Active Thinking Topic 98 - Tick Box Culture 20 & 24 December 2024 Tick box culture occurs in a workplace or situation where the actors are often forced to make narrow choices by accepting or not accepting a statement. Ticking a printed box means acceptance. The statement may be a word, a simple sentence or an entire document. There is no allowance for 'ifs', 'buts' or questions. Recommended video: Phoenix James (2018) "TickBox Culture & The Perfect Woman" @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdoD2cjzJ5Q [6 minutes] Common uses of tick boxes: medical evaluation / installing software / applying for almost anything / evaluation of standards in many workplaces / quality checks on products / employee KPOs (Key Performance Objectives) / dealing with government departments or companies / making standardized reports / tracking progress in projects / lodging insurance or other claims / sorting out personal goals or choices / multiple choice tests / ... Talking points: 1. What are some benefits of using tick boxes? Why are they used so widely? 2. What are some risks of depending on tick box responses? Can you think of some real examples? 3. Various kinds of contracts, especially on-line are often accepted by consumers when they just tick a box. How often do they read such contracts or agreements? Can you think of examples of this causing problems? 4. Most businesses now have to navigate many complicated laws by saying they have 'complied' with requirements. These requirements may range from the treatment of employees, to safety to the quality of their product ... and so on. The minimum requirement is often 'tick-box agreement'. Why can 'tick box agreement' sometimes be not really good enough, or even damaging? 5. Thor was once fired as a language teacher to immigrants because he objected to a new (politically driven) tick box grading of language learners by criteria such as "Can make a telephone inquiry" => yes/no . Why do you think Thor objected to this? 6. How do you think low quality or unmotivated employees might use tick box culture to contribute the bare legal minimum in their workplaces without ever growing or improving the business? 7. "If you are going to do something, try to do it well" Vs "Near enough is good enough" - Which of these idioms has had the greatest influence on your life? What about the people around you? Do you think there is a kind of dignity in being good at what you do? 8. How do cultures vary in their general attitude to either "Getting By" Vs "Doing It Well"? 9. Maybe one of the best known set of tick boxes are the names on a political ballot. When citizens tick the name of a political candidate, what are they actually agreeing to? 10. In an ever more complicated world nearly everyone has a very limited understanding of many choices they have to make, or things they are asked to agree with. Given this dilemma, what are some possible alternatives to (or improvements on) simple tick boxes? Extra Reading & Viewing BBC (2015) "Max Weber and the Protestant ethic" @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-0sIHDzsU4 [1.5 minutes] Sarah Lewis (March 2014) "Embrace the near win". TEDx @ https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_lewis_embrace_the_near_win/transcript? referrer=playlist-the_line_between_success_and_f&subtitle=en [Quote: "Mastery is in the reaching, not the arriving. It's in constantly wanting to close that gap between where you are and where you want to be. Mastery is about sacrificing for your craft and not for the sake of crafting your career."] KiNG NiCO (2021) "Zombie March of Compliance" @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGKElBJJgsc [10 minutes] Economics Help (12 Nov 2024) "The Real Reason Young People are Not Working" @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MltCI2IzxuE [UK focus, but actually the issue is worldwide] ----------------- Tick Box Culture (c) Thor May 2024
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