My Dream IT Workplace

File this one under 'Something to aspire to'.

This is what my dream (evidence-based) ITSM workplace would be like. Cue the sound of harp strings...

Fisrtly (and continuing where I left off in my last post) when hiring or promoting permanent or even contract staff, the recruiter would perform job analyses and create person specs so that they increase their chances of bringing in someone who identifies with their work, and for whom the work has significance. This would mean that we'd be able to give the staff greater autonomy and we'd reap the myriad benefits that this brings (e.g. receptivity to change, motivation, innovation, job satisfaction, well being etc..). We'd also be recruiting individuals who have the values that can shape the organisational culture towards what we wish it to be.

It starts with selection

I'm a bit of a fan of the nineteen-sixties. For starters there was the music; in the popular context this period saw the arrival of the Beatles, Hendrix and the whole Californian hippy thing. It's easy to forget that the dance music of the time was also awesome, with Motown, Atlantic and even groovy jazz purveyed by the likes of Jimmy Smith still moving feet today. Politically the young were challenging the accepted wisdoms of the day. The French university sit-ins, uprising in the communist bloc and the civil rights and womens liberation movements all demonstrated the mood of change.

Bottom up change you might say.

Optimism:Pessimism

An associate of mine is planning his wedding. He's of Indian heritage, and his frequent worries over the complexity and the cost of the arrangements leads me to the conclusion that it may be a large, lavish affair. I wish I were invited.

It was a slightly inopportune time then for him to be told that his contract was being terminated. Not through any fault of his own mind, company restructuring and cutbacks. Needless to say he was a bit concerned about  how he would continue to fund his big summer cermony.

He needn't have worried really, he's a very able and hard working chap and I knew that he would be snapped up; happily it transpired that even before his notice period had expired he had secured himself another position.

Like me he works in the ITSM industry and I observed with particular interest his optimism about this new contract. I'm getting kinda long in the tooth and I must say, I've seen it many times. It goes something like this: