Dunn Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks ( Hewlett Packard )
I once consulted in a large organization that had a virtual moat of bouncers around its officers. The bouncers explained that they didn't want employees talking to the officers about business problems because, if the officers were ever asked to testify in court, they would not be able to deny they had learned something bad about internal operations—at least one employee would know it was a lie and could be called as a witness.
The practice of giving officers an alibi so they can squeal, "But I had no idea!" is firmly and routinely built into bad bossdoms. So it's no surprise that HP's Dunn said, "…the investigation, which was conducted with third parties, included certain inappropriate techniques. These went beyond what we understood them to be, and I apologize that they were employed." So now we have the convenience of redirecting attention to the "third parties" and turning away from the real perpetrator.
It is common practice for a manager say, "Do whatever it takes and don't tell me what you did." As long as the implementation method disguised in the euphemistic phrase "whatever it takes" isn't spoken or written, the executive can always take the high ground and say, "I didn't know."
It's a moral loophole and it's getting to be quite a bore.
Read a related blog entry from September 7.
The practice of giving officers an alibi so they can squeal, "But I had no idea!" is firmly and routinely built into bad bossdoms. So it's no surprise that HP's Dunn said, "…the investigation, which was conducted with third parties, included certain inappropriate techniques. These went beyond what we understood them to be, and I apologize that they were employed." So now we have the convenience of redirecting attention to the "third parties" and turning away from the real perpetrator.
It is common practice for a manager say, "Do whatever it takes and don't tell me what you did." As long as the implementation method disguised in the euphemistic phrase "whatever it takes" isn't spoken or written, the executive can always take the high ground and say, "I didn't know."
It's a moral loophole and it's getting to be quite a bore.
Read a related blog entry from September 7.
