Brain or hard work - which is more valuable at work?

[Mulder]

The following happened to a friend of mine.

He was working in an engineering firm at the time. Another engineer and his mate had to do a major job one weekend that absolutely had to be done by Monday morning. They stayed the whole weekend until late Sunday night and just finished it in time. They were given a special award by the management for their hard work.

A few months later the same job needed to be repeated and it was assigned to my friend. After a little research he discovered a way not only to automate the job but to do lots of it in parallel as well. As a result, he did the whole thing on his own and was finished by 5pm on the Saturday.

Was he given a special award for saving the company all that overtime and getting the job finished in plenty of time? No, he wasn't! And, of course, he missed out on all the overtime too!

The story illustrates something I've noticed in the work place recently. It is no longer the clever who progress but the hard working.

So my question is this? Which should be rewarded more highly - working smart or hard?

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

That sounds so familiar.

In the second instance, you have to make a huge song and dance about it to get any benefit. Of course you still then miss out on the overtime, and probably end up looking like a complete management brown noser

[Janot]

The story illustrates something I've noticed in the work place recently. It is no longer the clever who progress but the hard working.

So my question is this? Which should be rewarded more highly - working smart or hard?

Been there, done that. I've worked in the software business in a non-profit making organisation. It was quite clear to me that those people (the smart) who quietly do their job without fuss never got on. Those (the cunning or stupid) who demanded overtime, more computing time, more staff, always got on, their uselessness was always rewarded.

Several times I was reprimanded by my boss for discovering ways of saving on staff, because his importance was in proportion to the staff under him. Empire-building was valued, effectiveness was not. Very depressing, and I suspect universal.

[Mulder]

Rejecting 'smart work' in favour of 'hard work' is particularly short-sighted given globalisation.

Warning! This link is really depressing!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7214523.stm

[Matt]

What's so smart about doing yourself out of overtime anyway. Yes of course he should have found the easy way to do his job but knocking off early when he could have spent the rest of the day getting paid for mucking about on some daft internet forum - explain to me again how that was clever?

[FarSideOfTheMoon]

What's so smart about doing yourself out of overtime anyway. Yes of course he should have found the easy way to do his job but knocking off early when he could have spent the rest of the day getting paid for mucking about on some daft internet forum - explain to me again how that was clever?

Indeed,but some of us have a conscience!

My own personal problem with people wasting company time is that I worked in the family business when I was younger. That ethic has always stayed with me unfortunately, even when I am working for someone else's money.

[Toad]

Well everyone would like to be clever but not everyone is...

I suppose you could argue that if you apply your brain and solve a problem with it which someone else couldn't, then you've simply used a natural talent you have (just like someone with a good voice can sing better than someone with a bad voice).

Whereas, if you've worked hard, you've done something that everyone could do but not everyone does. In this case a reward promotes behaviour that everyone can aspire to.

Heh. To be honest, I've tried the "I've avoided work by being clever about it" argument many times, and it never works.

People just like to think you're working on something even if you're basically killing time. Only way to avoid that in the corporate world is to start your own company

Toad.

[Mulder]

... I suppose you could argue that if you apply your brain and solve a problem with it which someone else couldn't, then you've simply used a natural talent you have ...

Thanks for illustrating perfectly the shift in attitudes at work that I have noticed in the last few decades. Once, companies looked for talent, aptitude and intelligence when they recruited. Nowadays they look for 'competencies', such as team work, communication skills, organisation, etc. All stuff that almost anyone can be trained to do in the 'tick box qualification' generation. Talented people are, by contrast, viewed as 'awkward'!

I agree that talent, aptitude and intelligence are just an accident of birth. Why should people with them be treated any more favourably? After all, it's not as if pretty people or those with rich parents are treated any better than others, is it? No, wait ...

I just think it is a criminal waste not to use talent, if you have it. However, it seems talent is no longer required in the world of work so there it is!