[BC] Re:List perspective

[Xmitters@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/10/05 9:25:11 AM Central Daylight Time, 
broadcast-request at radiolists.net writes:

<< "What I perceive as the real issue in our industry's workplace is that 
 the engineer is seldom treated as a worthwhile person.  They are 
 generally treated as a "necessary evil" at best.  "Burn them out and 
 then get another one".  I know of many situations where individuals are 
 over worked, 12+ hours per day, expected to accomplish their assigned 
 tasks and are not allowed to put in for any overtime.  I think that to a 
 small degree this would be more palatable if the engineers were at least 
 treated with demonstrative respect. >>

Larry 

I agree in principle with what you have said. What I see however, is that 
people in the service business in general are treated in much the same way as 
many engineers. It's not just us. Engineers tend to be noncontroversial and 
sometimes don't stand their ground when they should. Sometimes staying quiet is not 
the best strategy when dealing with business conflicts at the radio station. 
People by nature will push other people to determine what the limits are. If 
you never stand up for yourself, other people will continue pushing. To make 
matters worse, if you take whatever people throw at you in the name of peace in 
the family, that's where the respect will be lost. It's helpful to remember 
that people do what they do because there is some kind of payoff. It is wise 
therefore to figure out from their perspective, what the payoff is for the way 
they are treating you. You might have to set someone straight once you find out 
what their payoff is.

I've been in this business for almost 30 years. I've never worked ten hour 
days on a regular basis and I've never been asked to fix the crapper in the 
men's room. When an emergency strikes, I work for how ever long it takes and then 
come in the next morning (or whenever the emergency passes) at my normal time. 
When told about a broken crapper in the men's john however, I get out the 
phone book, take down some names and numbers and ask the sales manager which one 
or ones is/are clients. I then call one. (the university however, has people 
that fix toilets, so I would be the target of a grievance if I tried to fix the 
toilet here)

Sometimes standing up for oneself is stressful and many people don't do it to 
avoid that stress. Based on my experience, avoidance is the worst thing you 
can do. The other thing that can go far in developing respect around the 
station is how you treat people. You can be kind and assertive at the same time. 

Develop a customer service model for your department. Your air staff's 
problems are then your most important priority. Take anyone seriously that comes to 
your office with a problem and make it a priority to show them that you care. 
Finally, take on the attitude of "doing everything that you can do" when a 
problem occurs. This means not dragging your feet on doing things just to make a 
point. 

If your boss causes an engineering problem for the station by ignoring one of 
your cautionary memos, then do everything you can do to pull the GM's bacon 
out of the fire and do it gladly. You and the GM can then sit down and develop 
a strategy when the smoke/dust settles, for preventing what ever happened. And 
DON'T rub the GM's nose in it! Based on what some engineers have told me over 
the years, I get the impression from them that they do not deal with their 
staff in a very kind and/or professional manner. They also have many complaints.

Remember that you can only reside in one of two camps: You are either part of 
the problem or you're part of the solution. This might not apply all the 
time, but they're pretty damned good marching orders for the most part. That's how 
I've operated for all of this time, and it works. Being respected here at 
this station is _not_ one of my complaints.

Our treatment is therefore not entirely a function of how "those other 
people" treat us. Realizing this is empowering and will therefore put us in a 
position of action rather than that of being a victim. It is to your advantage to 
move on to another situation if you find that your current place of employment 
is truly dysfunctional. Your mental and physical health are at stake! 


Jeff Glass, BSEE CSRE
Chief Engineer
WNIU WNIJ