For instance, high-level strategic decisions are made almost entirely in the vacuum of power. And often, that's appropriate. But many times, the actual people who do the work and know the most about the subject are completely out of the loop. Silicon Valley at its best operates in a very different way...companies are far more driven from the product/technology/service perspective, instead of imagining that balance sheets can make a Lucent into a Cisco. (And at its best, if some hot engineers along with a couple of useful management types feel strongly enough about a missed opportunity, they just split off and start doing it.)
But the best of Sillicon Valley is a rare exception. Most of the time "they" make decisions and people who are the technical experts must merely quietly implement those decisions. It's interesting to imagine what would have happened to Lucent if, for instance, the employees could have voted on the acquisition of Chromatis. They would have quickly realized that they were getting a raw $3B deal on a mediocre product, AND that they already had something equivalent ready in-house.
Retail is the absolute worst. FOr whatever reason (and I don't believe it has anything to do with competitiveness), big CD or Book chains never empower or reward employees on their ability to purchase books for their store that sell well. In fact, almost zero real purchasing decisions are done locally.
But nobody seems to notice...we're completely used to being passive cogs in a big, fat machine-state. So in a sense, it's gone way beyond 'repression'...no need for that rat-cage around our heads anymore.
-Tyler Durden
From: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "James A. Donald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Decline of the Cypherpunks list...Part 19 Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 09:45:33 -0600
On Mon, Dec 08, 2003 at 04:27:38PM -0800, James A. Donald wrote: > Everyone agrees that big corporations are oppressive, > bureaucratic, inefficient, etc. No one more so than the > management advisers to big corporations.
I'm not sure I'd agree that big corporations are oppressive. How? I once worked at Xerox and had a splendid time. Didn't feel "oppressed" at all.
As for bureaucratic and inefficient, perhaps, but I've seen 50-people organizations devolve quite well. I suppose it all depends on your frame of reference. If you mean, "I can find perceived inefficiencies," I'm sure you can. But if they become too inefficient, well, over time competitors will rise to take advantage of those inefficiencies. Xerox can be an example here as well. This is just common sense.
-Declan
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