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Tuesday, June 06, 2006

"Use" or "Utilisation"

I have often seen the word "use" being frequently used by managers in the corporate world. E.g. "We can use Mr. X for support and use Mr. Y for coding". I am against using such words, which amounts to the insult of the person in whose context it is being used. The correct word, which sounds better, is "Utilisation". After all, organisations utilises your skills for performing certain tasks or activities that you might be expert in.

The word "Utilisation" shows respect for that person's skill set. It also makes you feel that you will be paid or rewarded as per your skill sets whereas word "Use" makes you feel exploited. It makes you feel that they just want your skills without paying you appropriately.

The word "Utilisation" expresses two-way give and take relationship, while "Use” specifies only one way flow - from employee to employer. Though, employee anyway continues doing the work, that he is assigned, the use of words shows up it's difference in his quality of work.

Different words send different vibrations among employees, even though managers might not have intended what the receiver interprets. Thus, managers should be extremely careful in this regard as different words with almost same meaning, create different meanings for different people.

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