Tim Aston had changed employers three months ago. His new position was proj- ect manager. At first he had stars in his eyes about becoming the best project man- ager that his company had ever seen. Now, he wasn't sure if project management was worth the effort. He made an appointment to see Phil Davies, director of project management. Tim Aston: \"Phil, I'm a little unhappy about the way things are going. I just can't seem to motivate my people. Every day, at 4:30 P.M., all of my people clean off their desks and go home. I've had people walk out of late afternoon team meetings because they were afraid that they'd miss their car pool. I have to schedule morn ing team meetings.\" Phil Davies: \"Look, Tim. You're going to have to realize that in a project envi- ronment, people think that they come first and that the project is second. This is a way of life in our organizational fonn." Tim Aston: \"I've continually asked my people to come to me if they have prob lems. I nd that the people do not think that they need help and, therefore, do not want it. I just can't get my people to communicate more." Phil Davies: \"The average age of our employees is about fortysix. Most of our people have been here for twenty years. They're set in their ways. You're the rst person that we've hired in the past three years. Some of our people may just re sent seeing a thirty-yearold project manager." 20 The Reluctant Workers 21 Yin: Aston: \"I found one guy in the accounting department who has an excellent head on his shoulders. He's very interested in project management. I asked his boss if he'd release him for a position in project management, and his boss just laughed at me, saying something to the effect that as long as that guy is doing a good job for him, he'll never be released for an assignment elsewhere in the com- pany. His boss seems more worried about his personal empire than he does in what's best for the company. \"We had a test scheduled for last week. The customer's top management was planning on flying in for rsthand observations. Two of my people said that they had programmed vacation days coming, and that they would not change, under any conditions. One guy was going fishing and the other guy was planning to spend a few days working with fatherless children in our community. Surely, these guys could change their plans for the test.\" Phil Davies: \"Many of our people have social responsibilities and outside inter- ests. We encourage social responsibilities and only hope that the outside interests do not interfere with their jobs. \"There's one thing you should undersmnd about our people. With an average age of forty-six, many of our people are at the top of their pay grades and have no place to go. They must look elsewhere for interests. These are the people you have to work with and motivate. Perhaps you should do some reading on human behavior.\