http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/102876/the-art-of-showing-pure-incompetence-at-an-unwanted-task
"Strategic incompetence isn't about having a strategy that fails, but a failure that succeeds. It almost always works to deflect work one doesn't want to do -- without ever having to admit it. For junior staffers, it's a way of attaining power through powerlessness. For managers, it can juice their status by pretending to be incapable of lowly tasks."
This just illustrates that people's jobs have become solely about avoiding change or self-promotion rather than some broader goal or purpose. Sad.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
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3 comments:
Strategic Imcompetence is also foudn when a girl acts dumb & helpless to get a guy when she is really not dumb & helpless.
I have to disagree... I think strategic incompetence actually helps the greater good because it allows you to offer your highest skills to the company, rather than wasting your talents on tasks that someone less educated or less experienced could accomplish. I think it isn't necessarily only about self-promotion. Rather, I think it is about maximizing your utility, which is to the benefit of the company, at least from an economic point of view. I'd love to know your reaction to this Joe.
In response to Melody:
I see what you're saying, it makes sense. But what I think happens in reality (for the most part) is that people don't use “strategic incompetence” to focus on their strengths but rather to do that which is easiest OR will benefit them the most (mainly the prior). In the corporate environment people use this tactic to maintain the status quo, without even knowing if they are good at the task being offered or not. The only think that will get them to go beyond their comfort zone is the opportunity for a great reward OR a the risk of punishment. I know this sounds a bit pessimistic and surely doesn't cover all people but it relates back to a quote I once posted which states: "Most people would rather be certain they're miserable than risk being happy" by Robert Anthony. So what I'm basically saying is that “strategic incompetence” is not about utility but about avoiding change.
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