I like to think of myself as an observer and commentator, but not an apologist. I try to describe what I see and experience and draw conclusions from the same, not paying too much attention to what the *accepted wisdom* is on any given topic.
I think our ability to work together in large organizations is critical to much of what we, as a species, have come to enjoy. It's also produced many of our most difficult challenges. But humans overwhelmingly vote for what only large, stable, long-lived organizations (business, education, government, etc.) can provide. And we have for thousands of years. --- In [email protected], Bhairitu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So you're a big business apologist. :) > > Cliff wrote: > > >There are many corporations of much larger than 200 people who can > >trace their existence back hundreds of years. Your implication that only > >a *fool* or a *megalomaniac* would ever take on the task of leading such > >an entity betrays your intense anti-business bias, I would suggest, and has > >very little to do with reality. > > > > > I've been a manager in company, have you? I know the reality very > well. Company size was an issue of intense discussion. We watched as > the company CEO fell out of control when it was taken public and grew to > over 400 people. We also saw this happen with other companies. > > In my case I wound up with 24 people in my group to manage. Now anyone > who knows anything about management that it is difficult to manage a > group of any more than 8 people. This has been recognized in the > military for years. I had to create yet another layer of management > with 3-4 managers under me of those 24. But it is also a good idea to > keep the number of layers low. In its better days Hewlett-Packard was > considered a great place to work because they only had 3 levels of > hierarchy. > > >If big business is so horrible and run by such truly awful people, why do > >you drive a car? Why do you fly in airplanes? Why do you use dish-washers > >and vacuum cleaners? Why do you shop in grocery stores rather than pluck > >your own weeds? Every day you willingly, gladly and completely unthink- > >ingly use thousands of products which could only have been produced by > >long-lived, stable, efficient companies of vastly more than 200 people. > > > > > > > These days a lot of these things are assembled from stuff supplied by > smaller companies. It's been that way for some time. I'm not saying > that every large business does that but many do. > > Also when we have smaller companies then they employ more people and > employment becomes less of a problem. People enjoy working in smaller > companies than large ones as the retain their identity and know more of > the people they work with. > > Then we have the issue of corporations which have become psychopathic > and destructive to the society and the environment. It would be far > better to limit corporation size, rights and life span as we did in the > US prior to the Civil War. > > Some of this psychopathic behavior is due to companies going public. > They begin to work for the investor and not the customer. Often doing > so they lose what made them successful in the first place. There is a > saying, "before going public you work for dollars. After going public > you work for quarters." > > Have a nice time working at Wal-Mart. ;-) > <snip> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
