I love Star Trek. It seems like every episode there is some kind of crisis and the captain and crew have to use logic and ingenuity to solve it. There are even Vulcans on the original and Voyager who are super logical and whose logic is valued and often acted upon by the captain and crew. Of course there is a chain of command but it is generally a meritocracy where the people with the best ideas get their ideas acted upon.
Real life is not like the Star Trek Enterprise at all. The biggest thing you have to take into account are people's often fragile egos. When given a task they may say their goal is to get it done in the most logical and efficient manner but generally the route to this getting done cannot damage their ego in the process. If the best route involves the ego being damaged, the second-best route will be taken. This is a hard concept to explain, even neurotypicals are left in the dark on what will trigger a threat to someone's ego because the factors vary from person to person. I will try to give a couple of examples.
You are doing a group project for a college class where you have to present a poster collage on geological processes. You were the one responsible for creating the diagrams and—thanks to your talent in Illustrator—whipped up some great content. You emailed high resolution versions of the diagrams to the group leader who was going to put together the presentation. On the last night of the project after seeing the final put-together draft you notice that the printed out diagrams are blurry and have JPEG artifacts on them. Apparently the leader must have scaled them down prematurely. Now you are left in a quandary. Do you confront the group leader about it and tell him to redo the diagrams or do you stay quiet. The former will inconvenience him and (more importantly) hurt his ego. When you confront him about this his mind doesn't say, "boy I'm glad you caught the error, I want the best possible finished product", it more likely says, "This nerd is judging my poor performance with computer graphics programs. If I redo the project it will not only take a couple hours of my time but it will show that he is smarter than me and that makes me uncomfortable".
Another example: you are working at a hospital doing Information Technology, integrating the new digital medical records into the hospital's workflow. One of the doctors is having trouble with the system. He frequents the floor you do most of your work on and you often see him trying to do things that you could easily help him with. You have offered him help multiple times but every time he has declined. What's going on here? What you have to understand here society is very stratified—there is definitely a chain of command though it's not explicitly denoted like in Star Trek. The doctor is on a completely different (and much higher) social plane than you. Accepting your help might be the most logical thing he could do to better himself but in his mind it would be deferring to someone on a much lower plane than him. In Star Trek the most logical solution would bubble up the chain of command anyway but in real life it usually doesn't work that way.
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These scenarios sound like they were taken right out of Star Trek to me.
Real life is more like being on a Klingon battlecruiser.
Real life involves passionately debating with many Qs to validate your sanity.
i think it's all about how you approach the problem. in the first example, emphasizing the fact that the images would be clearer and therefore better would make the group leader see what you're saying. it should be said that this is not a personal attack if you think the person opposite you is taking it as just that.
also, it is a group project. you're allowed to make contributions, and you are getting graded. letting someone's ego get in the way of that is going to keep you from doing your best. the second situation is a little harder, but maybe approach the doctors when they're in groups? that way the doctor with the difficulty won't be singled out.through your company logo. The services such as matching business cards,
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When I was younger I was a fan of Captain Kirk- I loved his passion and fiery spirit. I thought Spock to be rather dry and almost a weighted ball and chain to the storyline. However as I approached my mid to late twenties, watching the reruns, I had a total flip in my regard for Spock's character. Now Kirk was an impulsive asshole that good intentions could no longer excuse. Spock was reasonable, a breath of fresh air in a world that couldnt self reflect or refrain from self indulgence.
I get that those two characters are really at the heart of every man and woman. No one I think wants to be so logical that they refrain from all emotion. But you dont want to be ruled by your ego or impulses either. Personally I think we all could take notes from the Vulcans or from Star Trek... but thats the nerd in me speaking. ;)
IRL I've seen something similar to your second example: the one manager wants a secretary to take training courses in Excel so that she can do anything he asks her to. She doesn't want the classes because it doesn't take me long to show her how to do the things, and she catches on quickly when she sees an example that she can relate to and has an opportunity to ask questions. If she went to a course, she'd be bombarded with way too much info and she wouldn't see the applications, so she'd forget practically everything, and probably still ask me for help anyways. I'm friends with her and don't mind explaining things to her (in fact she boosts my morale/ego since she's so appreciative). But the manager doesn't think that she is acting in a "professional" way. Ugh. He loves to go on and on about the importance of team work, but he doesn't have a clue how a crew should actually function, he stifles the natural interactions and wastes everyone's time trying to get them to collaborate on projects where there is no discernible benefit.
Sometimes I wish it was as simple and structured as the Enterprise... but then, I think to myself that if it were... I'd be in a whole crap ton of trouble for breaking the chain of command... ALL the time. I ignore it, don't care much about it... and generally tend to give up attempting to stay within it. I'd rather talk to the captain of the ship than the second in command, and I have even less tolerance for being referred to lower ranks than that. Mostly because that usually means that they have to relay (often in an abridged and misunderstood manner) whatever it is I said to them back up the chain... PLEASE, for God's sake, just let me cut out the middle man... LOL
Everything I ever needed to know in life, I learned from Star Trek !
I recommend StarManJones post. If anyone's out there, he is.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_36_pu_Vtt_c/TBf6wKJXUpI/AAAAAAAAAyU/AWnbp0r7cCA/s1600/kirk-inspirational-awesome.jpg