tg:m - the navy's biggest HR crisis since '86
i am here today to write an extremely unorganised, chaotic thesis in which i argue that tg:m is an operational nightmare and crisis of middle management. please. this is deserving of at least one note on tumblr dot com. have pity on me. i have worked in corporate for so long and this is what i have to show for it.
the legacy employee protected by upper management
it does not take a genius to work out that maverick is the most liability-prone, chaotic and insubordinate employee. not only is he disobeying direct orders, crashing billion dollar equipment and breaking the hard deck, he's also got enduring and seemingly unresolvable beef with at least one junior employee that he's supposed to be supervising. more than one person is actively trying to fire him at any given time, however, due to protection from upper management, he is literally impossible to terminate. it wouldn't be a stretch to say he is creating immense liability for the US navy at all times. my hat goes off to him.
2. the entire plot revolves around employee performance management, and no one is doing it well
imagine if The Mission was a job advertisement. you've got a fast-paced environment (chaotic, rushed timelines) where you have to hit the ground running (insufficient preparation, you need to know everything immediately if not sooner). you will be required to wear multiple hats (in the case of cyclone this means managing maverick - a full time job - AND the entirety of the mission. in the case of everyone else, this means trying to learn while rooster insists on fighting with the instructor at every given moment), with flexible bandwith (again, you must take on the emotional toll of an ongoing hr crisis while trying to perform a deadly task). this team must meet strict operational targets under a very tight timeline AND the girls are fighting. wow.
3. the reassignment of problematic employees
back to maverick. you've got upper management forcing him into a specialised learning and development role which he is not super enthusiastic about, nor does he have extensive training in. you now have a liability prone employee (in some respects. pls. i know maverick is MAVERICK. i'm just saying...from a middle management perspective) mentoring overconfident junior employees. what could go wrong?
4. middle management is completely disempowered
cyclone is carrying almost 100% of the operational risk for the expected deliverable. he's literally in charge. he has a duty of care. he's SUPPOSED to call the shots. but at every turn!!! even IN THE MISSION ITSELF!!!! nobody listens to him (lmao). in this respect, middle management is completely disempowered by corporate machinations. every time cyclone goes to enforce a standard or try to effectively terminate maverick for gross insubordination, he is somehow foiled. surprised he didn't write up a PIP and call it a day.
5. hr crisis management as a necessary function of maverick's responsibilities
i dare say at every stage (onboarding, relationship management, deliverable), maverick is an HR disaster. to his credit, he does attempt structured training and shows flexibility in team building, but he also creates a hostile work environment and evidently (albeit mostly unintentionally) triggers distress in his junior employee (rooster). this is also displayed when rooster follows his advice (don't think, just do) and is rewarded with physical pushback (im JOKING).
6. poor attempts at change management
i just think they could have done the whole "maverick is gone these are your new mission parameters" a little smoother, AND the "oh wait, he's actually your team leader now" a little better. i wouldn't blame the daggers for being severely confused. once again, this does undermine middle management in front of the entire junior workforce, however i gotta lay the blame at beau's feet for this one.
anyway guys!!!! i hope you enjoyed my synopsis of tg:m - navy propoganda or hr crisis? you be the judge!
(PS. DON'T THINK THIS IS A MAVERICK HATE POST IM JUST BEING SILLY PLS)
