[Info-vax] [OT] People, not resources, was: Re: What would you miss if DECnet got the chop? Was: "bad select 38" (OpenSSL on VMS)

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-10-08 02:46:04 +0000, Kerry Main said:

> Not sure where you get the idea of a resource being a bad word... In 
> the IT world - especially the IT project world, staff have always been 
> referred to as resources.

It's an "us and them" distinction.

"Resource" is a term that allows the people wielding it to (try to) 
disconnect themselves from the benefits that can accrue — and from the 
harm that can arise — from their decisions.  It's a term that allows 
the folks in management to (try to) distance themselves from the folks 
they're managing or that they're paying.  Or that they're cutting the 
pay.   The jobs they're outsourcing.   The people, the staff, the 
individuals, the family members, the husbands and wives and children 
that are in their employ.  The folks that can be out of a job or worse, 
due to the decisions that management is making.   The decisions that 
management can be making in isolation.   Decisions that management can 
variously be making solely for the benefit of management, too.

As an employee or volunteer, management use of the term "resource" 
means that the folks in management are now "resources" to you too, and 
probably worth just as much to you — or less — as you are to them.   
That's not the sort of place that engenders all that much loyalty among 
the staff, either.   In short, people that management treats as 
"resources" are going to be far less invested in the organization.

Sure, hard decisions need to be made in any business.   Folks can end 
up out of a job, or with a pay cut, or part time.  But the folks in 
management can treat the folks that have worked with and for them with 
respect and dignity.  Or the folks in management can treat the folks as 
"resources", and can — like the term "resource" in another context — 
strip mine them for added profit.

What sort of organization you really want to work for, and what sort of 
organization you want to lead, Kerry?



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