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4th November 2005, 09:47 PM
went out to a site t'other day in my specialist capacity and was very pleased to see everyone involved in a discussion as to the reasoning behind certain features. Good communication going on and everyone allowed to use their knowledge and experience. Know from experience that this has been the way previous sites run by my current employers have worked, but have never really thought about it before. It was wet, cold, horrible, but I certainly felt that people weren't just expected to be there to shovel sh*t. Have a feeling that this is rare and maybe my view was coloured by the fact that I am now seen as a "grownup" by those in charge...
++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++
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5th November 2005, 03:26 PM
Just sounds like good management practice to me!
Today, Bradford. Tomorrow, well, Bradford probably.
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6th November 2005, 01:19 PM
to me as well, but judging by what others have been saying on here, it doesn't appear to be all that common...
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7th November 2005, 02:12 PM
I'd agree that what Troll has described sounds like good practice.
When I ran field projects, all relevant design documents were always available, and everyone (graduate or other) was encouraged to take part in discussion and interpretation. I also always did a site tour for all staff every week, so that they could all see the big picture - particularly useful on extensive sites, where individuals might only have actually worked in one small area all week and never even seen the rest.
1man1desk
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10th November 2005, 08:38 PM
Absolutely! On a well-managed site, everyone wins.I just don`t hear of that sort of joint site management anymore. If you`re lucky, you`ll come across an outfit once in a blue moon where this approach is employed.All too often, management of a site can simply mean watching the occipitals of field workers as they grow deep roots in their isolated holes.Fieldies bring with them lots of untapped resource...feed em biccies, don`t leave em out in storms, love them,call them George.They`re not diggers.
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10th November 2005, 11:17 PM
was out on site today wearing my specialist hat but also as a fieldy (thanks for new term troll, like it), and therefore dressed as a fieldy, and was "involved" in a discussion about the strategy for the site, which basically meant I stood there and was barely acknowledged by the circle of tall men in suits, and was not introduced to anybody. oh well...
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15th November 2005, 02:02 PM
Well, maybe there is a lesson there, albeit an unpalatable one for most archaeologists.
People in all walks of life respond to subliminal visual cues. In the construction industry, one of the key ones seems to be the wearing of a tie. Anyone seen on site wearing a shirt and tie (irrespective of what other clothes they are wearing) is seen as a professional (engineer, quantity surveyor, etc. etc.), whereas anyone not wearing a tie is a manual worker (labourer, digger driver, banksman, etc).
Ergo, anyone wanting to be taken seriously (or even recognised as a participant) in a site meeting needs to wear a shirt and tie.
Not palatable, and I kicked hard against it myself when it first came my way, but it works.
1man1desk
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15th November 2005, 06:20 PM
This is pretty much sad but true. Not only do Portant People wear ties, but they have to have totally inappropriate footwear. Nice shiny black lace-ups. I could never figure out how they get off site with so little mud on them.
However, when I had a Proper Job (which I've bored you all with many times before) I never wore a shirt and tie on a site visit unless I had a formal site meeting or something to attend. Jeans and stuff, rigger boots and titfer if/as necessary, good enough for me. I could creep up on people better that way anyway. I think the fact that I was wandering around looking at things but not actually doing anything was the give-away.
We owe the dead nothing but the truth.
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15th November 2005, 07:33 PM
will make sure I start wearing a nice skirt suit and high heels then...oh no on second thoughts, that wouldn't give me any more of an aura of professionality when surrounded by tall men in suits...
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15th November 2005, 11:11 PM
Think I could try heels......
Sod em` Snipey.Stand back and study people who have convinced themselves that they`re self importance is clearly expressed in a child-like dress-code. Fascinating.Still makes me giggle when I think about it....someone wearing a three-foot length of coloured material tied in a knot around their throat really does believe that we should interpret the display as some bizarre symbol of professionalism/competence/chimp-like position in the branch of a tree.
