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In the context of a blog on behavioural economics, I wanted to share a kind of particular snag, obstacle, and typical unworkable situation that can happen between people. When someone expects a very high standard from you while simultaneously making available few resources for you to accomplish the task, you can sometimes be expected to live in the ‘impossibility zone'. Alternatively, are you placing someone in your life within an impossible ratio of expected performance and allotted resources?
Here is a generic example: Fred is a good worker, who manages the purchasing desk in his 40-person company. Susan is the person he reports to for review of his work. Susan expects Fred to put 20 current purchasing files in order per day (by the way I'm not a business person, don't hold me to account for office realism; the example is constructed to illustrate the principle). Fred is a willing worker and so he sets about completing Susan's directive, 20 files put in order per day. Let us assume however, that there are varying levels of detail to which a given file can be finalized. Again, for illustration, assume there is one method whereby date of final payment is the necessary information and that there is a second more meticulous approach whereby every date of contact with a supplier must be noted with a description of the information exchanged at the time.
Fred is able to complete 20 files daily using the first method. He is even able to complete 25 files on a good day. However, Susan informs him after a week of accepting his reports completed with the simplified method that she wants 20 files a day with the highly detailed method. Whether this is realistic or not, in this example I want to point out that she may be placing Fred in ‘the impossibility zone'. That is, by making an expectation both of the output demanded and of the composition or method of producing that output, Fred's supervisor may well be asking the impossible. At least, this may be impossible the way Fred currently goes about the detailed method. Sometimes, this means our ‘Fred character' needs to rethink how he does things. Sometimes, Fred is already doing his best, with an approach that maybe already nearly optimal for his job with his abilities.
This kind of situation can arise in families, between friends, or in community settings. It may not be confined to work situations. It would tend to arise, though, whenever a group of people are trying to get the most out of the resources they have. That in itself is a good thing. However, in order to preserve goodwill and good morale, it is important not to place too many people, too much of the time, in an impossible arrangement of work expected to resources available (resources can be interpreted broadly, and include freedom, training, native intelligence, and confidence).
To be fair, this post is not intended to put tough bosses in impossible situations either!
