Is this what it's like?

I've been doing work expirance all week now.
Its in the Australasian head office for NCR where we pretty much just run around making sure all the computers work. Yesterday there was some call saying that one of the laptops on the top floor had died and the person couldn't figure out how to get it working again. I spent 1/2 an hour running around trying to get the right security clearance to go up there and once i finally arrived all I did was switch it on and the woman said to me: "Wow, thats great you fixed it."
This would almost be funny if that woman wasn't increadbly high up in the management for the company that provides the hardware for a heafty chunk of the banking and telecommunications industries in Australia.
Are all companies this well run?
Because if they are screw this I'll take up writing as a hobby.

It is common in large organisations that idiots are promoted to get them away from positions where they could actually do any harm. "Promoted to the level of least incompetence." Seriously, it is often cheaper then getting rid of them with todays employee protection rules and greedy lawyers.

I work for a fairly large company (4,700 employees) that specializes in data communications for a particular industry. Prior to coming here I worked for another large corporation, NEC, as well as a medium sized business of 100-120 people.

I have to say that my experience with the management of large corporations has not impressed me. I'll stop short of saying things like "all management sucks", as there are many good managers. However, all too often I meet people in management positions who just don't exhibit the intelligence or motivation required for such a role.

There are two dominant worlds in the workplace: the business people (the suits) and the technical people (the geeks/techies/engineers). Each play an important role in a successful business. As you probably know, the technical people require a keen understanding of the details within a particular realm. They don't normally know about all of the business dealings a company has, and they shouldn't have to know. The suits, on the other hand, have a good view of the big picture. They may not understand the details of any particular piece, but they know how all the pieces fit together and what direction the company must take to turn a profit. As long as both groups know their strengths and limitations, everything goes well.

Here's where I get a little cynical. If you have a person working as computer techinician and it turns out he doesn't know his rear-end from a PCI slot, he is normally fired. Yet for some reason I don't fully understand, incompetant managers have job security. This extends right up to a company's death as well: when a company has to make layoffs because of bad management decisions in the past, the decision makers generally keep their jobs and the techs (the ones who implemented the plan to the letter) get the axe. That is backwards thinking in my opinion.

On an up note, my experience with management in mid-sized companies has been top notch.

It the way of the world. ..........e falls downwards.

And everybody underneath dodges as it comes.

Don't forget budgets. How many times have you seen the section that saves money, buys quality equipment that works and lasts gets its budget cut while the wasters get increases?

My pet gripe is how the manager has a PC ten times as fast as he needs but the developers request for a entry level upgrade falls on deaf ears.

Luckily my current manager is also the company owner and loves his technology (and sharing it round).

>>Yet for some reason I don't fully understand, incompetant managers have job security.

We had a teleco, One.Tel go under owing its employees lots of money (holiday pay and superanuation [govt forced savings you HAVE to contribute to but can't get at until 65 even if you emigrate])

Two directors are now, only a few months later trying to start up TeleOne. One is still being charged over the first one's collapse.