| Thread Links | Date Links | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thread Prev | Thread Next | Thread Index | Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index |
| --- This message came from the IEEE 802.11 Working Group Reflector ---
Hi Adrian,
Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the Friday closing plenary to take
part in the discussion of attendance (I will have my 75% already :-) ) so I’d
like to express my opinion here.
The first lesson on the first day of any Economics 101 class is “people respond
to incentives”. What we have is a system that incentivizes people to claim attendance
credit when they are not, in fact, in the room. And you seem surprised that people
claim credit when credit is not due; you shouldn’t be.
When people do the calculus in these sorts of issues they weigh the downside
(compromise of their “professional ethics”) times the chance of getting caught
against the benefits of claiming credit when credit is not due.
Now, you may view claiming attendance credit when not in the room as a
violation of your professional ethics and you, rightly, hold those in esteem.
Therefore one side of your equation is highly weighted. Also, your entire week,
everything you need to do this whole week, is done in 802.11 TG rooms so
the other side of the equation is not weighted at all. But you are exceptional.
Some people may treat an bogus attendance claim as a “little white lie” that
doesn’t really hurt anyone (without trying to get into a debate on whether there
is, actually, anyone with standing to claim “hurt”), and when they multiply that by
the chance of getting caught (apparently a bit over 20% of the people are doing
likewise) they don’t have that much of a weight on that side of the equation. And
when you think that there are lots of people here this week that are simultaneously
doing another job and have calls to make or fires back home to put out, the weight
on the other side of the equation becomes considerable. And the incentive is to
make the little white lie so a fire can be put out.
So when the choice is between telling the boss that the issue that the boss says
requires immediate attention will just have to wait until Monday and claiming
attendance credit when it is not due, you should not be surprised how the decision
ends up being made. When the choice is between being on the conference call
to express one’s opinion on a matter that really requires that opinion being
expressed and claiming attendance credit when it is not due, you should not be
surprised how the decision ends up being made.
I seriously doubt that the situation is, as you alleged at the mid-week plenary,
that “21% of your colleagues” are “out enjoying lunch”. I think that at least 95%
of the people here have at one time made a bogus credit claim and it was not
just to go enjoy lunch. And they don’t do it all the time. There is no subclass
of slackers who don’t go to 802.11 meetings yet have at least 75% attendance.
(And the eating and tourism options here in Dallas are not so compelling to
encourage slacking off).
So my recommendation is that you just let this slide. Treat it as your local
grocer treats the minor pilferage of his grapes. The only option under your
control is the “probability of getting caught” factor that is multiplied by the
violation of professional ethics. You can name and shame people and cut the
21% number down quite a bit. To what end? Are our standards any better? No,
not really. So, just let this slide. Or create a system that has different incentives
that people will, naturally, respond to. I have no suggestion on how to design
such a system.
regards,
Dan.
If you wish to be removed from this reflector, do not send your request to this reflector - it will have no effect. Instead, go to http://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=STDS-802-11 and then press the LEAVE button. If there is no LEAVE button here, try http://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=STDS-802-11-RO. Further information can be found at: http://www.ieee802.org/11/Email_Subscribe.html _______________________________________________________________________________ |