Benjamin B. Compton wrote:
>I started out feeling like games should be banned. After all, it was
>interrupting my work. Then, one night, after great coaxing, I joined in
>the fun! Wow! What an experience. It wasn't just recreation; it was a
>unique form of team unity.
I recently worked on a team (in government) made up of people from very
different backgrounds and career fields. As the team was forming, it was
entertaining to watch the behavior of two people in particular who sat
next to each another. One was a senior-level manager, the other a senior
computer scientist. At least 2-3 times a day for 5-10 minutes, in clear
view of everyone in the office, the scientist would play pinball, Tetris,
Free Cell, or various other similar games on his computer. As expected,
this infuriated the manager.
After about 2 weeks, things came to a head and words were exchanged. It
was quickly revealed that the scientist used computer games to relieve
stress, and the manager took "smoke breaks" to relieve stress (another
rule prohibits smoking in government buildings).
I got to know the people I worked with much better because I played with
them. And, frankly, they cooperated much more with the work I was doing as
Quality Manager because I played with them.
They got along together much better after that and everyone on the team
seemed a lot more at ease about both their stress releases. Additionally,
after I showed the scientist a couple tricks in pinball, ultimately
raising his high score by 1/3, our relationship grew significantly as
well.
The Web and E-Mail are wonderful sources of new information, which, in my
opinion, organizations need to bring in to remain competitive. Sure there
will be personal E-Mail, and perhaps, some Adult XXX sites will get a few
hits. . .but hey, that comes with the territory. Especially since today's
work environment is incredibly stressful. There were times when I would go
to CNN's homepage in the middle of the day just to take a break. . .to let
things churn in the back of my mind. And I don't feel bad for it. I
regularly worked 80 - 90 hour weeks. So if I took an hour a day to read
the news, or read a few jokes. . .great, more power to me.
With the onset of Intranets, I foresee access to the Internet as becoming
more and more controlled-whether used as a form of stress relief or not.
During a recent job interview, I was asked how I've come to know (what
little I do know) about LO's and such. I mentioned this dialogue as one
of my sources and was asked to briefly explain how it works. The response
I received from one of the interviewers was "Sounds like a bunch of people
with a lot of time on their hands." Needless to say, I need to work on my
explanation, but also, was again reminded of the strength of mental
models.
Regards,
Bill Hancy
obfusc8@erols.com
--"William T. Hancy" <obfusc8@erols.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>