ETHICS: LIFE AS IT OUGHT TO BE

24

beside him. After finishing her grades, Mother peeped into her son' s
...when
room, saw the pants and remembered her son's request. So she took a
responsibilities
pair of scissors and shortened them. Before she went to bed, the sister
are over-
defined, people
also remembered her brother's request. Full of remorse she went to
conform to her younger brother's room, saw the pants, got a pair of scissors and
prescribed roles shortened them, too. The older brother finally completed his school
and protocols in project and suddenly remembered his brother's asking for help t o
`bureaucratic' shorten the pants. So he went to his younger brother's room, got a pair
ways. They of scissors and cut them, too. When the younger brother woke up, he
rigidly follow was surprised to see a pair of extremely short shorts.•The pants which
job descriptions he wanted to make just a little bit shorter ended up too short to him!
regardless
of how much
Tbat is what happens" when there are 'gaps nr overlaps in an
the service or
organization. The gaps leave an important thing in an . organization
undone. The overlap results in unnecessary and counterproductive,
product suffers
redundant procedures which ultimately lead to waste of resources.
and so end up
uncreative.
Lack of Clarity Versus Lack of Creativity. If employees are
unclear about what they are supposed to do, they often tailor their roles
around personal preferences instead of system wide goals, frequently
leading. to trouble. Most McDonald's customers are not seeking novelty
and surprise in their -burgers and fries. But• when responsibilities are
over defined, people conform to prescribed roles and protocols in
"bureaucratic" ways. They rigidly follow job descriptions regardless of
how much the service or product suffers and so end up uncreative.

"You lost my bag!" an angry passenger shouted, confronting

an airline manager. The manager's response was to inquire, "How
was the flight?" "I asked about my bag," the passenger said. "That's
not my job," the manager replied. "See someone in baggage claim."
The passenger did not leave as a happy airline customer. www.
humancapitalrevieW.org/content/defaultzsp?Article 1D528# The job
of the manager was overdefined and made the manager uncreative and
inefficient. Her job in relation to the airline 'system wide goals was
neither clear and so ended up giving the wrong answer that turned off
the airline passenger.

Flexibility versus• Strict Adherence to Rules

You accommodate by bending rules to help someone or you stick
strictly to rules no matter what and so unable to help someone who
is thrown into a helpless situation. Or' you may become being too
accommodating that all rules are no more.
Your jobs are defined so clearly that you will stick to them even