Wildcat Strike Building At Detroit Water Department?

[Honky Tonk]

I served a couple of years there under contract. Whatever you THINK is going on there, I can assure you you've never seen anything THAT disfunctional. If it were a real business, it would have gone under years ago. Without actually having data, I would say 80% is close. That being said, the other 20% were some of the hardest and concerned workers I have met.

[Kevgoblue]

I served a couple of years there under contract. Whatever you THINK is going on there, I can assure you you've never seen anything THAT disfunctional. If it were a real business, it would have gone under years ago. Without actually having data, I would say 80% is close. That being said, the other 20% were some of the hardest and concerned workers I have met.

Well, I've never stepped foot in the place, but I call bullsh!t.
I have worked at numerous other companies however and I can ensure you that 80, or more likely 90, percent of the employees are decent people. Just like you, they want to go to work, do their job, go home, get paid on time and not have the boss mess with them. If the situation is as dysfunctional as you claim, chalk that up to the leadership, or lack therof. Maybe the prosecutor can tack that onto the charges for Victor Mercado.

Oh yeah, that 10% that aren't decent people..... a portion of them are excellent people. The rest are douchbags.

[Wesley Mouch]

Well, I've never stepped foot in the place, but I call bullsh!t.
I have worked at numerous other companies however and I can ensure you that 80, or more likely 90, percent of the employees are decent people. Just like you, they want to go to work, do their job, go home, get paid on time and not have the boss mess with them. If the situation is as dysfunctional as you claim, chalk that up to the leadership, or lack therof. Maybe the prosecutor can tack that onto the charges for Victor Mercado.

Oh yeah, that 10% that aren't decent people..... a portion of them are excellent people. The rest are douchbags.

Read the study in another thread about the right workforce size for DWSD. If you think they have it wrong, you can half the size of the workforce reduction. It would still be more than 1/2 of the workforce.

I have firsthand knowledge of the 'fire hydrant' watcher job. Perhaps they've already eliminated this. Or maybe I'm wrong. But I'll bet not. Does anyone have firsthand knowledge? Bring it on. Maybe I'm wrong about this. Does that mean there are no DWSD jobs that need to be pruned? I see smoke. I think the fire is raging.

You do rightly point out that leadership is a problem. That doesn't absolve anyone else.

[Honky Tonk]

"Well, I've never stepped foot in the place, but I call bullsh!t"
"I have worked at numerous other companies however"

Well, Since you've NEVER stepped foot in THAT place, then you're just making things up now based on your emotion, and you really don't know, do you? I just hope that if and when cuts come, the right people are cut and not those actually doing the work. Otherwise someone else will jump in with "I told you so".

[Kevgoblue]

"Well, I've never stepped foot in the place, but I call bullsh!t"
"I have worked at numerous other companies however"

Well, Since you've NEVER stepped foot in THAT place, then you're just making things up now based on your emotion, and you really don't know, do you? I just hope that if and when cuts come, the right people are cut and not those actually doing the work. Otherwise someone else will jump in with "I told you so".

Not at all. I say that based on this thing that they call probablility and statistics. By definition the vast majority of us [[within 2 standard deviations) fall up under the guidelines of what is considered "normal". Unless somehow DWSD hires based on some skewed employment criteria, their pool of employees should be "normal" as well.

It could very well be true, that the level of expectations management has for the employees is incredibly low. But that doesn't mean the individuals are lazy and unconcerned as implied earlier.

How's this example....This Saturday morning you ask your son to take your car up to the car wash. 30 minutes later he returns. The car is shiny and clean and the interior has been vacumed. So was he a good son for getting your car washed [[what you asked him to do) or is he a lazy slacker for not getting the oil changed as well [[which he could taken action upon had he just checked the little sticker on the windshield)?

[Wesley Mouch]

Not at all. I say that based on this thing that they call probablility and statistics. By definition the vast majority of us [[within 2 standard deviations) fall up under the guidelines of what is considered "normal". Unless somehow DWSD hires based on some skewed employment criteria, their pool of employees should be "normal" as well.

It could very well be true, that the level of expectations management has for the employees is incredibly low. But that doesn't mean the individuals are lazy and unconcerned as implied earlier.

How's this example....This Saturday morning you ask your son to take your car up to the car wash. 30 minutes later he returns. The car is shiny and clean and the interior has been vacumed. So was he a good son for getting your car washed [[what you asked him to do) or is he a lazy slacker for not getting the oil changed as well [[which he could taken action upon had he just checked the little sticker on the windshield)?

Didn't mean to imply they were lazy or unconcerned.

The structure is broken. Leadership is corrupt. Administration is incompetent. And the Union [[by its very nature) is regressive -- not progressive. From what I've seen of the employees -- and I have worked very closely with some of their teams -- they're just fine.

Hope that the 19% who remain around after the 'right-sizing' are the cream of the crop -- not the politically connected.

[Honky Tonk]

"How's this example....This Saturday morning you ask your son to take your car up to the car wash. 30 minutes later he returns. The car is shiny and clean and the interior has been vacumed. So was he a good son for getting your car washed [[what you asked him to do) or is he a lazy slacker for not getting the oil changed as well [[which he could taken action upon had he just checked the little sticker on the windshield)?"

This Saturday morning you ask your son to take your car up to the car wash. 6 hours later he returns. The inside of the car is a mess, fast food wrappers all over the carpeting, smells putrid, there's mud in every wheel well, tank's on empty. "Where were you?" "@ the library" "Did you get the car washed" "I forgot" "You FORGOT?" "Daaaad, Bobby & Billy & Frank & Todd are all coming over tomorrow and they're going to help me take it to the car wash." "You're grounded" [[wife comes out of the kitchen) "the agreement we had was that if you son is to be punished, you're to turn the punishing over to me. Futhermore, you never specified a time frame in which the car was to be washed, therefore this is your fault" "Sonny, Daddy didn't mean it, have a cookie and watch TV". Your turn Kevgoblue.

[Kevgoblue]

We've all seen the kid you described, and shook our heads. We're disgusted / apalled at the behavior displayed. But at the end of the day, those kids act as they do because for a long time the only thing they've been exposed to is a lack of good parenting. As a result they believe this substandard behavior is acceptable.

I believe my earlier quote was "It could very well be true, that the level of expectations management has for the employees is incredibly low."

As a general rule people will rise to your level of expectations. This is true for both your children and your employees. If you demand nothing from them, then that is exactly what you will get.

Maybe our difference in opinion lies in motivation theory. I'm more of a believer in Theory Y.
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/mcgregor/