Dilbert’s and Inter-Continental Balistic Dummies!

Watching an argument unfold and progress on social media networks is often interesting… With that in mind, it was partly amusing but mostly sad, to follow a childlike and somewhat juvenile spat that took place on Facebook over the weekend. To say that dummies were launched from cots with the force of an inter-continental ballistic arsenal would be a massive understatement.

What started out as a bit of social sparing, quickly developed into something of an electronic blood-bath; the speed of which was only impeded by network constraints, and/or the speed at which participants were actually able to type. This inertia was probably only surpassed by the rate at which individuals blocked certain FB profiles from their ‘friends’ lists!

The differences of opinion were (initially) born out of the after effects from recent redundancies at North Yorkshire Police. In particular those pertaining to staff who used to work, or still do work at the Force Control Room. In simple terms, was it right or wrong to have ‘chosen’ to take redundancy and/or, was it right to have (mostly disparaging) opinions about the ‘choice’ or ‘opportunity’ taken by others? Whether or not there was actually ‘choice’ in the decisions made by many is another story.

But what many fail to do before joining such a malaise is to think before bashing hell out of their keyboard. No gathering of facts, let alone trying to understand any of those ‘facts’ or how they may affect differing individuals, prior to offering up their particular two-penneth of hissy-fit opinion.

As is often the case in opposing opinions, they have a tendency towards mostly individual and personal impacts. There was little cognisance of the important resulting factors i.e. those having a negative impact upon the capability, efficiency, accountability and public perception of the organisation as a whole.

The mostly myopic self-indulgence and self’-flagilation was even more inane and superfluous when you consider; the almost total absence of any comment on the quality (or otherwise) of service delivery. The negative impacts upon officer safety, staff health and welfare issues, the lack of openness and honesty in management and the often corporate manipulation of the media, ultimately resulting in deceit of the general public, all paled to insignificance during the exchange.

I can fully understand the personal impacts upon those now redundant from their previous employment. What I find wholly difficult to comprehend is the blind allegiance and blinkered views displayed by some who remain. The support displayed by some of those staff for their leadership is admirable, but mostly futile and born out of fear and/or stupidity. A total lack of understanding about the bigger picture. The level of allegiance shown is an underlying factor in many of the past organisational failures. The ability to tow the corporate line is to be applauded to a certain extent however; challenge to it is often required but just as often, sadly lacking.

You may be sat in a well paid job for now but be assured, irrespective of all the sunshine blown up your bum by bean counting managers who thrive upon media sound-bite opportunities, you are little more than a number. Much of your current leadership will continue to beat you with the proverbial stick at will. They still operate in a manner responsible for many of the financial problems faced in today’s public sector and, they are actually the ones responsible for so many of those failures within our current policing system.

Next time you spit a dummy out of your cot, try directing it towards those Dilberts who are constantly shafting you in the interests of their own career advancement. Continually rolling over to have your tummy tickled simply exacerbates the problem!