<div>Nice take on conscious refusal of automatonsim (or lack thereof) by Brian.  His column "Office Anarchist" will appear bi-weekly in "The Guardian".  This is the unedited version of the first in the series.</div> <div> </div> <div>Regards,</div> <div>Mike B)</div> <div> </div> <div>*******************************************************************************************************************</div> <div> </div> <div>How do you avoid becoming a corporate drone? Firstly, it helps to <BR>accept that if you spend most of your waking hours confined to the office, <BR>it will eventually get to you. Anyone starting an office job expecting <BR>to escape the politics and petty bureaucracy is in for a shock. You <BR>can't expect to remain dignified in that environment. It's better to <BR>recognise your inevitable deterioration into something contemptible. The only <BR>alternative is to join the ranks of the deluded, seek opportunities and <BR>aspire to professionalism - but that's the action plan of the trainee <BR>drone.<BR><BR>Of course, jobs are supposed to give people self-respect, not take it <BR>away. But due to the nature of the typical workplace (authority <BR>hierarchies, miscommunication, chaos), employees end up behaving in undignified <BR>ways: concealing things from their bosses, redirecting blame, feeling <BR>resentment over trivial matters, reporting that everything's fine when <BR>it isn't, hiding in the toilets, etc.<BR><BR>Obviously this behaviour doesn't fit our beliefs about ourselves as <BR>essentially rational and well-adjusted. The result is cognitive <BR>dissonance, which occurs when our self-image is contradicted by our actions. How <BR>can you come to terms with your 'guilty' behaviour if you see yourself <BR>as honest and dignified? You think you're above it all, but the <BR>evidence of your own actions shows that you're immersed in it. Faced with the <BR>horror of your out-of-character behaviour, you rationalise and make <BR>excuses. You turn into an office drone.<BR><BR>Any smart person with a meaningless job suffers the crippling cognitive <BR>dissonance of: "I am intelligent, my waking hours are spent in <BR>stupidity". Rationalisations are used to mask the frustration: "I'd be bored <BR>without my job" (if you really believe that, it's probably time to <BR>consider entering a nursing home). According to Leon Festinger, creator of <BR>dissonance theory, the less you are paid to do stupid work, the more you <BR>will attempt to rationalise it ("well, it was fun"), rather than admit <BR>to doing it for the money. Remember this next time you hear someone <BR>claim to "enjoy" their underpaid desk job.<BR><BR>As an office worker, don't expect to have any dignity. Perhaps the only <BR>way to stay sane is to accept that you'll turn into something <BR>despicable. Don't fall for the office management propaganda about integrity and <BR>professionalism. In the corporate workplace, self-respect is out of the <BR>question - it exists only in the delusions of drones.<BR>****************************<BR><BR>Brian<BR><A href="http://www.anxietyculture.com/" target=_blank><FONT color=#003399>http://www.anxietyculture.com</FONT></A><BR><BR></div><p>  <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br> Get on board. <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=40791/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta">You're invited</a> to try the new Yahoo! Mail.