Sounds like all of those meetings I used to go to in the Army and mirrored in the civil service. Do you suppose it is a "dumb" virus that is caught when organizations get a certain size?
What kind of animal could you imagine them turning into? REH ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Thomas Lunde" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 12, 2002 8:34 PM Subject: A story (true or not) > Once upon a time there was a company that was all > gung ho and lean and mean to beat the competition > and make big profits and succeed, succeed, succeed! > Rah! Rah! Go us! Cut costs (including low level > employee salary costs, while staffing up > upper management!)! Maximize revenues! --You > know it all. Profits are the raison de etre for > business, right? And this company was all into it! > > Well, one day the company held an "all hands meeting". > (Actually, the company has several of these > each year, but this was only one of them, but > they are all indistinguishable from one another.) > > All the employees had to attend. And the top > executives droned on and on -- while > smiling and looking satisfiedly into each > other's eyes when they were not seriously > lecturing to the "all hands" -- about past successes and > future challenges to be met -- ever onward and > ever harder.... There must have been nnn employees > there, all getting increasingly bored, as the > top executives kept trying between themselves to > say something more so that the meeting would > never end. One person multiplied heads by > cost per person hour and figured the meeting > cost the company probably about $100 x nnn. > > Finally, came employee recognition > time! (No, the meeting was not > over yet!) A couple of the top managers got > special awards for exhibiting leadership > (or, although it was called leadership, > in one case it sounded more like martyrdom). > One lowly employee thought to him or herself > that giving special awards to the top leaders > for being top leaders really didn't accomplish > anything, since the people who need to be > motivated to lead are the lower level people, and > if the top leaders aren't leading, what use are they > any way, so why reward them for doing what > they are supposed to do? > > .... > > Of course, after more than an hour, the meeting finally > ended and everybody got to do what they had been > wanting to do for an hour -- anything else but > sitting there and wasting their time. Because, > of course, while on the one hand, > the information the executives told > them did not include the company tactical and > strategic secrets, on the other hand, it > does not contain the details which will > focus each employee's work, either. It's neither the > forest nor the trees -- just a kind of > fog or maybe underbrush.... > > And one employee thought that this showed what > the real motivation of business is: "Profits" are > used as an excuse for the top managers to do > get opportunities to preen -- to do things > like get up in front of lots of employees and > have the employees worship their [the > execs'] golden words about being lean and mean > and making profits. > > Let's face it -- nobody sells anybody anything > by droning on and on and feeling smug in him or > herself about it. If profits were *really* the > goal, the executives would have boiled it all > down and presented "the net" to the employees, > in a really intersting "hard hitting" > key facts and what they mean in > 25 words or less meeting that would > have kept them on their seats' edge in rapt > attention, instead of staring off in space, > rolling their eyes, whispering to each other, etc. > > And all the other material would be available > in a hierarchically organized way (like the first > sentence of a news story tells you what it's all about, > and the first sentence of each paragraph summarizes > its paragraph, etc.), on the company > Intranet. And the leadership awards would > have gone to individuals in non-leadership > positions who took initiative far beyond their > tightly circumscribed job descriptions, and > thereby really did make money for the company > beyond what they got paid. > > -- > > My father was a sales manager. He was pleased > when any of his selesmen earned *more* than > he did. > > \brad mccormick > > -- > Let your light so shine before men, > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
