Laizzes-faire

Way pakialam. There are instances when one would wonder why some people are so cool in frantic situations. In the workplace, there are those who are neck-deep with their tasks but there are those who are just so passive they still have the time to retouch their makeup and check on their phones. They seem to be indifferent with the pressing needs one will wonder about their work orientation.

Personal ethics are defined as moral objectives or values that one believe in and practice as part of his/her life’s philosophy. When it comes to work, one’s ethics also encompass one’s overall attitude about work. One definition of a person with good work ethics is a person who shows up on time with the willingness to do what it takes to get the job done without complaint (Brenner, 2014).

In public service, it is a necessity for the servant to exhaust his/her best for the interest of the public. Yet, it is saddening to notice that those who pledge to be of service to people are the ones who want to be served. There are even those who do not exhaust all the resources to be able to make a dent on the pressing needs. There seems to be a drone of indifference in their surroundings to the point that the workplace seems to have a flat line.

What is the motivation behind this?

Recent research from the Corporate Advisory Board shows that 90 percent of employees are not engaged or their behavior is not aligned with organizational goals. Certainly, the unproductivity have contributed to this state of malaise in the workplace. It’s not the only cause, however. Jealousies, personal rivalries, silo behavior, and incivility have also harmed the spirits of people at work. The primary culprit is indifference (Stallard, 2018).

Such reveries were triggered when this writer noticed that there are those who evade their tasks and justify them with other assignments. The Civil Service Commission has worked hard to underscore that there are job descriptions and expected Key Result Areas (KRA) among the public servants. A teacher’s KRA is to facilitate the teaching-learning process. Yet, there are those who justify themselves by saying they are being ordered to decorate the stage leaving the learners behind. There are officials in the local offices who only come to the office for attendance then go out for other tasks leaving their key result areas to nothing in exchange of other trivial acts.

Sometimes, the cause of such misalignments is also the head of the workplace. The subordinates could only follow the orders of the bosses since the leaders delegate their tasks to members. Again, the subject of being indifferent could be the culprit here. There are those in higher positions whose mantra is delegation even if they do not have anything on their hands.

Delegating tasks and responsibility is a vital component of time management according to Virtual Advisor Inc. (2014). The primary reason most people delegate is to decrease their workload, which enables them to focus on other tasks and responsibilities. Other reasons to delegate include improved staff satisfaction, better ability to get an increased amount of work done, and faster career growth for the supervisor and the employee who completes the project. Not only does the supervisor's workload decrease, but his staff members also have the opportunity to advance. When delegation is effective, the entire team and the business itself can succeed.

That is the real reason of delegation NOT that the manager or leader could sit back and relax.

It is disheartening to realize that productivity and the delivery of services in the government offices fall short. Of course, there are those who do their tasks well but there is also a percentage of people who shortchange the expected outcomes of the offices and departments. This is the main reason why inefficiency is cascaded to the roots of our culture. And when we tell things like this, we are always be the one to be criticized. We will be called self-righteous and those slow-workers will then accuse us of other things to discredit our personalities.

The only thing to do is by continuing to enrich our work ethics and do our tasks efficiently. We then continue to displace effective outputs to inspire others. We should anchor our actions to our MISSION. 

Excellent workers consider their own outputs and do not compare them to others. In their own ways, they always win their daily battles.