Time to introspect

I realised something strange yesterday while flying from Mumbai to Jodhpur. 

For the two hours I was in the aircraft with no access to my I phone and blackberry for mails, messages and phone calls. During that period my emotions wavered from anxiety to restlessness to relaxation to introspection. It gave me moments to think of my life over the last few months, relations @ home with my parents and wife and the relations with the outer world

The point that I am trying to bring in here is the fact that we have become such slaves of technology that we really do not spend time away from them. While we are connected with the world we have restricted ourselves from connecting with ourselves. From my limited exposure to life the way we look in and search our core, defines the way we approach the outside world. The no of hours spent with ourselves impact our relations with the world exponentially. 

The biggest realisation that I had was that I am becoming more and more doer than  creating. After all we all are human beings and not human doings.

Line and Staff - The Origin

The term "Line Managers" is much used, but not understood fully or is understood differently by different people. Many people use the term "Line Managers" simply to mean their own immediate boss, or to mean the manager of any work group in any function - but these are not the original meanings.
One may refer to the book The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler for the origin of the terms "line" and "staff."

The early American railroad companies were the giants of their day. They were massive in terms of number of employees, capital employed and geographical spread. They created new forms of organization based on centralization of information and command. Employees were divided into two categories - Line and Staff. "Line" was concerned to the day to day operations of the rail road line. "Staff" was concerned with all the support work that was required to make this happen - accounting, marketing, legal and so forth.

So, "line managers" are concerned with the core activities of the organization.
"Staff" managers are in charge of the specialist support functions which make sure proper procedures are followed.