On character in the business/commercial world

I recently posted some of my thoughts on the problems with officialdom’s approach to character checks (“The inadequacies and biases of “character” checks [Note: Content Warning - discussion on oppression/bigotry/hate, violence/abuse. Reader discretion is advised]”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-inadequacies-and-biases-of.html   ), and that matter is, in truth, probably one of the key issues behind much of what I write about the problems with governance/management, corporations/business/economic approaches, and politics. 

Two things I came across online today reminded me of that. 

The first was a YouTube video: 

“Pakistan International Airlines #8303 Shocking Final Report!”   https://youtu.be/haBxjK70yt0?si=d_YSRRsRLe0ska6x  

I have an interest in aviation, and also in learning from problems, so I occasionally watch these sorts of videos to see if there are any lessons that can be applied elsewhere - and, in this case, there was. 

At around 6:37 in the video, a quote is included from an assessment of the Chief Pilot’s character which was in the official investigation report: 

“He was of bossy nature, firm, dominant and overbearing. ... He tends to have little regard for the authority. He had low mechanical comprehension with low comprehension of space relations. His level of stress tolerance was also quite inadequate.”

My first reaction to that is: well. why was he in that position if he was so ill-suited to it? 

And that question can be asked about others in authority as well. 

I have quite a few thoughts about the systemic problems involved in such problematic promotions which I have touched on in quite a few other posts (for instance, see “A YouTube video on problems with power - and ways to prevent them [Content Warning: cruelty, abuse, violence, atrocities, abuse of power/scandals, bad choices, narcissism, politics, police violence]”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-youtube-video-on-problems-with-power.html   - and I could list things like, groupthink, ideological fixations [especially economic], lack of observation/acceptance of what is being observed and other flaws of thinking, “mateship” [aka nepotism], etc), and there is the reasonably widely known “Peter  Principle”, which is - roughly worded - about people being promoted to the level at which they become incompetent. 

However, all I wish to do at the moment is to pose the following question:

apart from the very real devastation (including many deaths - and that is, to me, the main and by far the largest problem in this instance) done to humans by this example of incompetent management in making the appointment (and also the other associated systemic problems), what about the damage done to companies?

That question came to mind when I read the second Internet item, which is: 

“Uber to pay out taxi, hire drivers with almost $272m”   https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2024/03/18/uber-pay-out-taxi-drivers-272m   “It was the fifth-largest class action settlement in Australia’s history and came after what Maurice Blackburn Lawyers described as five “gruelling” years since it launched the legal battle on behalf of more than 8000 taxi and hire car owners and drivers.   The drivers and car owners lost income and licence values because of Uber’s aggressive arrival into the market and the company tried to deny them compensation at every turn, Maurice Blackburn principal lawyer Michael Donelly said.”  

Someone probably thought an aggressive approach would be good, and others signed off on it ...   So, from a business point of view, how do they feel about that now - and the hiring processes that put those responsible for having/approving the idea in place?   Any lessons to ensure it doesn’t happen again perhaps? 

What about many of those involved in this list - noting some of the problem people were jailed despite probably passing the standard sorts of character checks? 

Any lessons there, perhaps? Hmm?

It might also be worth having a look at   “Corporations: where did it go wrong? [Note: Content Warning - discussion on, and links to, economic & political systems, inequity and environmental/other problems. Reader discretion is advised]”   https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2024/02/corporations-where-did-it-go-wrong-note.html   (and “(aspects of) character [Content Warning - includes disturbing/harmful matters]”   https://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2023/09/aspects-of-character-content-warning.html   )  

 

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Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/