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Cup Crisis and The lessons to Management

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by blackbeauty84, Jun 8, 2012.

  1. blackbeauty84

    blackbeauty84 IL Hall of Fame

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    Let me start the article with disclaimer as the mention of word ‘Crisis’ sends shivers to many. Cup Crisis is not something bad as Euro zone Crisis or related to it any way. As per the definition in my organization the cup crisis ‘The phenomenon where there is no coffee (or tea) cups, when you want to have coffee”. Unless you are an avid coffee lover, you will never know the seriousness of this problem.
    Let me explain this with an example. You come to office with a splitting headache in Chennai heat. You open the mail box and few mails in it have further intensified your headache. All your body and soul wants is a hot coffee. You rush to pantry to have one. The warm aromas of Coffee beans welcome you. But alas there are no cups to have a coffee and relish it.
    Before getting deep into Cup Crisis let’s understand what causes it.
    1) Too much work in office: Suddenly when you are bombarded with work all your mind seeks is More and More of Coffee . Because only during such coffee breaks people form strategy on how (not) to work. More such people in the same state, lesser are the coffee cups.
    2) Very Less work: When there is very less work in the office and you have to mandatorily manage to be in office for nine and half hours, all you do is take one hour coffee break every two hours. My guess is more than half the population in office falls in this category.
    Other reasons like higher number of broken cups, Inadequate number of staff to wash the stained cups, no stock in purchase department etc also form a significant reason for cup crisis.
    Thinking about the positives of Cup Crisis, a sudden thought occurred to me. Why not management try to take critical decisions based on employee’s reaction to cup crisis. Let me explain my thoughts further.
    Employee decides not to have coffee anymore in office
    According to me, this category of employee is bit low in motivation. For a small problem of not finding a coffee cup, he is forsaking the goal of having coffee. How will the employee react to challenging situations then? Management should keep an eye on this category and consider the possibility of putting them in Performance Improvement Plan
    Employee Decides to have coffee in other floor
    This category of employee is highly flexible. He tries reaching to different floor and going to different directions to have a cup of coffee. Management can make a note of this category and use them effectively for a so called challenging assignment for which surprisingly there are no takers.
    Employee launches a complaint
    Fight, fight till you achieve the goal seems to be the motto of this category. They will call the admin department and explain the intensity of the problem. Inaction from the admin department doesn’t deter them. They will make a complaint in writing and will not budge in that till have a coffee cup in hand. Management can use this kind of people to send chaser mails to others.
    Employee washes the stained cup himself
    This employee goes to any level to achieve his goal. He takes the responsibility of other staff (cleaning staff) smoothly. Management should keep this people handy to deliver that ‘Critical piece of work which should go to client by any chance on Monday morning’
    Employee starts bringing his own coffee mug
    This category of people are really smart and out of box thinkers. They are the ideal set of people to work in a project which has ‘Very Less Clarity and highly critical deliverables’
    Need any further inputs on this? Ping me, let’s discuss this over a cup of coffee.
     
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  2. shruthisp

    shruthisp Gold IL'ite

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    LOL BB...
    Thought mine was the only organisation which is into cup crisis.
    Coffee shops have been opened up to resolve this crisis which takes away a considerable amount from employee's pocket...

    Guess its not only "A lot can happen over a coffee" but "A lot more (crisis,economy,mgmt) can happen over and around coffee" :)

    Yet another nice post from you..Njoyed Reading.... Kudos!
     
  3. blackbeauty84

    blackbeauty84 IL Hall of Fame

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    Oops Shruthi. I thought my organization was the only one having this problem!

    Thank you for the feedback...


     
  4. radsanush

    radsanush Bronze IL'ite

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    Hey BB.. i was a nice post ... I can imagine another option to this crisis.. Few people might think why not replace the glass cups with plastic ones. So , all that house keeping needs to do is just replace set of plastic cups daily .. no washing hassles... howzzat :thumbsup)).... oops.... management will be busy thinking of cost cutting and what am i talking, asking them to buy plastic cups....how ridiculous..

    anyways !! i don't belong to any of these categories.... at end of 2 years in the same office I will be like "is there a pantry in this office??"... bcos I will be busy working my *** off..... that stupid i was ...:bonk

    enjoyed reading ur post.... cheers !!:)
     
  5. blackbeauty84

    blackbeauty84 IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Rads,
    Cost-cutting is the key. No plastic or paper cups.

    Didn't have coffee at office??? Hmmm. You haven't missed much, as office coffee doesn't taste like a coffee at all..

    Thanks for the feedback.


     
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  6. rasikapriyan

    rasikapriyan Bronze IL'ite

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    Hmmm.... "Cup Crisis" explained lucidly. Nice post.
     
  7. Aspire

    Aspire Gold IL'ite

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    BB: Interesting article and a with managment side to it also. :)
     
  8. Saisakthi

    Saisakthi IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Black Beauty Sister,

    Are you ready for a discussion over a cup of coffee, Every time there was a reasoning out for the management I was like in my mind Hey why doesn't an employee carry a Coffee Mug from home, Yes!!! I was like still one step ahead without coffee nothing works for me, at a different juncture of Coffee crisis (if I explain it would be a separate thread) I started carrying a flask and Mug from home and my urge stasified with a little effort. the work had no hindrance for Coffee Head Ache apart from other headache...

    :thankyou2: for sharing...
     
  9. Vittala

    Vittala Gold IL'ite

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    Hey Blackbeauty,
    Nice one :thumbsup Enjoyed your post, gal :)
    I thought mine was the only organization into this problem. :hide: Even though, my organization provides coffee mugs to employees, people used to flick others' during emergency situations(I mean when coffee is the only thing to rest their minds):rotfl
    You reminded me of days when me and my 2 best friends(also my teammates) used to hit pantry over a cup of tea to deal with anything, I mean be it work pressure or cribbing or some happy occasion (of course, our own cups as we were fed up with cup crisis) :bonk

    People used to wonder what is it that we will have to sit over pantry and chat :coffee as we were together 24/7 literally.(same office, hostel, project):rotfl

    Appu
     
  10. blackbeauty84

    blackbeauty84 IL Hall of Fame

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    Thank you Rasikapriyan...
     

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