Efficiency? Who needs it?<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): One day the general manager of the state agency
\nwhere my husband works asked him to find a way to improve
\nefficiency in the workplace.<\/p>\n
No big deal, my husband thought.<\/p>\n
He was wrong. Not that it was a difficult task, but he learned
\na valuable lesson: People benefit from inefficiency, in fact make
\na living from it.<\/p>\n
What my husband discovered was nothing surprising or new. It
\ncan be found in many Indonesian institutions and companies, even
\nthe private ones.<\/p>\n
The agency is over-staffed. There are eight people for a task
\na single person can handle. The reason? Many on the payroll act
\nas if they own the agency and hire new people all the time. It
\ncould be someone's son, daughter, niece, nephew or best friend's
\nsecond-cousins' in-law. The agency has literally become a huge
\nfamily. You cannot avoid bumping into someone's relative when you
\nvisit. There is even a whole family -- excluding the mother who
\nmust be dutifully laboring at home -- working for the agency. Not
\nto mention employees who join the agency with a katabelece -- the
\nmagical reference letter which no general manager could turn
\ndown.<\/p>\n
\"What's wrong with that?\" I ask.<\/p>\n
\"Nothing if the sons, daughters, nieces, nephews or relatives
\nmeet the requirements for whatever jobs they are assigned to or
\nif there are really the jobs for them,\" my husband explains. \"The
\nproblem is, often they join the agency even when there is nothing
\nfor them to do.\"<\/p>\n
His remark reminds me of a comment his colleague made when I
\nasked him to join my company.<\/p>\n
\"No way. I like it here. They pay me even for watching TV,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Which is half true. Because there are too many people to do
\nthe work that must be done, he can finish his work in a matter of
\nhours and spend the rest of the day watching TV or playing
\nScrabble.<\/p>\n
The problem doesn't stop there. Because of the blood links,
\nit's difficult to impose company rules on employees with
\nconnections. One is of course bound to bump into someone's son or
\ndaughter or niece or nephew when dealing with a misconduct
\ngrievance or a irregularity.<\/p>\n
\"Even if a boss insists that the agency treat his son or
\ndaughter or nephew or niece or in-laws like any other employee,
\nno one is his sanest state of mind will take action against a
\nboss' son or daughter or niece or nephew or relative or in-laws
\nfor their wrongdoings,\" my husband says.<\/p>\n
Another problem that comes with this traditional recruitment
\nprocedure is that primordialism is the rule. When one from a
\ncertain region is appointed head of section or department, then
\nfor sure he or she will regionalize that part of the agency so
\nthat there is the Padang bloc, the Cirebon (Sundanese) group, and
\nso on. Nothing wrong with that, actually, if professionalism is
\nstill the number one consideration.<\/p>\n
\"You cannot expect a team set up on primordialism or a blood
\nconnection to perform professionally or efficiently because those
\ntwo aspects become unimportant. What is important is to have your
\npeople or relatives working for you or with you,\" my husband
\npoints out.<\/p>\n
To his shock, his findings infuriated the big boss, who became
\nsullen for several days -- much to the dread of the whole office.
\nMy husband told the boss that the only way the agency could cut
\ndown on expenses and be more efficient was to stop recruiting
\npeople on the traditional basis.<\/p>\n
The general manager became upset and angrily told him that
\nthere was no way the agency could do that.<\/p>\n
What about the sought-for efficiency?<\/p>\n
\"Forget it,\" says my husband. \"Who needs efficiency when
\npeople survive because of inefficiency?\"<\/p>\n
-- G.A. Koesoemowinoto<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/efficiency-who-needs-it-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }