In my first role as a Technical Service Officer with Telecom I spent 4 1/2 years qualifying. During that time we had an HR personel reporting structure where you reported on the performance of the people 1 above you in rank and 1 below you (don’t laugh, there are still companies with archaic attitude, look at most large corporates). The result was that at reporting time / contract review time, people would call each other and say I’ll give you a good report if you give me one. As soon as I qualified I left and didn’t look back.

Sadly in most large corporates in New Zealand, even in industries involved with Web 2.0 and other current technologies large clumps of management cling to protecting their positions rather than grooing their successors and moving forward to new challenges and exciting opportunities.