Q & A Table of Contents
I Thought I Was Finished With Databases, But My Company Says No
From: Patricia, Tempe, Arizona
Question: I am currently employed as a Credit
Manager, and my company and I are working on
defining what my Major Business Objectives (MBO)
will be for the next year. Most of what happens
in this phase is negotiating the contributions I
can offer that fit the company's goals for the
short-term as well as the long-term.
My MBO's should be related to my position as
Credit Manager and should be within my skill
level to perform. In the past they have
included such things as becoming proficient in
filing Bankruptcy Claim forms or creating
Accounts Receivable reports to facilitate our
collection efforts. This year, however, the 1st
phase included only items that were related to
Database programming.
Although, in a prior life, I was a database
manager and created dbase solutions regularly,
it is not (and never has been) considered part
of my role as Credit Manager. In fact, I changed
my career path to take me away from DBase
management because I detested it.
I countered with some goals and objectives that
I felt were more related to Credit Management.
My firm’s response was that they wanted to use
my dbase creation skills....going forward, even
if it's only peripherally related to Credit
issues. Since I made a conscious decision to
move away from the IS/IT field due to my dislike
for it, I am not anxious to be forced back into
that mold. How do I say "no way" without
alienating everyone from the CEO on down?
Response: When one party makes an offer or a
proposal, unless they are dictating the
circumstances rather than undertaking serious
negotiations, their proposal should not be
considered their final answer. You should
compliment the MBO review person/people for
remembering that, in a past professional life
you used database skills. You should also
remind them that the reason you took your
current job was to get past database work
because you had grown tired of it — even though
database management remains one of your skills.
Negotiation is all about trading. One
underlying exchange between parties says, “If
you promise to do . . ., Then I promise to do .
. .” You need to ask what incentives your
company is offering to get you to do a job that
you truly dislike. You also need to examine the
choices available to you: if they’re insistent
that you return to database management, can you
move to another job? Would you be willing to do
a temporary database management assignment if it
had a specific ending date? And if they offer
you a specific time limit in database
management, are they willing to guarantee that
time limit by agreeing in writing to pay you
something as a penalty if they ask you to extend
your database time?
You don’t want to say “no way” unless you have a
credible alternative for your own career — or to
offer the company. Perhaps you know a skilled
database person who would just love to work for
your current company. Maybe your company would
pay a bonus for you to train a new database
manager from within their current staff.
If you sold yourself to the company as a skilled
database manager, to a certain extent you’re
stuck with having made a successful sale of
yourself with that skill set. But if your
efforts to get hired as credit manager included
a clear indication of your desire to put
database management behind you, they should
understand that your feelings haven’t changed.
In brief, you should examine your alternatives,
you should familiarize yourself with why the
company has turned to you (some sort of
emergency, loss of a key database person, some
other reason), and you should determine the most
practical ways to bring creative thought to the
situation so that no one loses face and you
don’t get stuck with a job you hate. You can be
open about your feelings without being
obnoxious. You need to make it clear that your
strong feelings must be taken into account for
you to buy-in to the company’s proposal.
Good luck,
Steve
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