Imagine a band of saffron-suited, saffron-tied devotees bobbing down the sidewalk pounding on drums and tamborines chanting, not Hari Krishna, Hari Krishna but Nairu Kaizen, Nairu Kaizen, Nairu Nairu, Kaizen Kaizen. Their heads are shaved except for a long pigtail to serve as a handle by which the Invisible Hand of the market can yank them up to the sky. Now imagine that this cult dominates your workplace, commerce, media and government. Wouldn't you be curious, at least, as to the substance and coherence of their chant? Suppose this cult does mean things to people -- throws them out of their homes and their jobs, sends them to jail, murders them if they happen to be in the wrong place with the wrong chant at the wrong time. Wouldn't you be curious, at least, as to the substance and coherence of their chant? In _Created Unequal_, Jamie Galbraith analyzed the conceptual incoherence of NAIRU and demonstrated its empirical irrelevance. It's not the first time that NAIRU concept has been deconstructed, but it is a very well reasoned and clear discussion. Galbraith noted that Milton Friedman seemed sufficiently uneasy about the macro-economic explanation of NAIRU that he felt it necessary to supplement it with a micro-economic explanation. On this list a few days ago, Michael Yates mentioned the management slogan of Kaizen. It's reasonable to pose Kaizen as emblematic of a raft of management slogans about workplace reorganization: Total Quality Management, Business Process Re-engineering, Just-in-Time manufacturing -- even the hoary granddaddy of them all, Taylorism. This is not to say Kaizen is identical to Taylorism, simply that it is a related concept. Is there anyone on this list who ever read Harry Braverman's _Labor and Monopoly Capital_? Anyone who participated in or followed the debate in the subsequent years about the adequacy of Braverman's concept of de-skilling? Labor and Monopoly Capital was a monumental book. But (to be excessively brief) Braverman's critique of human relations management relied too much on taking Taylor's Scientific Management at its word. What I'm suggesting is that Kaizen, Taylorism etc. etc. partake of a conceptual incoherence akin to that of the NAIRU. Actually, what I'm suggesting goes further than that. It would not be possible for a coherent NAIRU to coexist in the same world with a coherent KAIZEN. You may have your cake OR you may eat it. You may not have your cake and eat it too. Or should we just give these cult guys a free ride and talk about OUR OWN concepts? Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ #408 1035 Pacific St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4G7 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 669-3286 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
