Posted on 12/27/2005 9:03:05 AM PST by Old_Mil
"Generally it's easier to do without low-end people than accountants and other professionals, so the little guys get cut first."
That's just common sense, and I think even low-end people would admit that. Everyone knows a companie's first priority is to make money. If they don't do that, there won't be a company.
What is objectionable is rewarding bad management. Managers and executives in a public company are still employees. Why are they being rewarded for bad management? It looks like the old boy's club at the shareholder's expense.
Another thing that's objectionable is the attitude of some freepers. You seem a bit more reasoned, so I'll present it to you. They see workers as less than human. I realize workers are commodities, and the business doesn't exist just to provide jobs. But people should be treated like people. Respect.
If I go out to dinner, the wait staff is working for me. I can treat them as equals who happen to be doing a service for me, or I can treat them like low-lives who had better toe the line if they want a tip. If I treat them well, they will most likely be attentive, and in general it will be a pleasant experience. If I treat them poorly, they get stressed, I get angry, and it all goes downhill, (not to mention what they will likely do to my food).
Naturally, as with all things to do with people there are exceptions. But I think it's a valid comparison. I was always taught that I should respect people unless/until they prove they DON'T deserve it. Not disrespect them until they earn respect.
PS- almost forgot;
As for what they are teaching in business school, it's no longer sound economics. The best example would be the "X+Y=Z" theory (which is the basis for PeopleSoft and other 'management' tools.
The basis for this is that X number of workers, working Y number of hours per week, should produce Z units of work. This works fine in, say, industrial settings, but how do you apply this to other fields?
For example, I'm an IT manager. My people write programs. They attend meetings with other departments to co-ordinate the creation of new projects or merely to maintain what already exists. They spend a lot of time on the phone with vendors. They are routinely awoken at all hours of the night to take care of program issues (since we maintain 80 data centers around the planet, but still administer all of them from the United States). They work weekends and holidays because that's the only time we can get to make changes or repairs without interrupting daily business.
X=Y=Z doesn't exactly work for this does it? Yet, my company will spend $6 million this year in licensing fees to use this software. The MBA's say it's an effective tool (it's always about having more tools, isn't it?),and that's that. They sold management on it. AT the end of the day, they can point to a chart or a graph, which ALWAYS reflects the truth (/sarcasm). Numbers, after all, don't lie.
This is but one (small) example of this stupidity.
"Numbers, after all, don't lie."
As I was taught in statistics 50 some years ago, it's a course in how to lie with figures or how to make figures lie.
Airline management gave in to the unions more than they should have to avoid a strike that could very easily have ruined their business and their careers. To say that the people who run airlines are cowardly however, requires a total lack of understanding about what it takes to run such a business.
Management always gave in to the pilots because they belong to the same country clubs.
Yeah, that's why they did it. Because there has always been so much love between the pilots and management. LOL! It didn't take long for your class warfare argument to surface.
..and all the rest of the failing American industrial machine
Yet, our economy remains the envy of the world. We make and export more now than at any other time in our history. GDP growth is robust, employment is high and our household net worth has doubled in just the past decade.
History may show that on unbridled capitalism, Marx was right, if for the wrong reasons.
Marx was wrong about everything as are the people who still believe he said anything worth remembering.
Companies are no longer run by entrepreneurial founders, like Ford or IBM's Watson, or PanAm's Trippe, but by greedy bankers, lawyers, and MBAs who are only looking to their stock options and buy outs..
I guess you must have missed silicon valley and the rest of the tech industry revolutionizing the world economy.
Like I said, much of this has to do with the nature of the business. Financial Services is one area that could easily experience a higher cost structure to pay for their benefit programs. Federal and local government regulations will also impact this percentage. However, if you look at American business as a whole, you will find that benefit costs average about 35-40% of salary and wage expenses -- nothing near the 300% you suggested in an earlier post.
Rising healthcare costs will place upward pressure on that percentage as workers continue to receive a greater proportion of their total compensation increases in benefits rather than wages.
Maybe he hasn't but I have and I am here to tell you that the workers are the backbone of any company. The reason Unions started in the first place was because everyone in this country was getting screwed constantly, there was no place to go. Leave your job? There was nothing better available.
While Unions have their bad points there are good points( or there used to be) about them. The uniions are mostly dead now with the results that people like you can shit all over their employees and say that you are justified because you own the Co. I owned two and never treated my employees like crap and still had viable businesses(Electronis stores)that turned a profit. My people never thought about unions because I treated them fairly.
Yes, this would probably be appropriate for manufacturing management but do you have any idea just how many concentrations you can choose from in MBA programs these days? There are concentrations in Accounting, Consulting, E-commerce, Economics, Finance, Management, International Business, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Manufacturing Operations and many many more.
The MBA's say it's an effective tool (it's always about having more tools, isn't it?),and that's that. They sold management on it. AT the end of the day, they can point to a chart or a graph, which ALWAYS reflects the truth (/sarcasm).
Workers better develop their skill sets and be as productive as possible to create value for the company. If they don't continuously create value they are going to be replaced by automation or by another person who will. We've recently implemented new systems within our manufacturing plants that have caused our employees to do nothing but complain. They never believe the charts and graphs proving that we've become more efficient and, therefore, more competitive.
It's funny to me that they'll complain about the changes but always seem pleased when the value of their stock goes up dramatically because of our increased competitiveness. Why some people cannot connect the dots is a continuous source of frustration for management.
Numbers, after all, don't lie.
No, they don't. Some people attempt to lie with numbers which is why the math skills acquired in school are so important. Business school doesn't guarantee the smarts to successfully run a business but I work with a lot of MBA's who are competent managers and continuously create value for the company and their shareholders.
"My people never thought about unions because I treated them fairly."
Thank you. This guy is a real piece of work. If he were an isolated example, I'd just ignore it, but sadly, there are many others who share the attitude. You don't have to have owned a business to understand the concepts. His declaration that my knowledge was zero was in itself a revealing statement. Given our sparse exchange, there is no way he could accurately quantify what I know. BUT... he's a business owner, so he knows all, and anyone who isn't, is just an idiot.
You and I watch "A Christmas Carol" and see it as a story of redemption, and hope. This guy, and those of his ilk watch it, and see the story of the persecution of a good businessman!
Merry Christmas to you and yours. Good to know there are people who are Christian here.
"America works best Union Free"
Treat people well, unions will either dissolve or become reasonable. Treat them poorly, they'll unionize. It's a simple equation.
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