07 October 2011

Seniority

A friend was talking about how seniority had and would occupy positions in certain hierarchies. If he were to join certain organisations, he would, of course, despite his body of work and ability, be forced into some form of an apprentice position or junior position. It must be noted that the senior person would have 'earned' that position by virtue of the amount of time put in. Seniority is the norm in many fields and also in informal ones, for instance, group dynamics. Recently, I had observed a case of a rather senior person giving advice when he really didn't know much and was also giving rather vague and general directions in other instances. He was giving advice because of his seniority. Heh. I had wondered how he would receive advice if given to him.

Of course, I tested. It only confirmed the worst.

2 comments:

Dione Wang said...
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Dione Wang said...

very true. Though you do say people should be properly evaluated according to their "body of work and ability". Does that not take time to develop, too?