Demotion of Director
I don't know if this particular topic is in the right forum area but I'll post it here anyway since it's a change. A few days ago (while I was out sick with a nasty stomach virus) the Registrar (our Director) got demoted to Associate Registrar. This was a decision made by the higher ups which was based on a consultant's report and a review of our office. The higher ups also feel he's more suited in overseeing a particular area of a unit rather than the whole unit. We now have a new Registrar. Our former Registrar is still working with us and intends to stay to see what happens. He's taking it pretty well and claims he's still getting the same salary. When I questioned to him on how he felt he stated "what am I going to do, I still have a job. I can't run out of here". The new Registrar is still learning the ropes but appears to be nice, understand and wants to help out. This is unbelievable, like a slap to his face.
Also another change is the Associate Registrar who's handling rooms and scheduling is going to be overseeing the front area of the entire center while someone will take her job.
Changes!
Update About Director Demotion
I have a update about our former Registrar who was demoted back to Associate Registrar back in February. He arranged a brief meeting today to state that he will be leaving the college to become a Registrar at another college. His last day is July 1, 2010. The college he's going to is smaller, private and is only about 10 minutes from his house. I'm happy for him but at the same time I'm pretty unhappy he's leaving due to the fact we're losing another good knowledgable person. It takes so long to replace someone here and plus training new people is so annoying and difficult at times. Who knows what will happen to his work. Hopefully they won't bother me. My luck they will because I have many years there and people think I have nothing else to do.
Staying Assured
First of all I think that it is great and very laudable that you wish him good luck - very good and conspicuous Asperger trait/facet!!!
I wonder whether deep down you are concerned about where you stand - unnecessarily? From past postings I can tell that, though you have been subjected to a great deal of upheaval/pressure in your job, you have always come through it very well.
That is another admirable Asperger trait: knuckling down and getting on with things. Though it worries us on the outside so to speak it amazes me how solidly and strongly we always pull through.
Don't worry........ you will be fine.
Asperger Manager?
This is a very interesting posting.
The key question however is: does the manager in question have Asperger syndrome?
If so, there are a number of further comments that I think would be worth making.
Perhaps you could let us know?
Re: Asperger Manager
No, our former Registrar does not have Asperger's Syndrome. I don't think he has any particular issues, from what I see.
Dismissing a Director
This is a slightly different variation on this posting but I thought it may be relevant/of interest given what I am currently going through and what soemone said to me today.
Do you think that the person in question is being "constructively dismissed"? (for overseas visitors this is what in Britain constitutes deliberate dismissal by, in effect, setting someone up to fail).
The reason I mentioned this is that today I met someone whoworks in the field of advising people and companies about those with Asperger.
What he said was that, when it comes to a downsizing exercise, organisations use the scenario to dismiss those with AS as, because of their eccentricities/idiosyncracies, they are the first to go: the employee is "different" so it is an opportunity to remove them from the equation.
I hadn't really considered this to a high degree. The reason, I am sure, is because of my AS: being inherently fair and never being the sort of person who would deny someone their job simply because of who they are, means that I would never adopt this strategy. However, it obviously happens and as a manager with Asperger I need to try and prevent this.
Not sure that I am totally convinced that I know the answer, but I think that th best (and the only strategy that I have identified to date) is to try and make oneself as indispensable as possible to the organisation.
Easier said than done of course. How the conversation started today was with the person above saying that the person he was advising adopted this stance but that he needed to impress upon him that it "simply didn't work that way!".
Thanks for different spin
Thanks for taking a different spin on this situation at my job. The reasoning for this demotion is still a bit unclear. The person is still working and is taking it pretty well. I don't think it has anything to with downsizing. The college that I work for is part of the City University in which all employees are part of unions and downsizing in these types of places are rare. It could be a hint that the management felt this person was not meeting their "goals" or they wanted to bring someone they knew into the realm. Plus over the years the college has gone through many managerial changes which result in weird changes and modifications in procedures and etc.... For a number of years the overall management in the Registrar's Office has been weak. Lots of key people with history and good knowledge of procedures and jobs have left for other positions or have retired. The replacements of these people were not trained well, could not really do the job well and also left. I could go on and on but I rather not in this topic.