My friend coined a term called “Corporate Slave” when he saw me coming late from office in Mumbai and working during weekends. This happened 5 years back. Qualifying “Corporate Slave” a little since it may sound offensive to some we coined a term called “Capitalist Slave”.
My opinion about capitalism is not very supportive despite being a diligent worker of a capitalist society struggling to make economic profit. Under the notions of capitalism the theory of modern corporate finance rests on one important goal of “Shareholder Wealth maximization” and “The carrot and stick approach” works just perfectly in corporate world to help achieve this. How do some of us cope with increasing work pressure, to be always at the receiving end of “carrots” and not “sticks” – while both may hurt equally badly?
While exercising a trade-off between a carrot or a stick, some of us end up doing multiple tasks at a time and often reply to calls from home or boss as “my bandwidth is choked, call you back or I cannot take this up”. Taking rescue of Wikipedia to understand “bandwidth” – “Bandwidth refers to the range of frequencies (not the speed), or the measured amount of information, that can be transmitted over a connection: the higher the frequency, the higher the bandwidth and the greater the capacity of a channel to carry information.” Decoding this in real life- mental ability of an individual to undertake different tasks, please note it’s not the “speed” but the “frequency”. So guys with higher bandwidth likes of IIMs/IITs are more in demand since they have the higher capacity to execute and sustain. For weaker ones, theory of “survival of the fittest” is the best justification.
Real world definition of “bandwidth” from Wikipedia- “It is often heard around the office to describe ones inability to think about or do multiple things at once, as in, “I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with your request right now.” If a person is described as having “low bandwidth,” it means he or she is considered slow on the uptake ;-)” Decoding this further- Dimension of time is introduced when simultaneity of tasks in a short instance impacts bandwidth. After all we are talking of humans and not computers…:-)
So how should one use the term “bandwidth choked” efficiently? Here is an example “I have the ability to think and execute this single handedly and I am ready to risk it. However, given the time constraints it will be better if I have someone working with me (reporting me) so that my bandwidth is not choked.” This way you have assured yourself a “carrot” if it works and “stick” for your team mate if it fails. I hope this is self explanatory for the smarter lots. All the best to capitalist slaves for earning more “carrots” 🙂