church.
There is an argument that the Church has been used historically to manipulate a population, in the same way a company manipulates its workforce. The most obvious being the poor kept in their place promised their reward in heaven, whilst the rich leach off them - something the Catholic Church in particular is still very guilty of.
I'd also say, looking at countries where religion is very much the main guiding light, say like Iran for instance, the people, erm - how shall I put this - don't fare all that well.
And I don't see that secularism has failed in Britain. I think we're generally a very moral country still.
But then I'm a hairshirt humanist, so I would think that.
yeah I think a lot more of a moral country than one which executes gays, women, children, etc...
There are many people prepared to go the extra mile without personal reward - - - I give you the legions of voluntary workers across the country. Would our society (as we know it) exist without their efforts.
There are a lot of the others who do put personal gain as a priority, but I would like to think they are in a minority.
Hey!.....I'm a glass half full type person...we have to believe.
No, you're absolutely right about the voluntary workers and the generosity of the human spirit in general. This world would grind to a halt without it.
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