When an organization is failing its task, who is more likely to be at fault?

[Fumesucker]

Poll question: When an organization is failing its task, who is more likely to be at fault?

This post was prompted by the RI school in which all the teachers were just fired but this is also a general question..

It is my personal belief that if an organization is failing at its task it is the fault of management, not the workers, that's one thing I agreed with Ross Perot about.

What say you DUers?

[timeforpeace]

1. The people who are doing the actual work, but management has to share the blame.

[Fumesucker]

3. Who hired the incompetent lower level workers in the first place?

[Skittles]

4. it's not necessarily worker incompetence

can be inadequate staffing, poor morale - it usually points back to piss-poor management

[Fumesucker]

5. My question was based on the implications of the statement of the poster I was replying to..

I agree with you..

[donco6]

9. Not necessarily.

If teachers are told to teach a curriculum, they have no choice - curriculum is the prerogative of the board. Even if the teachers know it doesn't work. I don't think they'd be to blame for that. Did they teach it well? Did they follow it faithfully? Was it well-researched? Were they given adequate training? Materials?

The laying of blame is far too easy in this "one test means everything" age.

[depakid]

2. If this was the administration and the "leadership" in the Senate- it would be the base's fault

and all demands for accountability would be unceremoniously rebuffed.

[demosincebirth]

6. Ditto!

[donco6]

7. When 73% of the entire HS population statewide cannot pass "the test" -

That oughta tell you something right there.

[Fumesucker]

8. "God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board"

-Mark Twain

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. In my industry it's quite simple.

I am a union Sheet metal worker. A journeyman, union Sheet Metal Worker. If my apprentice makes a mistake, IT'S MY FAULT
He, or she does not know any better yet. It is MY responsibility to make sure that my apprentice does his work properly. If he does not understand how to do the work, it is my responsibility to make sure he, or she does. Ultimately, I am responsible for the work of those that are under me. I have been doing this for a living since 1967. If I don't know what I am doing by now, I shouldn't be in the industry. The only exception is if I reported to Bush, in which case, my competence was not an issue

[Fumesucker]

11. "Ultimately, I am responsible for the work of those that are under me."

That is exactly my point and in my view that responsibility goes all the way up the chain of command to the very top.

Those who are blaming the teachers at the school in RI I mentioned in the OP are missing the point, if the school is doing so badly, someone at the top is screwing up, either by hiring incompetent teachers or by not supervising them properly or by implementing a poorly thought out curriculum or by any number of other ways management could have fornicated this particular canine.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

12. Yup, pretty Much!

If you are running the show and the show sucks, you can't blame it on your underlings. Well, you can but no one will believe you.