Studies by a group of Organizational Sociologists at the University of Bournemouth, New Caledonia have shown that people who have a higher IQ than their department / immediate co workers grow faster professionally than the rest of their co workers, but die earlier than the rest due to stress based on continued irritability and lack of worthwhile interaction with co workers. Any major differential in IQ levels lead to IQ based cliques development in the workplace and political wrangling with co-workers resorting to such comments as “Why don’t you do it yourself genius?” or “Gee, if only you couldn’t understand grammatically correct sentences!”. Of course the heartbreak caused by these statements is the real reason for reduced performance in IQ diverse departments in the modern workplace.
In a study conducted to negate the effects of this study, a team of Organizational Psychologists at the Karrabach College for Good Mental Health have come up with the fact that it is not the IQ differentials in the team but the IQ differential with the manager that cause the actual problems. In teams with low IQ differentials the manager is able to interact and communicate with different members of the team. In teams with greater IQ differentials, if the manager has a higher IQ than the team then they are usually able to handle all the members and the inter personal relationships to an extent as well. This leads to well managed and well handled teams.
But, in situations where the IQ level of the manager is much lower than that of their team, the manager can seriously damage the team, the office environment and eventually even their reputation as capable business managers of today. But the worst effect of a stupid manager could be increased blood pressure, irritability, stress, popping veins and death at an earlier age than average. Of course this is something that all managers should be taking into consideration before taking on any major responsibilities. Failure is not just something that happens to someone else. It happens to you, to me and it can happen to anyone anywhere and at any time. Just be thankful that you are not in Japan and do not have to kill yourself if you fail.
Of course good sense of humour can always be used to keep yourself sane at work. Just like this weekly column that I have started.
Altamash Hai Khan, Karachi Times
Vol I.
