The Strategy of Limiting Options: Why Less Can Be More
source: antanask via flickr
Every Tuesday is a Game Theory article at Mind Your Decisions.
Consider the following situation: John and Tim are both finishing projects at a consulting company and they are ready to be staffed on new projects. Their skill-sets and work ethics are similar, and both are considered team-players. Though they are comparable employees, their projects have been very different. For the last year, Tim has been stuck on projects with repetitious tasks, like gathering data, while John has been able to enjoy exciting projects with travel to places like Hawaii.
Tim’s poor fate is all too common. I suspect you too have a similar experience where a fellow coworker of similar talent gets better work than you.
I wonder why some people get cooler projects. Often, it is the case that good projects simply go to talented employees and likeable employees. I bet this obvious explanation explains much of staffing choices. But it is only part of the story.
How does a company staff employees of similar talent, like John and Tim? Luck may play a role, but I doubt companies are tossing coins and randomly staffing projects. Ultimately, managers and coordinators decide staffing and they make decisions based on how the people they staff will react. Is there a way John could influence their decision to staff him on better projects?
The answer has to do with why some airline passengers pretend to have special dietary needs, and why Stanford Economics professors are willing to give up authority in teaching their courses.
Airline Food
Airline food jokes are a dime a dozen. Here’s one of my favorite jokes, courtesy of Something Awful, “Airplane food is in fact so awful, that a scientific study proved 92% of all standup comedians in the late 1980’s made their entire life’s savings off airline food jokes alone!”
I’m not sure why airline food is terrible, but it is probably related two facts. First, airlines save money by giving passengers the cheapest food. And second, the food is served to every one and as the saying goes: when you try to please every one, you end up pleasing no one.
What can you do as a passenger to get better food? You can demonstrate that you are not the average customer by requesting a specialty meal, like vegetarian or kosher food. I’ve seen special meals are usually better than the normal fare, and so do many people on this forum discussing the topic.
Why is the special-order food better? It is because you signal your tastes belong to a special group and hence the food is not just the plain meal. For instance, vegetarian food will likely have fresh fruit, which may not be appreciated by all passengers. The essence is that you can improve your food situation on an airline by limiting your options of what you say you can eat.
Can we really get better results by limiting our options? Let’s consider how Stanford Economics professors are happier by limiting their authority.
Stanford University Economics Professors
University professors are a proud bunch. They pride themselves on intellectual and social freedom. One of my professors confessed to me that he did not want corporate work since he could not survive with a direct boss controlling his work. Professors relish freedom, and in fact, it is this freedom that allows tenured professors to take risks, like discussing new perspectives on Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Naturally, you might think that professors would want freedom to teach their classes however they see fit. So why did Stanford Economic professors willingly agree to a three page document (pdf) dictating course policies like exam attendance and correcting errors in grading?
The truth is that professors don’t like dealing with issues like students missing exams and correcting errors in grading. Prior to the rules, they had to think of fair ways to handle many special requests, which they didn’t even want to consider. By agreeing to the three page set of rules that limits their authority over these issues, the professors can tell students they have no control in the matters. Surprisingly, freedom-loving professors are made better off by giving up control and restricting their freedom.
Getting Good Projects
We now return to your employer. If you want to get on better projects, figure out a way to limit your options by becoming less flexible. There are many ways to do this.
Perhaps you can subtly voice how unhappy you are in bad projects so you get a reputation of not doing well on them. If you are valued enough on good projects, you will probably be staffed on them over your similarly talented coworker who is less vocal about bad projects.
Alternately, if “bad projects” are those with longer hours, you can try to avoid them by filling your personal schedule with appointments you cannot miss. You limit your flexibility and reduce their chances of staffing you longer hours. You walk a fine line and you have to be careful that people understand the appointments are truly out of your control—like a the exam date for a professional course, or a concert you are playing for—instead of things you could do other times—like a weekend vacation or a non-emergency doctor’s appointment.
Or, take a page from Roger Clemens who constantly threatens to retire. Not only did the 45-year old pitcher get paid an astronomical salary of about $18.5 million, but he also had a special clause about not having to travel with his team if he wasn’t pitching. I’m guessing he limited his options during the negotiation process. And if the remaining options would not work, he would walk away. There is nothing quite like the threat of leaving.
So next time you are ready to be staffed, limit your options to increase your odds of getting a better project.
10 Responses to “The Strategy of Limiting Options: Why Less Can Be More”
One of my favorite posts yet. I can somewhat attest to this. Although my m.o. at work has been more to go for new projects, so I am always doing something fresh.
By Joon on Sep 18, 2007
Conversely, I would advise NEVER to develop a reputation of poor performance, no matter the alterior motive. If work ever gets slow and there’s only a specific project left - we know who gets cut! If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the working world it is that no one is irreplaceable. Rather, I’ve found that being up front and direct is the best approach to dealing with these issues. Ask your manager to be assigned to the next cool project, or ask why you are not considered for them. Sometimes, you may be surprised at the answer. Perhaps you are not seeing the whole picture, or maybe you aren’t as talented as you thought. If the latter, take it as an opportunity to improve your weaknesses. Making the extra effort to become a more complete employee will surely have its benefits, among which is showing your management that you have EARNED the change.
By Joe P on Sep 18, 2007
@Joon: I like the perspective that you can also get a reputation for doing other things.
@Joe P: I agree that a reputation of poor performance can hurt you in tight times, and yes, you can be direct in asking for projects. But I’m suggesting you can subtly make it less appealing for you to get staffed on a bad job. It’s kind of like how a high school teacher of mine got more authority since counselors were scared of talking to her. They would rather try to appease the students.
By Presh on Sep 18, 2007
Presh, yea, this is really great advice, at my current job I managed to stay away from some really horrible web-based projects by initially saying how much I didn’t like them. The other people who started at the same time as me said they’d be fine doing most projects, they were flexible and put into those open roles. I believe it was my strongly voiced opinion that got me placed on other projects, and for an entire year I managed to avoid web-projects!
By RohoMech on Sep 19, 2007
@RohoMech: Glad to hear you agree with the advice and that it is paying dividends for you.
By Presh on Sep 19, 2007
Good point–if your boss trusts your skill sets, then s/he should trust your intuition as to where they’re best used. I don’t know if this applies to greenhorns or fresh-out-of-college hires though. In certain cases where a clearly superior option exists, however, it makes sense to at least voice a respectful opinion.
By Sam Chang on Sep 26, 2007
@Sam Chang: I think you make another point that you can judge your talents better than your boss. That is a debatable point. For new college grads, your boss most likely will not trust you, and why should they? They have much more experience and you have yet to learn the ropes.
So I urge you counter by shaping their decision-making process. If you subtly and respectfully can limit your options to good projects, that’s where they’ll put you. Joon and RohoMech appear to have done this.
By Presh on Sep 26, 2007
Actually I adore Freedom , I belive that working with boss who treats me like his son is something like taking away my life..
but we have to compromise , i mean working for one to two years , then start up our own biz.
By Mohammed Hashim Saleh on Apr 23, 2008
Mohammed Hashim Saleh: I will agree to you that I value workplace freedom. I never realized it until it was taken away. But on the other hand, my lack of freedom meant it was my boss, and not me, that would take the blame if the project had troubles. So yes, there is a balance.
By Presh Talwalkar on Apr 23, 2008