false theories we believe in...

[LuckyR]

this is a thread I have been meaning to write for while, but
haven't gotten around to...

the one false theory that bugs me the most is this:

time is money....

and no... I can't begin to explain how wrong this is...

Kropotkin

I get what you're saying but my read of "time is money" is: "time is valuable" or more accurately: "time is more valuable than most give it credit for".

[LuckyR]

Work smarter, not harder!

This one is a favorite of efficiency experts and mid-level managers alike. As if breaking a task into its sub-routines, and reassembling them in some manner will result in greater productivity and job satisfaction.While this can be helpful in some situations, and therefore not always false, it is often inappropriately applied. I will give an example.

At a large outpatient clinic, it was noted that the medical assistants were seemingly inefficient at performing their tasks. Those duties included greeting patients and escorting them to exam rooms, taking a brief history, performing basic vital signs, following up after the doctor’s visit by accomplishing any task left undone, and calling patients to advise them of lab results and confer any messages from their provider.

The solution was to task the corporate trainers with developing a course on time management. The course was happily condensed to a one hour class. This meant that every medical assistant in the organization would be taken away from their work for one hour’s time. The class covered the importance of time management, but did not offer any practical tips.

But the medical assistants actually had no control over their time, and no possible way to manage it. Their workday was totally at the mercy of when patients would arrive, some late and some early and possibly followed by someone who was early, some who were chatty and some who were not, when follow up tasks would be required or when not, when a patient would be available to receive a phone call or not.

Really, all the poor medical assistants could do was to work faster, work harder, and hope that their managers would work smarter.

I agree with your experience, but my read of "work smarter, not harder" is that it is newspeak from Administration who want 1) you to think they are aware (and that they care) that you are working harder than average already, 2) they want you to produce more work product than you are now for the same pay, 3) that there is a way to work less and produce more work product. Unfortunately, #3 is in error, so failing that, just work harder for the same pay.

One humorous thing is that later after their (doomed) program gets rolled out and Admin calls out workers for leaving things out (because folks are working above 100% capacity), a voice drifts from the back of the conference room "... work smarter, not harder...).