"Fit in or fuck off" ("FIFO") is an informal reference to a controversial human resources philosophy whereby the employee is expected to conform to the prevailing organizational norms or get fired. It is also used to impose conformity to perceived racial, national, gender or societal norms.
Video Fit in or fuck off
Usage
The principle can directly affect hiring and retention decisions. In the world of television news, there is a bias to hire those who have shared values and biases with the organization. Likewise, executive producers of news shows tend to hire staff that share their ideology and viewpoint, to the extent that FIFO is ruthlessly applied.
Writer Kevin Duncan, in his book titled The Business Bullshit Book: The world's most comprehensive dictionary, suggests it is a "no-holds barred", "frank" and open assessment by a supervisor, who maps the employee's chances and alternate career paths boldly, forthrightly and unhesitatingly. This is said to be "not necessarily" to the employee's advantage.
Fitting in is not "a one way ticket." The Guardian newspaper quoted an anonymous source, who was employed by a United Kingdom housing association, said that FIFO is a rule of organizational life. It is an organizational paradigm whereby the members of the team adopt 'protective coloration' and undergo a change in their behavior and beliefs. It is a strong deterrent to whistle blowing, for example.
Corporate implementation of a FIFO policy was said to be coincidental, if not causally-related, to a toxic tit-for-tat relationship with a union. As The Tyee opines:
"One of the few things that the union and management agree on is that there is a new culture at Telus. Management describes it as the culture of a competitive meritocracy. Some people in the union at Telus call it the 'FIFO war.'
"The term comes from Telus CEO Darren Entwistle, the Montreal-born executive who came to Telus five years ago from a telecommunications company in the U.K. In a profile of Entwistle that ran in B.C. Business magazine in May, Lori Bamber wrote this about FIFO:
"'In accounting it stands for 'first in, first out'; at Telus, after Entwistle's arrival, it stood for 'fit in or fuck off.' It wasn't something that endeared him to people who heard about it. 'You could get away with more in Europe,' he says when asked about this controversial human resources philosophy. 'People expect you to tell it like it is there.'"
In the United Kingdom there were government proposals to statutorily extend Employment-at-will and permit employers to have immunity for "Fit in or fuck off" (not in those words) discussions with employees. Such proposals have met with vocal opposition by organized labor, specifically Unite the Union.
Maps Fit in or fuck off
Drift
The acronym "FIFO", the neologism, the phrase and meme "fit in or fuck off", and the concept have been expanded and exported to other contexts. For example it is used as a justification for racism, nationalism (e.g., jingoism), ethnic, nativist, immigrant restriction and xenophobic reaction, regulation and action. It is a direction in the United States to assimilate and be productive.
Sexist reactions and stereotypes are also justified under the rubric. Thus, female guests on podcasts of This American Life have been often criticized for 'non-Alpha' speech patterns, even though prominent males (e.g., Noam Chomsky) have exhibited similar traits. Some have advised these women to "FIFO".
It has become a contentious anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant slogan in Canada.
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
- Ash, Angie. Whistleblowing and Ethics in Health and Social Care. City: Jessica Kingsley. pp. 62-63. ISBN 9781784501082.
- Bivens, Rena (January 2014). Digital Currents: How Technology and the Public are Shaping TV News. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. p. 143. ISBN 9781442615861. ISBN 9781442647770.
- Buerk, Michael (September 27, 2005). The Road Taken. London: Arrow Books. p. 96. ISBN 9780099461371.
- Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2015). The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Routledge. p. 297. ISBN 9781442615861. ISBN 9781442647770.
- Duncan, Kevin (January 17, 2017). The Business Bullshit Book: The world's most comprehensive dictionary. Concise Advice Lab (paperback). LID Publishing; Com edition. p. 10. ISBN 1910649856. ISBN 9781911498148.
- Giggs, Rebecca (November 4, 2015). "Open Ground". In Williamson, Geordie. The Best Australian Essays. Collingwood Victoria, Australia: Black Inc. p. 112. ISBN 9781863957779.
Who looks at the ore tumbling from the conveyor belt of the ship and wonders, Whose country is this anyway?
- Holman, Rebecca (August 2017). Beta: Quiet Girls Can Run the World: There is more than one way to be the boss. London: Coronet. pp. 123-124. ISBN 9781473656208.
- Sarra, Chris (January 1, 2013). Good Morning, Mr Sarra: My Life Working for a Stronger, Smarter Future for Our Children. St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia: University of Queensland Press. p. 279. ISBN 9780702249082.
- Strichow, Hans (December 19, 2013). My Life in a Nutshell: Life Is All About Fun, Frustration, and Fulfillment. Balboa Press. p. 117. ISBN 9781452512440.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments