FWD: Re: Troublesome writers

[anonfwd -at- raycomm -dot- com]

Jane, Bill and Bruce:
Not quite sure how the discussion evolved in this direction,
but let me point out that my original post stated that the
project manager was in the process of documenting incidents
on the way toward probably firing the person. This person
was not competently and consistently doing her job, and was
not receptive to any means of to leading her toward what it
would take for her to be able to do so (as I said, I tried
many such means). Also, to clarify, although I was lead writer
on the project team, I did not have the authority myself to
fire the person; if that had been done, it would have been
by the manager. And to defend the project manager, I don't
agree that had this employee in fact been fired, that makes
the manager hypocritical somehow. The project manager had
begun the appropriate personnel processes, the person would
have been given documented warnings and so on, but based on
what I knew of the situation, it is likely that the final
outcome would have been firing the person had the company
not closed down (for other reasons).

It sounds like some of the situations Jane describes were the
opposite in many ways from the one I described, in that Jane
as an employee was giving her all to improve the situation. In
the case I described however, this person was in fact passive
aggressive and manipulative, preferring to garner attention via
retaining her self-assigned role as victim, rather than to work
toward a solution. This was in fact probably a more extreme
situation than the one Andrew described in his original post
which prompted my response, but as I said I suspect the outcome
might have had similar reasons.

My basic point to Andrew was that, no matter how hard you try,
some situations can't be fixed. Of course for your own growth
and continued development, you should attempt to learn as much
as you can from the situation and own your own responsibility
where it makes sense to do so. Still, beating yourself up when
you know you did your best is not productive either.

As the person who lived the situation I described, I can say
without hesitation that it was pure he--. I don't agree with
the speculation that by giving *my* all, then finally recognizing
that the situation may not have ever been salvageable, that this
means that I was in some sort of denial. Neither do I agree that
believing the best long term solution in this case was probably
going to be to sever the employment relationship makes me arrogant.
For that matter, it wasn't a "lemons out of lemonade" situation
either. It was simply the (perhaps) inevitable result of a not
being able to make an unworkable situation into a workable one.
And as I concluded in my original post, I'm only sorry that despite
my best efforts, the situation could not have been otherwise than
what it was.





-- 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Forwarded anonymously on request. If you want the
original poster to see your response, you must reply
to the TECHWR-L list. All direct replies to this
message are automatically discarded. Contact Eric
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com with questions.



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY.
http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.

Take XML and Tech Writing courses online!  Our instructor-led courses
(4-6 hrs/wk) give you "hands on" experience at your convenience. STC members
get 20% off!  http://www.online-learning.com/index.html.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.