Cubicle Manifesto , livre ebook

Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd. - Mainak Dhar

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54 pages

English

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The cubicle: a small, compressed, half room where we spend half our lives bored, stressed, and secretly planning holidays. Where imagination and creativity die a slow death and 'out of the box' can mean only one thing-leaving the office.Mayukh, a young and harried manager, can't believe his misfortune when he discovers one morning that his computer has been taken over by a virus. Especially when he has enough work on his plate to last him a lifetime. But things take a strange turn and soon the virus starts a revolution that gradually frees our hero from the tyranny of pressure and the shackles of stress. It reconnects him with his true self and family, and brings him more success than he could ever imagine.So if you've been spending more time in your cubicle than anywhere else, The Cubicle Manifesto is the revolution that you've been waiting for; one that you can start in the comfort of your own cubicle.

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Publié par	Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd.
Date de parution	22 février 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9788184001297
Langue	English

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RANDOM HOUSE INDIA
Published by Random House India in 2012
Copyright Mainak Dhar 2012
Random House Publishers India Private Limited Windsor IT Park, 7th Floor, Tower-B, A-1, Sector-125, Noida-201301 (UP)
Random House Group Limited
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London SW1V 2SA United Kingdom
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author s and publisher s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
EPUB ISBN 9788184001297
As always, for Puja and Aadi
Contents
A Note to Fellow Cubicle Dwellers
The Spectre of Cubicle Tyranny
A Company Called You Corp
The Net Present Value of Happiness
Making an Appointment with Yourself
When You Do Nothing at All
Turning off the Blinking Red Light of Servitude
Reach Out and Touch Someone
Don t You Love the Smell of Revolution in the Morning?
Sustaining and Spreading the Manifesto
Acknowledgements
A Note on the Author
A Note to Fellow Cubicle Dwellers
How many hours a day do you cubicle?
No, you did not hear that wrong and no, you should not start worrying about picking up a book whose first line seems to be a murder of the English language. Hidden in my question is a proposal. A proposal that we officially recognize the important role this office workstation plays in so many of our lives by elevating its status to that of a verb. In 2006, google was officially recognized as a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary. Given that we spend so much more time sitting in our cubicles than on any search engine, it seems only appropriate to officially recognize what it is that we do there. Here is my attempt at explaining what it means to cubicle :
The act of sitting in a confined workspace for extended hours, stifling interpersonal communication, creativity, and any other expression of individuality, which makes the individual forget life beyond the immediate demands of the job.
Ring a bell? If it does, you can at least take heart from the fact that you are not alone. It is estimated that close to twenty million people in the United States alone work in cubicles, and the total value of the cubicle-making industry may be as high as three billion dollars.
How did this soul-killing invention come to be such an indispensable part of our daily lives?
The cubicle began with the best of intentions. It was invented by Robert Propst in the 1960s as a means to enhance productivity by allowing an executive to have all relevant information readily spread out in front of him or her. Years of cost cutting, the desire to cram as many people as possible in one area, and lack of imaginative design by corporations has reduced this vision to the long columns of drab, restricted cubes that dissect the floorplans of most corporate offices today. Before he died, Propst is said to have lamented his contribution to monolithic insanity .
Over time, the humble cubicle has come to be reviled and ridiculed as an object of scorn, and comic strips like Dilbert and movies like Office Space have sought to portray the often bizarre side of modern corporate life that the cubicle sometimes symbolizes-a tool that enforces conformity and boredom in offices.
Tempting as it might be, my intention is not to join the chorus of voices mocking the absurdity of cubicle dwelling. The first reason is a pragmatic one-being yet another addition to an already long list of similar books on the same theme is usually a sure ticket to literary obscurity. The second reason is a more philosophical one.
Corporations are also waking up to the fact that they have perhaps pushed things to an extreme and many of them are pioneering interventions like flexible work hours and seating. However, the reality for the bulk of cubicle dwellers is not likely to radically change unless we also contribute to this change. Whether we like it or not, many of us will have to keep cubicling (another word for the dictionaries to consider) for several years yet. For many of us, the reason is simply an economic one-working helps pay the bills and gets us the lifestyle we desire. For others, it is also about feeling a sense of achievement and progression in life.
I firmly believe that if one doesn t like something, the only available courses of action are to fix it, accept it, or get out of the way. Bitching never solves anything. Since most of us are not going to say goodbye to our cubicles soon, and I see no reason to meekly accept unpleasantness every day, this book is an attempt to show how we can bring more joy into the time we spend in our cubicles. And instead of thinking of ourselves as passive victims, how each and every one us can take charge and change the way we cubicle for the better.
My intention behind writing this book is two-fold. First, I hope it gets you thinking about how you approach work (and life) as you cubicle. If even one of the ideas presented in this fable strikes a chord, then I would have considered my effort a success. The second objective is a simple one-to engage and entertain. We always learn better when we are having fun. So this book imparts its lessons in a way that, I hope, will make you smile.
Now, to the most important question. Why should you read a book on this subject written by me? I do not have a PhD in organizational behaviour, but perhaps I have the most important qualification of all.
I am one of you.
While I may not be able to conjure up a huge rally to support you, I am here, through the pages of this book, to stand by you as we confront the spectre of cubicle tyranny. Don t worry, I will not ask you to leave your job. This will be a revolution where far from risking facing a firing squad, you may well enjoy yourself. The irony of it all will be that at the end of it all, you may find that overthrowing cubicle tyranny, in fact, helps liberate you to perform better at your job. Let me also reassure you that this revolution does not encourage you to tear down your office or put your bosses on trial. The reality is that many of us need to work, not just out of economic necessity, but also to feel a sense of achievement and to use and sharpen our skills. The beauty of this revolution is that it does not even require you to leave your cubicle, let alone your job. It is simply a sum of the things you can do differently each day to cast off the tyranny of pressure and stress that so many of us take for granted in our cubicles, and free us to not just enjoy greater overall happiness, but also enjoy our work more. No matter what kind of organization you work in, or if you are a new hire or a senior manager, you will agree with one general truth-we do better in any activity when we are enjoying it, be it playing a game, performing on stage, making love or indeed, working in a cubicle.
What can just the two of us achieve? In my book, two is all it takes to start a revolution. Read on and we may yet succeed. And yes, together we may even succeed in bringing a smile on Mr Propst s face, in that great cubicle in the sky.
Mainak Dhar
MAXIM ONE
THE SPECTRE OF CUBICLE TYRANNY
I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
-T HOMAS J EFFERSON

Will you be coming home for dinner?
Mayukh read the text message from his wife and sighed. Behind this simple question, there was another, more daunting one. The one he dreaded answering.
Should we have dinner without you, again ?
He glanced at his watch. It was already seven in the evening and he still had the presentation to work on. His Managing Director would not be too happy if it wasn t ready for the big meeting the following week. Dinner with the family was something that could only happen in his imagination. There was no way he was going to get home on time. Again. As he pressed Send on his mobile phone to let his wife know that he would be late, Mayukh remembered the last argument they had, when she had told him that he never seemed to have time for her or their son any more. He had explained that with a promotion coming up, and with a tough year on the business, there was no way he could slacken at work. He was now Group Manager, Marketing for consumer electronics at the top multinational called Dynamix and was expected not only to do his share, but also lead by example.
Mayukh felt a dull headache come over him, and wished his wife would realize that he was, after all, working this hard only for her and their future together. He glanced around at the neighbouring cubicles and saw his three direct reports hard at work as well. He took another sip of his Diet Coke and then got back to his laptop, eager to get the PowerPoint slides finished as fast as possible. The presentation had already been through three revisions with his boss and he knew that before the week was over, there would be many more to come, which meant many more late nights. He wished that his wife, Sudha, would understand that he didn t enjoy staying late in office, and that he, too, would love to be with his family, tucking into a hot, home-cooked meal.
Mayukh had always been very meticulous, the result of an upbringing that had emphasized on academic excellence as being the only way to get ahead. He brought that same attitude to work, and wrestled with any problem till he got to a near perfect, if not perfect, solution. However, the latest project that he was working on was taxing on his normally high level of patience. He got up to fetch his fourth Diet Coke of the day-the regular source of caffeine that sustained his long work hours-when a beep alerted him to a new email. He inwardly groaned