Anonymous said...
Managers seem to think it is their right to be a manager, no matter how incompetent and useless they are. Take some of the capable younger managers and promote them up and layoff the excess useless managers. Then we can get things done around here.
May 18, 2009 11:14 PM
Managers seem to think it is their right to be a manager, no matter how incompetent and useless they are. Take some of the capable younger managers and promote them up and layoff the excess useless managers. Then we can get things done around here.
May 18, 2009 11:14 PM
Comments
I think they were put there because they were willing to perform their job in a way dictated by a higher Manager. Just like a trained puppy.
And, that's what they are continuing to do.
When the puppy is told to sit, the view from the top is a lot different.
"In order to be a manager, you have to be a top performer. Therefore, managers (top performers) are the group that will get the highest ranking and pay raises." .... NOT.
I think Dave Leary has done a very good job through a lot of adversity. First there was the Dingell hearing regarding "we sell computers for drugs." Then he stepped up after the overly-amplified "lost key" incident. Rose to Deputy Director only to be pushed out in the LLC transition. Stepped back up when Russ Miller resigned from Security. Did all that without tossing grenades along the way. Class act...
It is one thing to talk about the changes since the contract and all the new Bechtel folks. It is another to talk about someone who has the Lab in his blood, has always strived to do the right thing and truly puts people first.
There are many lab senior managers who care about LLNL and are still there - trying to make a difference. Yes, some have left like Russ, but others are doing all they can for the good of all
They are not succeeding.
If critizing management is not part of this blog's function what is? I'm NOT about to start praising managers or discussing political conspiracies here.
If I see a manager I think has done a good job I will say so. In fact I think a number of lower-level folks are doing good work against impossible odds. On the other hand I have yet to see one of the current ULM do much for the rank and file. A leader protects his people, supports them and runs interference for them against the onslaught of crap coming down from higher up.
Show me a ULM that stood up to the layoffs, one that protested the ranking system, that threatened to quit rather than hurt his own people.
*crickets chirping*
Look at MRA or BT. At least you respected them.
Class; all lower. He's a hatchet man for ULM's; always has been and always will.
I'm sure you were inspired by DL. That's a personal thing and no reason to challenge your own feelings on the matter.
I had my division leaders say words about how upset they were about lay-offs to the rank and file. Then wiped away their crocodile tears so they could start swinging the scythe. It inspired me too. To compare them to the SS in the second world war - just following orders.
Saying that the layoffs where no different than other cut-backs is an utter lie. Workers at LLNL under UC had promises and sacrificed a lot of personal freedoms in expectation that those promises to job stability and retirement benefits would be kept.
A lot of people joined the Nazi party and the SS to further their careers, not because they cared about the idiology. When it came time to persecute the Jews, the Slavs, the intellectuals, these people did not complain, they complied.
If you think what NNSA/ULM did was ok are you any better than those who watched their neighbors get rounded up for extermination? If you helped management implement their changes are you any better than the German industrialists who turned human fat into soap?
You had a moral obligation to speak out despite the costs because it was the right thing to do. Instead you put yourself and your salary ahead of ethics. That makes you no better than the Nazis. And having *you* in charge of nuclear secrets should make the rest of the world very afraid.
All are not terrible. Good managers did and do exist at LLNL. Lot's of ethical folks tried to speak up and out during the Bechtel transition -- Russ Miller, Steve Patterson come to mind.
They were trying to do the right thing but were just overruled.
I just described Ed Moses and his Managers....
Take your best shot.