TSA Management “Pulling the Chair”
TSA’s latest draconian edict pulling chairs away from their agents is just the latest in a long history of managerial manslaughter by federal agencies.
It has existed within the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for fifty years.
The term “going postal” originated from an incident at a U.S. Post Office in Edmond, Oklahoma when a recently fired, disgruntled postal employee returned and opened fire on his former manager and fellow employees.
Several other similar incidents occurred in quick succession giving the public the term for any disgruntled employee who strikes back at perceived persecution by management.
What was not investigated was the reason why this behavior reached a flash point in the first place.
“Theory X and Theory Y styles were originated by Douglas McGregor, an MIT management professor. McGregor introduced these contrasting concepts in his influential 1960 book, The Human Side of Enterprise. McGregor proposed that a manager’s leadership behavior is dictated by their underlying assumptions about human motivation:
- Theory X (Authoritarian/Micro-
management): Assumes that employees are inherently lazy, dislike work, lack ambition, and will avoid responsibility whenever possible. As a result, managers believe workers must be coerced, closely controlled, and directed to achieve organizational goals. - Theory Y (Participative/Collaborative): Assumes that employees are self-motivated, view work as natural, seek responsibility, and possess a high degree of imaginative and creative problem-solving capability. Managers adopting this style foster a supportive environment that encourages autonomy and alignment with company goals. (wikipedia)
Every postal employee is acutely aware of Theory X-style management practiced by USPS management nationwide on a daily basis. The dreaded “pink slips” handed out by management like Halloween candy has had a “chilling effect” on both morale and performance of every postal employee for over forty years.
Now it has raised its’ ugly head at the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA).
Apparently federal management-level bureaucrats – like many Presidents and their politically-appointed (campaign contributing) bureaucrats – have no idea what life “on the line” is like and have nothing better to do with their time than to gin up* idea fairies to put on their job performance reports justifying promotion and step increases.
CBP management took the chairs away from line officers on the southern land border shortly before I retired in 2007. It was announced by an acting Douglas, Arizona Port Director named “Pistol” Pete Bachelier – so named for his duty weapon strangely discharging while sitting on the toilet at the Nogales Port of Entry (apparently confusing his “weapon” for his “gun“).
The Ports of Entry on the southern land border are renowned for Theory X-style management stemming from their lack of both education and life experience. The Ports are commonly perceived by Port Directors as their own private fiefdoms and apply immigration law (or not) according to their whims and fancies (i.e. who they know or are related to across the border).
These Theory X-minded managers don’t realize the primary tools for every line officer in all three agencies are their eyes, ears and brain . Standing 8-12 hours a day will make no difference in the line officers ability to do their job effectively. In fact, the extra fatigue induced by such an unnecessary and punitive measure will have an emotional as well as physical deleterious effect on every officer to do the job.
If the increased fatigue factor alone doesn’t reduce effectiveness then the negative impact on morale by such an arbitrary and capricious policy can’t help but reduce motivation to enforce the law.
“Government isn’t the solution to our problems, government IS the problem!” – Ronald Reagan.
Congress should privatize both the USPS and TSA and should never have created DHS in the first place. (see: “TSA GO AWAY!” this site)
The U.S. Postal Service has been a multi-billion drag on taxpayers for half a century; Every year 25% of TSA employee are involved in corruption issues.
Privatizing both would save taxpayers money and reduce the national deficit.
The knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 by the Bush Administration and Congress creating another bureaucracy (DHS) -“not letting a good crisis go to waste”) only justified further federal control over our lives. It not only encroached on well-functioning and formerly independent federal law enforcement agencies (FBI and CIA) who were prevented from doing their jobs leading up to 9/11 (see: The 9/11 Commission Report) but also diluted INS and Customs expertise by combining them into CBP. (see: “TSA GO AWAY!” this site)
All three changes decreased national security and worsened public service.
DHS (as intended) has become every administrations’ domestic police force.
These -and Trump’s arbitrary and politically motivated deportation quota – has created the many “badge-heavy“, psychologically unfit, and trigger-happy “cowboy” ICE agents operating on our streets.
But, while we have to suffer with their existence now, the agents and officers on the line shouldn’t be stabbed in the back by their own management making life just so much more uncomfortable for them.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events (media personalities); small minds discuss people.” – Henry Thomas Buckle
“From small minds come small ideas.” – Ligon Law
* “gin up”: to excite, stir up or get something going. Likely deriving from the 1880s as a shortened form of engine – meaning to jump start or make something run; or from the hard-working machinery of the cotton gin.
