A general manager in a governmental body found out that someone had cut his mouse cable on his PC. The problem brought his daily chores to a halt while he searched for the culprit. Employees at the office provided different explanation. One of them said, “Maybe there is a real mouse in the office that thought that the computer mouse was an enemy and decided to take revenge by nibbling away at the cable. Or maybe it’s another episode of the famous Tom and Jerry cartoon.”
The general manager didn’t like any of the explanations and wanted to pursue the matter further and so decided to report the incident.
He filled in a form and attached a letter and sent it to the manager of legal affairs to investigate the issue. He also sent a copy to the storage department to inform them about what had happened. Believe it or not, this is a real story. It describes details of the bitter reality in many ministries and governmental sectors. Managers are given administrative positions without possessing any qualifications or skills. Perhaps they are given such posts because they have just returned from the US or the UK with a degree, regardless of whether the degree is relevant to the work or not.
In most cases, these people have never dealt or been trained in managerial work. Therefore, mistakes and embarrassing situations occur that underlie a great amount of ignorance and lead to a breakdown in management. It’s easy to recognize and identify incompetent managers the minute you read their daily memos. Or perhaps when you ask them to present a report about their administrative accomplishments.
You’ll always be shocked at the amount of ignorance you end up having to face when dealing with them. Such things may even make you end up having a headache and feeling pitiful and desperate. Some executive managers in Saudi society practice their authority to damage the sector they belong to; sometimes this is done intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. It’s a case of complex ignorance. This is a sad truth for a country swarming with unemployed university graduates and inadequate people in managerial jobs.
I hope that the boss who lost his mouse finds it. I also hope his employer then finds somebody to replace him so that we would not be entertained by silly accusations in the future. We can’t achieve creativity and proficiency at work unless the administration provides a professional atmosphere to boost the ambitions of employees and lead them away from bureaucracy and idiocy.
