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Bryce's Pet Peeve Anthology - Vol I AND DON'T FORGET Tim's eBook on Management 
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Years ago, companies used to have what was called "Personnel" departments that basically took care of employee records, dealt with labor relations, and promoted jobs internally within a company. It wasn't glamorous work, but it was necessary nonetheless. This function evolved and blossomed over the years to what is now referred to as the Human Resources Department. It went from basic record keeping to recruiting, training, benefits, career development, and much more. Yet, time and again, I hear from friends and contacts in corporate America who speak with disdain when the term "H.R." is brought up. When asked why, they describe it as a huge and lethargic bureaucracy which is more of an impediment than an expediter for conducting business. One area that is frequently criticized is recruiting which I have heard characterized as a "black box" whereby both candidates and department managers wait weeks or months for H.R. to make the necessary arrangements, and process paperwork. Candidates are frustrated and feel like they are left in limbo. Consequently, they start to look for work elsewhere and the company loses potentially good employees. Department managers are likewise frustrated as they are anxious to tackle pressing projects and assignments. Some have become so frustrated, they hire consultants as opposed to going through the arduous H.R. process of hiring employees. They simply want to get the job done and don't have time for bureaucracy. Understand this, H.R. would not be the behemoth it is today if we didn't live in a litigious society where everything seems to end up in court. It is no small wonder they are often referred to as the "PC Watchdogs" ("Politically Correct") as their mission, in part, is to keep the company out of court. From this perspective, perhaps the best way to think of H.R. is as a necessary evil. The intent of H.R. is to bring standard and consistent practices in the use of Human Resources, which is good. However, if H.R. is perceived as a roadblock to progress, you have to wonder about its usefulness and question how it is organized. For example, should it be a centralized or decentralized function? Ideally, the H.R. department must remember it serves the rest of the company, not the other way around. Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week. Keep the faith! Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies. Copyright © 2009 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved. NEXT UP: "LIMITATIONS" - as Dirty Harry said, "Man's got to know his limitations." COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ESSAY? Mr. Bryce's articles are available for SYNDICATION |
FEEDBACK
An M.F. of Texas wrote... "What spot-on descriptions of H.R.s: 'lethargic bureaucracy', 'roadblock', 'behemoths'. Poor NASA was hamstrung just needing a quick clerical fix here and there. Department heads were getting dangerously creative in circumventing H.R. to keep things moving. We'd still be waiting to launch the first shuttle if the personnel agencies around here hadn't caught on to the vetting process. As early as the 80s, temp agencies began keeping a pool of candidates with security clearances. Hiring wasn't the only thing HR stymied. Benefits, retirement plans, anything that came under their jurisdiction took months to process. But because NASA and all its primes and subs are now mainly manned by contract labor, the agencies began offering group insurance and 401ks. You'd think that since the bulk of HR's function has become basically outsourced, they'd be more efficient now, right? Wrong! Due to excessive layoffs, HR is still HR. No way to win!" A T.B. of Lake Butler, Florida wrote... "I agree that the personnel departments/human resourse departments have evolved as our country has become more legalistic and lawsuit conscious. My experience tells me that we need to continue emphasizing that the HR professionals must serve both the employee and management. Too often management depends on its HR unit to shut down problems by encouraging the HR unit not to explain to the employee what the rules allow. Keeping a fine balance between serving the employee and management allows greater success for all concerned." A T.M. of Houston, Texas wrote... "Finally, someone has complained about the way HR is. HR people are power hungry and get carried away with having control and power over people, similar personalities as police, jailers, penitentiary employees. The HR system in the US is broken like everything else. The media reports that the new administration, the FBI, SEC, etc. are going to hire hundreds or thousands of oversite personnel because of the economic meltdown, Wall Street scandals, etc. Yeah, right!! This is just media baloney. It is impossible for the Feds to hire as they have stated they are going to do. The Office of Personnel HR and all agencies HR systems are so slow it would take years and years to hire all these people that the new heads of these agencies report to the media that they need. The heads will all be out of office long before the number of new hires desired matches their 'wish list'. HR is definitely a necessary evil. I wish someone could come up with a better mouse trap." A K.P. of Shawnee, Kansas wrote... "Seems to me the Personnel department was there to help employees. Most HR departments I have worked with are there to help the organization, not the employee." An A.Y. of Syracuse, New York wrote... "HR people do not perform the 'real work' of the company unless the company is a headhunter. I think HR departments attract the dregs, that is, the people who are unqualified for real and productive work. Our company recently had a salary freeze, yet everyone in HR got a raise because all were promoted to new positions. This was a few months before the company announced Chapter 11. I am going to need a new job in a few months. I have been thru layoffs before - my pet peeve is that layoffs and Christmas tend to be the same time of the year. Merry Christmas! - You're out of work." A J.S. of Skidway Lake, Michigan wrote... "HR is one of the very few areas in which new grads can find work. Is there some irony in that?" An A,D, of Guelph, Ontario, Canada wrote... "It goes beyond what you have described. Some companies now call it O.D. - Organizational Development. Companies now even do not hide the fact that it is all about the organization, and human resources do not matter much. Also, employees are often told to not go to this department to complain, as most likely you will be fired."
STUFFING - Pet Peeve - November 27th A J.S. of Skidway Lake, Michigan wrote... "Well said and true, Tim. Stuffing recipes abound and families tend to be very loyal to the same one. I have several friends who feel the same way about meat loaf. It's a humble entree, but wonderful comfort food. There are dozens of ways to change and improve meat loaf recipes. We plan to hold a meat loaf cook-off and invite a lot of guests to eat and judge. I accidentally improved my own stuffing recipe this year. It became much too moist - soggy, even, so I grabbed a box of seasoned croutons and mixed them in. The result was awesome. It had a better flavor and there were no leftovers!" A J.U. of Palm Harbor, Florida wrote... "Tim this is a great article! My mother loved to make Oyster Dressing and my father would insist that it be placed inside of the Turkey. Since he was the Alpha Male no one would dare question what kind of dressing went into the Turkey. Now Mom and Dad are gone so I just take whatever kind of dressing winds up in the Turkey. It is the love that goes into the cooking and the family gatherings that make the holidays!" An S.D. of West Chester, Ohio wrote... "Yes, the stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving and maybe a few of the desserts. My mom always fixed the raisin, celery, apple version and that is still my favorite. I have heard the White Castle version is great, but never tried it. Thanks for posting the recipe. Happy Thanksgiving!" A D.T. of Raleigh, North Carolina wrote... "Agreed! Thanksgiving Dinner (usually a late lunch with our family) features stuffing and mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce - always accompanied by a side dish that came quite close to being our national bird... Turkey is secondary - good, but secondary... the second course involves pumpkin pie and a bunch of other stuff I never have room for. Did I mention the pumpkin pie? Just making sure. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Tim... we have so much to be thankful for." A C.L. of Eatontown, New Jersey wrote... "Ah, stuffing! This year will be the first since the mid '80s that I haven't stuffed a couple of 20-25 lb. birds for our Thanksgiving feast, but with our family scattered to the four winds this year I'm going to have to eat someone else's recipe (and, I'm told, it won't even be made inside the bird, so it isn't really stuffing anyway). I'll be in Virginia with our younger daughter's husband's family, while my wife will be treated to a Nebraska Thanksgiving with a whole host of potential relatives (our older son's girlfriend's family). But the one constant for us will be the cranberry sauce; both of our daughters cherish my great-aunt's recipe and serve it faithfully every year, and my wife will be preparing it as her contribution to the Nebraska feast." A J.Y. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania wrote... "I agree - Thanksgiving is still a family day for me. It's commercial but not like the other holidays. As for stuffing, my British grandmothers sausage stuffing recipe is what I use. As for chili, as you said, that's another article altogether, but I will say that my recipe includes bacon, sausage, flank steak, and pork chops..."
COMPUTER PRINTERS - Pet Peeve - November 24th A J.S. of Skidway Lake, Michigan wrote... "So true. Last year, my printer went haywire halfway through a big print job. I bought a cheap, new printer for $28 including cartridges. The cartridges alone cost $32. I've had good success buying off brand refilled cartridges online and the prices are much lower. I've tried the drug store's $15 refills and the resulting print looked much like a bad acid trip. Have you ever had your computer refuse to print because it claims to not recognize the printer? I have. I've tried reasoning with it, pointing out that the two have been working together productively for several years, but the computer refuses to acknowledge its coworker and the printer must be reinstalled." A K.M. wrote... "Yes, the ink cartridge prices are insanity. Not fair to consumers. And, to make the machines nearly obsolete before they even go to market is a dirty game. I'm sure they're annoyed with people like me who don't buy that many ink cartridges for a reason. I try not to print anything that isn't necessary to print in the first place. I don't care if I annoy them or not. It's highly insulting that they charge as much as they do for the ink cartridges. And, they know that the refilled ink cartridges and whatnot aren't as good as the brand name stuff, and they're laughing all the way to the bank on that one." A C.D. of Minnesota wrote... "Printer manufacturers learned a long time ago that the profit is in the consumables. They have taken that several steps further in recent years though. In order to force you to purchase consumables they now do things like setting a date in the printer when new cartridges are installed and then setting a time limit on their use, not allowing you to print unless all (or some) of the ink cartridges have a predetermined minimum amount of ink remaining, and selling partially filled ink cartridges. Consumer printers, especially ink jet printers (as they are the most common consumer printer) are designed and built with specific failure timelines - usually about two years. There are several manufacturers that adhere to this so closely that you can mark the date on your calendar. As for the installation woes, I am always stunned by people who ask me for help after trying to install or address a printer error, who have not read any of the installation instructions or made any attempt to look at the problem section of the manual. Sounds like lazy to me. There is a simple answer to the printer and ink question. STOP BUYING THAT MANUFACTURER'S PRODUCT! What's equally important is taking a few minutes to write the CEO of the company (easy to find for a public company) explaining why you are dissatisfied and will not be purchasing their products again. And then DON'T. You should also contact the retailer you purchased it from and let them know the same, either by writing their CEO or their customer service organization. It does work. NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNTIL YOU SPEAK UP! I think consumers don't realize the power they have. USE IT!" A J.E. of Montville, Connecticut wrote... "You're right on the mark with printers. The manufactures of printers have everything down pat and printers are almost obsolete as soon as they hit the shelf. Individually they sell a printer once to a person but as you say the big money is in the endless supply of ink needed to keep the printer functioning. Even printer paper which is probably the lowest grade paper you can buy comes with an inflated price. I also have a wheel printer I keep around for nostalgia. It's junk by today's standards but still functions well. I have done everything you can do with ink to cut the cost. Sometimes it's successful, most times it's not. I had one ink jet printer that would not recognize refilled cartridges and considered it to be nothing but a rip off to sell new more expensive cartridges. No sense going into brand names because they all have similar problems. The big glitch with my present printer is if I print a job and fail to have enough paper in the trey I will get a message 'to clear the jam and proceed'. This was easy to figure out the first time but some reported glitches showing from these monster machines are not easy to figure out and waste too much time as well as paper and ink, ink that should be laced with gold. An M.T. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin wrote... "Timely article. I have my printer preferences set to print black only. Yet every six months, my printer runs out of color ink. Is there a chip with a clock that determines when they need the next contribution? If so, how do I beat the system? A C.L. of Eatontown, New Jersey wrote... "I agree with all that... but you missed my biggest annoyance: the printer won't print unless all six ink cartridges have ink in them. 99% of what I print is resumes, letters, envelopes, etc., all of which should be using just the black ink... but I will often get stopped in the middle of printing something because one of the color cartridges has run out - just the other day it was the 'photo magenta', while I was setting up to print an envelope. If I had enough space I'd buy an inexpensive black-and-white-only printer just to avoid the frustration!" An M.O. of Deptford, New Jersey wrote... "The Kodak ESP3 printer turns out to be very expensive and the ink for it is also very expensive because both are sitting on my desk useless. The printer is the worst garbage I have bought in a long time. I wish the jobs would come back to USA so that I could get a decent printer. This might be off the subject but I had to let people know about the Kodak garbage."
HOW ARE YOU (REALLY?) - Pet Peeve - November 20th A K.M. wrote... "I agree. One thing I hate is when people ask 'How are you?' but they give all the visual cues that they could really care less, because they're not even looking me in the eye and really don't even wait for the response. I shudder to think that some of these people used to claim they were my friends, but they didn't even take the time to know me. It's not that I necessarily had a whole lot to say in return each and every time, but they didn't seem to care what my response was at all. They didn't even wait to hear 'okay' or 'fine'. Maybe they don't want to hear 'Okay' and aren't interested in hearing or seeing the visual and verbal cues a person gives when they're worried about expressing too much information and don't want to burden someone else with this too much information? And, these are supposed to be my 'friends'?" A J.S. of Skidway Lake, Michigan wrote... "Some people do care when they ask the question, others don't. When I ask, it is because I care. I don't need or want a recitation of illness and surgical history, but if someone says 'I'm battling a cold' or 'I'm having surgery next week.' I'm glad to know, so I can promise to pray for them and offer encouragement. My dad's standard reply to 'How are you?' is a tongue-in-cheek 'Failing fast.' He is 84 and has been using that line for 50 years, so he's not failing too fast! I have no idea how to answer 'Wha'zup?'" An O.B.Perry, Georgia wrote... "The responses to 'How are you?' are surely a sign of the times. As for this old man, I have learned to take what comes along and while not as affluent as I would like to be, I am mostly happy. And I am rather large but that does not bother me all that much (though I would like to be a bit thinner). So my response to that question depends on which of these two answers will bring up the most smile. I either answer: 'Fat, dumb and happy', which is mostly true. or 'Happy as a wet fish', meaning that I am in my normal atmosphere and complacent or as your lady friend said, 'Okay.' Both to me are honest answers and both bring smiles in return and sometimes laughter. Laughter is desirable for all laughter is an expression of pain in some way. God's way of helping us vent our frustrations and frailties (explained thus, it does not feel good to get tickled, and at the butt of every joke, somebody, something, or some place is being hurt in some way, we see folks laugh when they make mistakes to cover their embarrassment, you see some one slip and fall and the antics they go through are funny but still some hurt is being done..) So you see the need for laughter. The more laughter we create, the more pain we relieve in the world. So I tailor my response the question to what I figure will ease another pain. Just my nickles worth. Keep up the great posts." An M.R. of Texas wrote... "Good read. Sometimes I feel people are just asking for courtesy sake. They really do not care. It is like making a statement like the sky is blue. Like you I think I would rather hear an honest ok, then a fabulous, or whatever which screams no truth in it. Then again it really matters what kind of relationship one has with the other person.... I guess? Nice post!" An R.H. of Camden, Maine wrote... "I always liked the response, 'Compared to what?'" A J.D. of Atlanta, Georgia wrote... "My preferred response has always been 'Man, I'm Horny!' It works surprisingly well in many social settings. Enjoy the articles but I must say we seem to be on the opposite side of the tracks on many viewpoints, but as I recall you were a Nixon backer in '72 and I was a McGovern Man. Happy Thanksgiving!"
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Follow the writings of Palm Harbor resident Tim Bryce, a writer and management consultant who writes commentaries about the times we live in and management concepts. His writings are well known on the Internet and are humorous, educational, and at times controversial. You won't always agree with him, but Tim will definitely get you thinking. Tim is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA), an international management consulting firm located in Palm Harbor. A seasoned writer, Tim's works have appeared in management and computing publications all over the world. His book, "The IRM Revolution: Blueprint for the 21st Century" made the Top 10 list of management books in Japan. His recent eBook, "THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! Empowering Managers in today's Corporate Culture," has also received critical acclaim. Tim's blogs and podcasts are read and listened to by thousands. For Tim's professional bio, click HERE.
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This web page contains links to the various writings of Tim Bryce which can be divided into two sections: Bryce's Pet Peeves and Bryce's Management Papers. Whereas the Pet Peeves are editorial in nature, the Management Papers offer sound advice on general management related issues. All papers are available for republication, but only with the expressed written consent of the author. Copyright notation of the author (as found on the specific paper) and any pertinent trademark or service mark must be observed. When reproducing an article, please add: Article reprinted with permission of the author. Please forward the author a copy of the publication when it is produced, either by e-mail or, if printed, by mail.
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