Sycophancy

This is not issue at all but a symptom, a representative of a tradition, an impediment for development. Our boss is on vacation and this has not affected our work when there are any. Among the staffs only few of us need to report to him while others enjoy their own freedom. Despite being a huge organization, there are very few works and we often cut days browsing the internet or reading papers. For people like me who are already lazy this is no help.
Though a huge building, we have worst facility of toilet in our office. There is only one toilet in our four storied office. To ascend the ladder just to dump the unwanted water is itself very unwanted but as natural as it is, we have no option. It would have been a great relief if there was a small rest room in our department. Once in a meeting the proposal was presented but as very expected it was rejected. When I joined this office, I saw a weird culture; our colleagues always discouraged us for presenting genuine cause to boss as they believed they will go unheard. They said our reasons will always be under unwelcome and rather useless scrutiny. I believe when we reserve the right to reject something we should have enough reasons to justify the rejection. There might be many theories for efficient management but I believe in democratic management and transparency. Without this a boss is not viewed as a popular leader but as an authoritarian dictator. The capacity to reason becomes more important especially when one works in a public sector organization and he himself is just another employee.
So, we have to go to second floor just to pee. In the absence of our boss, we feel free to use his toilet. I don’t think we can actually do that i.e. getting into boss’s room and peeing in his toilet, yet I do it quite often and so does few others. Even these days I was enjoying the self granted luxury, until one day when I found the room locked. Though not shocked I did give mused on it. There was no way our boss will call from India and ask the staffs about the status of his room or toilet in that matter. I can even guess who could have done this but there is no point in making an issue about this. Many bosses are so lucky that they have employees who consider it as a part of their duty to guard his toilets or may be even clean it to please their boss. This ‘extra’ duty the staffs carry out to appease their boss is sycophancy. Sycophancy has many forms from leaking colleagues or peers information to bosses to offering gifts-services to bosses. Sycophants are usually people deprived of self respect and confidence. Professionally they are incompetent and they are dexterous at no other thing apart from being spies of boss. The character and attitude of the boss himself is to be considered in this regard. Who would want to have spies? Obviously those who feel insecure. Why do people feel insecure because they cannot take people into confidence? And why can’t they take people into their confidence because they doubt themselves. They are incompetent themselves and aware of the fact that they are not working in the general interest of the organization. They are either shunning their duties and despite working hard they are not competent enough to make a right decision. Sycophancy has both the sycophants and their patron as beneficiaries while the whole organization at the suffering end. The culture is precarious to those who work hard and can make effective decisions and cannot risk their morality and self respect to lick others feet.
While reading a wonderful book I learnt that sycophancy was actually institutionalized in our country by the mighty Ranas. The culture became so fruitful for those who wanted easy money and privilege that it took no time to root deep into the society. If you have no qualities to get what you want learn to praise others, work for boosting the ego of your patron.
My office is just a small example yet a very perilous example as well. Once a junior staff comes to advice me to make an outgoing entry when I have to leave office early but the tone was that of an order. Had the same thing come from a competent and hard working junior I would have loved to appreciate his concern but from someone who is more useless than crump of a paper in dustbin I didn’t like it. It should have come from the boss, he could have chide me or even give me suitable punishment but who authorize him to order me. As per my nature, I didn’t say anything to him.
In countries like ours the labor unions are becoming the shelter for incompetent people. When one is incompetent he might not be promoted get other benefits or may be even sacked from his job and there comes the labor unions to protect him. Labor union work with the concept that their members are always right and the management is always wrong. For the bosses to have a close ally in the unions means no opposition to what they do. What more would the bosses ask when the union member spies for him?
When smart management principles are being adopted around the world with proper demarcation of ones job, our boss assumes a work description will make a staff completely self centric. Those who work hard take this not as a good management practice but an attempt to cushion the incompetent, the spies and the sycophants. I don’t know how many bosses will ask a staff to do the work of another just because the later does not know how to do it. I don’t know how many bosses will send their staffs to high skill trainings and again entertain the answer ‘I don’t know how to do this’.
There is still a long way to go and sycophancy will be the most dreadful impediment for progress.