Today is the last day of July. It is just like an arrow in the light of day.
I feel that time is passing even more quickly because I see a variety of news every day.
A succession of epidemics, wars, and disasters. Various incidents and accidents. Unusually hot weather. Is the earth really alright, or rather, is the human race?
It is frightening because I feel as if I am learning the art of not marveling as much as possible, since things that should be marveled at happen too often these days.
In this issue, as the title suggests, I would like to consider "Why do people want to teach people how to do their jobs orally? I would also like to discuss the nature of the human creature that lies behind this question.
I wanted to write about this at least once because this is exactly the problem with my own organization and I have been wondering about it for a long time.
It is an old story, but more than a quarter of a century has already passed since I entered the workforce. Although personal computers have existed since those days, they were mainly business systems and terminals unique to each industry, and it was not always the case that one could not work without one.
At my workplace, word-processing-only machines were still in wide use. Word processor is an abbreviation for "word processor. For those who have never seen one in person, I would describe it as "an electric typewriter with an integrated printer and keyboard. If you do not have a clear image of what it looks like, please search for images on the Internet.
To name a few specific products, Toshiba's "Lupo" and Sharp's "Shoin" were popular models. Hmmm, how nostalgic. Too nostalgic...
In those days, typing without looking at the keyboard was called "blind touch," and it was considered a bit of a skill in itself. Many people do it now, but anyway, that was the way it was back then.
At my workplace, for example, until about the mid-2000s, we used to print out a document for something, correct it by hand if necessary, cross out the corrected part with a double line in ballpoint pen, and stamp it to indicate the fact that it was corrected.
When asking for a supervisor's approval, documents were turned in one after another, and a stamp was affixed as proof that the supervisor had given his/her approval. The materiality of the document, paper, and the stamping of the stamp (inkan) on it were highly effective procedures.
When time is tight and they are in a hurry, they "take around" the documents they have prepared themselves, literally taking them to their superiors and having them stamped one after another by the concerned parties.
In such cases, it was necessary to tell them, even verbally, "Take turns, please.
In short, they put light pressure on their supervisors, saying, "I am in a great hurry right now, so I don't mind if you just take a quick look (or pretend to look) at the contents of the document, so please stamp it as soon as possible.
Now that I think about it, it is a world of some sort.
I must mention that I do not like the kind of bragging (so-called saga) that certain people like to tell at bars.
I dislike both older people talking nostalgically about "the good old days" and younger people saying with a knowing look, "That's old-fashioned.
The world is not so simply divisible into "the old days are good" or, conversely, "the old days are not so good.
There are those who, despite their age, consciously act on a daily basis to adopt modern values, and there are those who, even though they are young, love to maintain the status quo and stubbornly refuse to change anything (or be changed). That is the reality of the world.
However, I often dare to write with stories of the past because I believe that knowing the customs and ways of thinking of things in the past has a certain significance when thinking about modern society. I hope you will understand this.
Now let's bring the story closer to the present day.
Particularly since the beginning of the 21st century, the gradual digitization of society has made computers, or PCs, for personal use indispensable today for people in many professions.
While the way and frequency of computer use may vary from industry to industry and job to job, one of the advantages of having computers and file servers around is that there is less need to verbally teach newcomers to a job how to do it.
In the past, if one wanted to create a business manual, he or she would have had to create a large portion of it by hand, which would have required a considerable amount of time and effort.
As a result, there must have been some parts that had to be taught orally. To some extent, I can understand that.
But nowadays, at least one computer per person is a common sight. The same is true at my workplace.
However, still,Every time I move to another department, it is difficult (for me) to gain knowledge about the new work without asking a lot of detailed questions about this and that to the employees around me.
I feel that the nature of this organization has not changed over the past quarter century.
Eventually, based on the notes and other information I had gathered from employees who were already in the department, I would organize them into clear sentences on my computer and save them as a manual on a file server.
This time and effort can be substantial, to say the least. However, others are not really willing to do it, so I am forced to do it.
Aside from those of us who have special jobs like passing on oral literature and art to the next generation, we are mainly deskbound. In particular, all work procedures that already have a form should be documented.
In the old days, every time a small correction was made to a manual, a paper would have to be printed and redistributed, but today, you can just read the text on the display.
Essentially, whether it is a new project or a routine task that has existed for a long time,The knowledge accumulated from the past should be documented as much as possible so that newly assigned employees can learn new tasks more quickly.
The reality, however, is different. Year after year, other employees verbally teach the majority of the required knowledge to employees transferred from other departments.
This is a complete waste of time for both the person asking the question and the person answering. Of course, it is also a waste of both parties' time and effort.
It is desirable to be in a state where you can read and memorize the manuals for the obvious things, and only ask questions about the really detailed things, things that only someone with experience in the field would know.
However, perhaps because manuals do not improve their own evaluations, former employees still teach newly assigned employees how to do their jobs, mainly by word of mouth.
This tendency to transfer business knowledge in a highly inefficient manner appears to me to have nothing to do with the age or experience of the staff member.
Simply put, this phenomenon is nothing more than a lack of will to "willingly do something useful. Or, it is the very understandable human nature of "not wanting to do anything troublesome.
There are usually very few people like me who wish to streamline the handover of work by quickly putting into writing what can be put into manual form.
I really wonder why they are so unwilling to do the work of streamlining, which can be easily done if they wanted to.
I have a few ideas as to the cause. Well, this is just an imagination, almost a speculation, but since I am here, I will leave it here.
They may actually feel pleasure in verbally imparting their knowledge to others.
Here, let me take the liberty of imagining what is going on in their lazy minds and make it into a line. It goes something like this.
When I was assigned to this department, I worked very hard to learn new tasks by asking questions of the employees around me. So why is it that the new guy who will be assigned to this department next year will be able to learn the new job more easily than the old me, following a well-developed manual? This is unfair. The next group of people who will be assigned to me should experience the same hardships as I did. That is why I will never go through the trouble of maintaining manuals!
What do you think? I wonder if my imagination is a little too rich.
However, those of you who have been involved in club activities in junior high or high school may have had similar thoughts. Here, I will again let my imagination run wild and try to imagine what it must be like for students who are involved in junior high and high school club activities.
I have put up with a lot of bullying from the older students (sophomores and above) during my first year in the club, so when I become a sophomore, I will do the same to the new freshmen in the club! So when I become a sophomore, I will do the same thing to the freshmen who have newly joined the club!
Again, am I being too imaginative? However, the above two lines really show the nature of human beings (at least a certain kind of human being).
In this respect, these lines have the same underlying meaning, even though the words used are different.
In short,Because I went through the trouble, others should go through it as well."This is a sentiment that could be called despicable.
However, this sentiment is surprisingly common among many people in the world, and it may be a barrier that is not easily crossed by people of this nature.
In addition, these sentiments are likely to bring about a "negative cycle.
That is why, even though we have the means (typically digital technologies such as computers and AI) to dramatically reduce the "waste" that has persisted over the years, that waste and hardship are still being passed down from generation to generation.
Of course, this idea of mine is only a theory. I did not conduct individual interviews with the colleagues and supervisors who surrounded me, who were stubbornly unwilling to become more efficient.
But on the other hand, I also think that my reasoning is not far off the mark.
I have lived a reasonably long time, and what I have seen is the result of that,How the essence of a human being (that person) remains the same,This is because it is the case.
I suspect that they are desperately trying to avoid working for efficiency or correcting the wrong status quo for the same reasons I am imagining. That is my guess.
This is getting quite long, so let's break the story here.
Forcing others to go through the hardships you have gone through will only create a negative cycle. You can break that damned chain of negativity at any time if you are so inclined. Not trying to break it, or giving up in silence, is simply laziness. In some cases, it even involves a subtle hatred of others.
I think, "I don't want the next person to have to go through the same hardships I did," and I have done all the work possible to make that happen. Is there really a way to make people who think this way the majority in an organization?
I still have some time left and I want to make the organization better than it is now. No kidding.