Are bad bosses killing you?

Found this insightful article, just published in the G&M yesterday. Quite an article illustrating the detrimental effect of what a bad boss can do to an employee personally, mentally and physically. This reminds me of the Ph.D., which, by definition, hinges on the selection of a good supervisor with the successful outcome of your Ph.D. solely depends on how much your supervisor knows and what she or he can contribute to your research. A supervisor acting like an outsider, oblivious to your research, is one whom can shorten your life faster than the chain-smoking hobby which you would otherwise not take. The path towards a Ph.D. is full of impediments and pitfalls. Walking down the wrong one you may just as well not waste four years of your life pursuing the intangible goal.

Of course, the real successful ones are the ones to treasure and bow to, but how many are these, and what is the typical percentage of failure? I have personally witnessed too many examples of Ph.D.'s gone wrong, and I just pray to God that the decision which I'm about to make is the rightful one and one which I shall walk until the leeway opens. Cheers!

Are bad bosses killing you?

TAVIA GRANT

Globe and Mail Update

November 25, 2008 at 3:33 PM EST

Bad bosses aren't just annoying. They may also boost the chances of employees having heart attacks, a study finds.

The longer an employee works for a leader who is inconsiderate and uncommunicative, the greater the risk of developing heart disease, according to the Swedish study of 3,122 male workers published in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal.

In fact, someone who has worked for a bad boss for at least four years raises the risk of heart disease by 64 per cent, said Anna Nyberg, the study's lead researcher and a psychologist at Karolinska Institute's Department of Public Health Sciences in Stockholm.

A good boss, conversely, lowers the risk of a heart attack.

The study claimed to be the first to show evidence of the link between managerial behaviour and heart disease among employees.

Previous research has shown lousy leadership can cause increased depression and mental illness among staff.

To help be better bosses, managers must clearly explain goals so that employees understand what they are supposed to do, Ms. Nyberg said.

“We haven't done this [study] to put blame on managers but to find a way to enhance the work environment. Managers are just as stressed as employees,” she added.

Nonetheless “bosses who are inconsiderate and who don't respect or appreciate the time and energy that their employees put into their job or who don't clearly define how the employee's efforts contribute to the company are causing a great deal of stress within their team,” said Canadian workplace specialist Beverly Beuermann-King in a release.

“Our stress reactions build over time and can go from the good to the bad, to the very ugly. We can start out by working harder to please, but after a while we can't keep up that pace and we start to have headaches, neck pain, stomach upset, restless sleep or we become tense and less patient,” Ms. Beuermann-King said.

Eventually, it can spiral into health problems such as insomnia and depression and, for some people, the increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

“Providing structure, information and support can absolutely counteract this stress and help employees find the right strategies to deal with today's work pressures,” Ms. Beuermann-King said.

15-minute of fame a bit too long?

I got bored tonight after all the 24/7 working regime, which my amazing roommate still practices endlessly, so I decided to check out the young adult group here at Emmanuel Baptists. This Sunday night was an illustration of the "49 Up" documentary from the legendary producer Michael Apted. An amazing footprint of the participants at each critical stage of their life, every 7-year. It was a combination of awe and joy for some, and sorrow and regret for others, but the general outlook, I think, was neutral on the basis that the successful ones compensate the uneventful stories of not so fortunates. We have few people living the lives of their dream. We have the lonely academic, who eventually found his love at his early forties. We have grandparents, educators, lawyers, labours, housewives, and even a homeless person, whom in the span of 7 years, transformed into a political party candidate. This documentary is truly one of a kind, a critical examination of our own lives, the purpose it sustains, and the final optimistic outlook endowed upon us.

I say once again that we are to "work to live, but not to live the work," and may the binding and 24/7 working hour come to an end in the future yet to come.

It is true, we all had or will have our fifteen minutes of fame, but for some that stretches eons.

What truly scares me is the reminiscence of what I will become after living with my roommate, a post-doctoral researcher from China, after almost one year. Once I have taken on the step of Ph.D., my future in four years would be foretold as I will be a slave to the workaholic fashion of a Chinese Ph.D. candidate. Basically to fulfill the regiment of a 24/7 working schedule and be enslaved by the number of publications which you must sustain in order to abide by the agreement between you and your supervisor. Now, that is sad, by definition, sad. :(

Is there anyway to go around it?

Working 24/7

So far in my life I have met two post-doctoral researchers, one playful, one workaholic. The playful one has a girlfriend, a life, friends, colleagues and professors to support. He has a steady job in a well-known communications company in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver. The workaholic is alone, emotionally desperate, single, no friends beside other colleagues, no friends besides the work circle, lives the life of a prisoner (not kidding, literally like a prisoner) and is bounded to his research. I just sincerely hope that once I have walk down this path of being a doctoral student that I would not become a workaholic, working 24/7, but enjoying life and what has been given to us, the privileged earthlings, from God.

I sincerely hope that the research I will endow upon will not bind me but free me from all eternity and beyond. May God, the Almighty, provide me with the strength to carry on the work I do but not to imprison what are rightfully mine.

First generation immigrants

After befriending with a few true first generation immigrants from the weekly bible study, I can finally feel how privileged and lucky I am to be a "fake" first generation immigrant. We are the privileged bunch with a strong foundation in root even before our migration towards the foreign work force. How privileged are we exactly? Some of us even have living expense(s), real estate(s), account(s), car(s) and family member(s) all within grasp, all registered under our names, all under our reach even before we take on a formal job, even before we can experience the hardship of earning money, even before we start supporting a family of our own. If that is not called privilege, what is? The "fake" first generations are even "worth" more than an average Canadian from a Caucasian family! I have seen too many children, sons and daughters of the first generation gone to waste, wasting their lives away under the lavish and extravagant lifestyles of their "privileged" class, only to fall back to the cushion of a system protecting them so well, without ever having to oblige on support themselves. I only sincerely wish that the path which I will stroll on in the next month or two would not forsake the hopes and dreams of my guardians, my bloodlines, and my generation. May I cherish, nourish, and flourish what has being put forth from now until the end time beyond.

Let's not forget, forever that we are the privileged bunch!!! And, may we return the favor one day so our lineage may trickle unhindered until the end of time.

Dawn of a New Era and good riddance to Old!

After the eight-year turmoil under George W. Bush, the American people has finally waken up by electing the honourable Mr. Barack Obama as the forty-forth President of the United States. Effectively putting an end to the dwindling and stagnating era of Mr. Bush, his Republican and business cohorts, and bringing forth a new dawn for the land of hopes and dreams that American once was decades ago. I salute to you, Americans, for your boldness, tolerance and enthusiasm when it comes to the betterment of the next generation in this twenty-first century.

On the other hand, McCain and Palin campaign is falling apart. Good riddance!