standardisation - opinions

i really struggle with the concept of working 5 days a week for 40 years of our lives to make someone else rich so really don't get the "value" thing .....

there's a lot to be said for self-employment ....

Standardisation is common practice in a lot of institutions Piggle, I imagine it is to protect the company as everyone is singing from the same hymn book. I don't think it is anything to get upset about & I am sure it is not a judgement on your experience. It's just a sign of the times. Chin up.

It's no improvement, when you aren't allowed to think for yourself, I know just how you feel
It is increasingly normal nowadays though

I'm sure I'm just over reacting but I don't do well when I have to conform - it makes me want to not conform just to be awkward and I'm not the awkward type .

My first question would be: "What happens if you ignore the instructions and carry on as normal anyway?"

Do the instructions actually make sense? Is it easier / better if you do it their way? If not I'd be sorely tempted to not take a blind bit of notice until I got a telling off, and then give them a dozen valid reasons why it works better your way.

Piggle, for me it would depend on whether these daily messages were trivial or whether they are meaningful and reflect good working practice. I come from a background of Systems audit (Yawn) and I just wonder whether your company has been reviewed recently and been told to bring its working practices into line across all staff in order to protect management and you from any criticism.
I would be asking why are the memos being issued, is there a reason, is it a change of management policy or individuals. If you understand the reason you can deal with it.
No way should you let this get you down, its not a personal vendetta. Perhaps it is aimed at one of your colleagues who may have been doing their own thing?
Who accounts for the accountants and all that

I remember iso9000 blah blah blah coming out, what a waste. It introduced a system of paper tracking but didn't actually improve the quality of work. I'm all for change if change is valid, and for the better.

It's all about arse covering. If something goes wrong and there is a chance of litigation then the company can say that protocols were followed. If an employee deviates from that then it's not the company's fault.

And it can also be about bad mangement - so one person is for some reason not able to do something [on time, to standard, that they shouldn't be doing] so instead of managing that person they issue blanket memos.

It's like saying 'don't forget, wear deodorant' to everyone and upsetting everyone a little bit - rather than dealing with the one smelly person and making sure they sort themselves out. Bad management [AKA the coward's way out].

It says more about them than you Piggle.

I agree wholeheartedly with Zaz. We are encouraged these days to manage staff like this. I don't.

It's not something to take personally Piggle, it's something to mostly ignore, unless it brings you into conflict with anyone. You are still an individual person, even if your company would like to group everyone under "Perishable Supplies"

Depends on what it is - at work it makes sense that all our documents go out looking standard in formatting as that is the company's brand. If they all look different then it doesn't look professional to our Clients. Also it's very important that we have standard ways of checking and reviewing our calculations to ensure that our product is safe and appropriate. These procedures probably aren't written exactly how I would be you can't please everybody and my method probably wouldn't be right for others so a compromise is essential. However, there are other things that don't matter and can effect morale of the staff who after all are people not just resources. The larger your company the more chance there is that somebody somewhere is writing a procedure without understanding the consequences but they almost always are doing it for the right reasons, unfortunatley that doesn't always work out well. It sounds like you've had enough of lots of things on top of each other. If you weren't already p***ed off then some of the probably wouldn't bother you. I find a good test of how much of it is me getting stressed is to look to my colleagues, are they as annoyed as me. If so then there is a general issue which you can maybe address as a group with management, however, if it's just you then maybe there are other things affecting your mood etc and you need a break. Difficult to say without more info as you can never fully understand what somebody else is going through.

thanks all - I think I'm just a bit run down as well. Does anyone know if there is a bug going round as I have nausea and headaches since Friday night .... feel a bit like I have food poisoning but without the chucking up but.

Sounds like you are run down, any chance you can take a day off and do something just for you?