‘The Dilbert Principle - a Cubicle’s-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions ‘ is a very funny and surprising book. One might expect Scott Adams to offer us a collection of ‘Dilbert’ cartoons and indeed, many are included. But there is much more.
Scott Adams receives 200 Emails per day, from workers across the country, which describe policies and decisions made by 'management.' These policies and decisions are often so absurd as to leave the reader wishing that some were made up. Still, if you've ever worked for a boss, you know in your heart that each and every one is real.
If the cartoons and Emails weren’t enough, this is a well written book and one with a message. Scott Adams may not admit it, well - actually I think he would, but he is a Master of Metaphor. In fact this reader put the book down from time to time to savor the perfect metaphor... His first example - ‘Any absurdity in a business setting stands out like a dead nun in a snow bank..’ Did Chaucer ever write any better? Shakespeare..?
And the message..? Well, in a moment of seriousness he writes, 'companies with effective employees and good products usually succeed.' Can it be that easy?
Scott Adams lived a 'career' in a cubicle and knows what makes employees ineffective. His mention of running a side business from a cubicle or how to catch up on your needed sleep in a cubicle demonstrates that he's been there, done that. And as I said, his readers keep him up to date on corporate absurdities.
‘The Dilbert Principle’ asserts that the least efficient, most useless worker on a job will be the one promoted to management. The theory is that production will be least hurt in that way. And if you don’t think it’s true (there are still some dinosaurs about who believe in ‘The Peter Principle’), just read some of the Emails he’s received!
'The Dilbert Principle' covers the gamut of management fads from empowerment, Total Quality Management, ‘reengineering’ and downsizing. Meetings, projects, budgets, consultants and teams are also skewered. Employee’s strategies like pretending to work and manager's strategies like pretending to care are 'equally' addressed.
And, as you read the book, you laugh. You chortle. You smile. (I think you chortle. Look it up to see if I’m right.) But most of all, if you work for a boss, you recognize. You recognize far too often for comfort. And frighteningly, it's the truth you recognize. Don't read the chapter, 'How To Tell If Your Company Is Doomed' if you don't really want to know.
(Really - let me know if I'm wrong about that chortle thing!)
I said this book surprises. It does so in more than one way. Allow me an emotional perspective. As one who has been ‘reengineered’ out of a very rewarding and satisfying position, ‘The Dilbert Principle’ brought me a measure of peace. It tells the cubicle worker, the worker who faces incredible absurdities every day, the worker who has lost a job that you are not alone. Legions of others have stopped trying to make sense of it all, too. And somehow, that helps.
If you ever worked for a boss, you must read this book. If nothing else, it will help you to get even.
Copyright 1997 Louis J. Rose All Rights Reserved.
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