Thoughts on Leading and Managing in the Era of Disposable Workers
Filed under: Career, Crisis Leadership, Current Affairs, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Quality Systems Management, Social Commentary
Note from Art: this topic has me deep in thought. While the issue is generally a negative one, I do wonder whether it contains the seeds of significant management and leadership revolution. I would love your thoughts here.
In case you missed it, the article, “The Disposable Worker” in the January 7, 2010 issue of BusinessWeek offers a sobering look at the increasing trend for employers “to create just-in-time labor forces that can be turned on and off like a spigot.” And guess what folks, this trend is not just for those near the bottom rungs of the ladder, this current fashion extends all the way up into the CEO Suite.
While one might get the impression that this is a fairly modern “management innovation,” enabled by advances in technology and easy access to low cost labor around the globe, I’m reminded of the scenes in Upton Sinclair’s gruesome and powerful book, The Jungle, chronicling the early days of the meat-processing industry in Chicago.
I last read the book in high school, but the images of men (in this case, they were men) lining upside the gates of the stockyards and processers, and the foreman stepping out and indicating how many that he needed for the day, jumps to mind. If you were lucky enough to be picked on a given day, you were invited in to literally put life and limb on the line for a few cents. On other days, your family went hungry. If there was no work or you became injured, often, you died.
I’ll stop short of comparing the modern organization to those firms described in Sinclair’s pro-union classic, however, the picture painted in this article has that haunting specter of The Jungle hiding in the shadows.
My perspective here is not pro or con and don’t take my use of The Jungle or the union reference to mean anything other than highlighting a point in history and the message contained in this book. Organizations are striving and struggling to cut costs, compete and in some cases survive and desperate times call for desperate measures. The use of on-demand talent is well established in consulting and technology and in some cases it works well. However, I do think that the tasks of managing and leading and competing in an era of “workforce on demand” are about to change in ways that we might not yet fully understand.
Thoughts and Issues on Managing and Leading In the Era of the Disposable Workforce:
-The challenge to choose the right tasks for “just in time” resources. While it might be tempting to broadly apply the “on/off” approach to the workforce, managers should carefully evaluate the impact on business execution, customer satisfaction and innovation of replacing formal employees in core areas with contract workers. The short-term cost savings might just cost the firm its future.
-The difficulty of acclimating the remaining workers to this new reality. One of the more laughable parts of this not so funny article was the example of a firm adopting this model and then bringing in a resource to train the remaining employees on positive thinking. I suspect that more than a few workers were pretty positive what they wanted the firm to do with this speaker! While those that remain will likely be happier with a job than without, there’s little chance they will be happy. And while work doesn’t have to be an endless group hug, there’s something to say for the ability of an engaged, motivated workforce to satisfy customers and fuel innovation.
-The pain of living through the destruction of a firm’s culture. Whatever the firm was before, it no longer is the same after retooling with temporary workers. Instead of something that had a history and stories and artifacts and all those tangible and intangible components of a culture, the organization’s new environment might best be characterized as one that lacks a culture. Thoughts of Dystopian environments and various science fiction novels are beginning to jump to mind here.
-The challenges of measuring and maintaining quality and identifying and implementing critical improvements will be more difficult in the on-demand environment. The dearth of individuals that understand how to get work done via the informal organization will challenge firms to create new systems for these issues.
-The role of the Project Manager and the field of project management take on a very, very high importance in this new style organization.
-The impact when the worm turns! If and when recovery occurs, watch out! Somewhere, some wise firm will catch on to the novel idea that they can compete more effectively with an engaged workforce and the “jumping ship” will happen so fast that the firm’s leadership will be checking the news for information on the tsunami that cleared out the buildings.
-The role of the leader will change significantly. Many of the core focal points that are written about daily in the leadership blogosphere and in shelves filled with books from name-brand authors will no longer be relevant. The leader as a transaction manager with accountability for output with no concern for development, coaching and well-being may disappear.
The Bottom Line for Now:
I recognize that I’ve taken a mostly dark look at this issue in this post. The beauty of writing these things is that they force the author as well as the readers to think through the issues at a deep level. Intellectually, I do wonder whether the current economic situation contains the seeds of a new approach to management…an evolution or as Gary Hamel describes it, management innovation, and that the real challenge and issue here is truly how to rethink management and leadership.
Hmmm. Back soon with some more thoughts. Meanwhile, I would love to hear yours.
Executive Behaviors, Your Boss Has No Clothes and Revolution from the Bottom
Filed under: Crisis Leadership, Current Affairs, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Leading the Generations, Making Decisions, Management Education, Management Excellence Tips for Tough Times, Management Innovation, Organizational Transformation, Performance, Quality Systems Management, Social Commentary, Surviving Lousy Leaders, Talent Management, Values, voice of the customer
Gary Hamel offers a post well worth reading on “Why Success Often Sows the Seeds of Failure,” in his Management 2.0 blog at the Wall Street Journal. He takes some tough and well-earned shots at the narrow-minded thinking of executives that foments the eventual demise of formerly good organizations.
In my opinion, the habits and traps that bedevil formerly successful companies also exist in those less-than successful organizations. Regardless of starting point, the tendencies and habits of ineffective executive leadership are not hard to see. In theory, they shouldn’t be hard to call out and change. However, we don’t. Why not?
A few of Hamel’s observations:
Hamel: “Years of continuous improvement produce an ultra-efficient business system—one that’s highly optimized, and also highly inflexible. Successful businesses are usually good at doing one thing, and one thing only. Over-specialization kills adaptability.”
Art’s Comment: Motorola (Cellular) is my poster child for this one. This early adopter and advocate of Six Sigma become great at providing playgrounds for legions of engineers to create a smorgasbord of products that no one wanted or wants. Processes were golden, but no one had a clue about the customer or what competitors were doing.
They hit a low when the new CEO brought in to turn-around the Cell division (success doubtful) gave a phone to his wife and after trying to use it she gave it back, indicating (paraphrase) “If I have to use a manual to figure out how to use the phone it is too complicated.”
Hamel: “Long-tenured executives develop a deep base of industry experience and find it hard to question cherished beliefs. In successful companies, managers usually have a fine-grained view of “how the industry works,” and tend to discount data that would challenge their assumptions. Over time, mental models become hard-wired.”
Art’s Comment: I’ll pick on the hiring authorities for this one. Many boards and management teams demand that hires walk in the door with such precise level of industry and sometimes technology knowledge, that they guarantee Hamel’s hard wiring. Entire industry trade talent over time and ensure that the same bad-old ideas and ingrained biases of the industry remain in place, stifling creativity.
Hamel: “Caretaker executives who’ve never been entrepreneurs and have never built something out of nothing are prone to view success as an entitlement, rather than the result of innovation, gut-wrenching decisions and perseverance. Isolated from the bleeding edge of change by subservient minions, they start believing their own speeches.”
Art’s Comment: Wow! That’s a lot to take in in one sentence. Amen to the need for executives to be faced with the challenges to build and innovate and to feel the pressure of Hamel’s self-described gut-wrenching decisions. Nothing like a good dose of real-world accountability to knock some hubris out of the leader.
It seems like the auto companies, especially GM, missed this memo.
Why Can’t We Tell the Emperor About the Lack of Clothes?
It’s easy and fun to pick on the people in charge. They are big, easy targets with plenty of faults to single out. The bad habits, poor attitudes and ego issues that Hamel points out are painfully easy for all of us to see. Yet time and again we allow ourselves to be blinded and made deaf and mute by the light and actions coming out of the executive suite.
Perhaps part of the cure for what ails us is for people to screw up the courage to talk about problems and pursue actions to fix them. Maybe the revolution doesn’t start in the executive suite
My friend and a sage leadership advisor, Wally Bock, writes frequently at his Three Star Leadership blog about the power and importance of the Supervisory-class of leaders—those front-line leaders and the import that they play to a firm’s success. Maybe we need to retool top leadership by modeling the right behaviors from the bottom of the pyramid.
A few of these “Right Behaviors” include:
- Frank discussions about what’s working and what’s not
- Environments where challenging the status quo is appreciated and encouraged
- Hiring practices that don’t involve cloning and that do allow for creativity in bringing on-board unique skill sets and talents.
- Development practices that include “Charan’s” apprentice model so that upcoming leaders can face the gut wrenching decisions and grow in the process.
Last and not least: making it a core value and behavior inside a firm to cry “Foul” when the leaders up above pontificate while walking sans clothing through the business day.
What’s to stop us from starting to get this right?
Fresh Voices: Management in the 21st Century
Filed under: Career, Fresh Voices, Innovation, Leadership, Leading Change, Leading the Generations, Management Innovation, Organizational Transformation, Social Commentary
Note from Art: While I am referencing a well-known leadership and management author here, the Fresh Voices come from the rich and thought-provoking comments and commenters to the author’s post.
If you are fascinated as I am about the evolution of management and its role, form and function in our current and near future world, I strongly encourage you to check out Gary Hamel’s blog post (Help Reinvent Management for the 21st Century).
This is a case where the post prompts a flood of great thoughts and ideas from some sharp people from around the globe.
As background, Dr. Hamel is producing a conference on May 29 and 30 in California, that will bring together 35 luminaries from business and academia to focus on reinventing management for the new century.
The four questions that Dr. Hamel and the brain-trust will attempt to answer include:
“1. What are the deep-seated impediments, or “design flaws,” that limit the capacity of organizations to adapt (to change without trauma); to innovate (to mobilize the imagination of everyone, every day); and to engage (to create environments that inspire extraordinary contributions).
2. Given these systemic impediments, and the new demands that will confront organizations in the years ahead, what should be the agenda for 21st century management innovators? That is, what are the “moonshot challenges” that must be addressed if we are to create organizations that are truly fit for the future?
3. Can we imagine, even in outline form, some potential solutions to these challenges, and if so, what sorts of experiments might be useful in helping us to test these ideas in real world settings?
4. More generally, what could be done to help accelerate the evolution of management in the years to come, that is, what is it that limits the pace of management innovation and how might these limits by overcome?”
While I’m certain that the event will generate some fascinating ideas, Dr. Hamel acknowledges what you are probably thinking about now: the solutions will not emerge and change our lives as an outcome of this conference. In his own words: “A few dozen braniacs are no substitute for a crowd of inspired and unconventional thinkers.”
He’s right of course, but the questions above are heady and invigorating topics for any collection of motivated management professionals.
A few of my favorite comments to his post include:
-The Professor who makes his case rather belligerently that all of our management problems would be solved if only we would adopt military style leadership. He is kind enough to include a link to a list of books that support his philosophy.
-The Open Teams approach to breaking down the traditional “monolithic hierarchy.”
-The many comments (almost essays) that attack traditional, ingrained approaches to leadership and management and offer glimpses into how these approaches must change.
-Several comments that support a Silicon-Valley approach to management and innovation and at least one that indicates the positive influence that will flow from the movement of the Millennials into the workplace.
-A fascinating and lengthy post from a doctoral student in India that challenges us to look hard at 4 invisible but evolutionary urges driving the evolution of human society.
and many others.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
If the future of management is of interest to you, reading the comments is certain to start your wheels turning. Feel free to join their discussion or start your own thread here. I plan on tackling Dr.Hamel’s questions in both locations.
That Seismic Shift You Are About To Hear is Management Revolution
Filed under: Crisis Leadership, Current Affairs, Innovation, Leadership, Leading Change, Leading the Generations, Management Innovation, Surviving Lousy Leaders
Author’s Note: This post moves from fun to management revolution in a hurry. Hold on!
One of the things that I absolutely love about this time that we are living through is the constant and accelerating rewriting of the rules. How much fun is it to be engaged in a set of activities where what used to define success now defines failure and where your experience may be your own worst enemy? Someone should charge admission to this surreal game we are living!
It’s like playing my favorite board game, Monopoly, where the long-established rules of buy, build, rent and bankrupt your opponent shift ahead of your turn. Thought that Boardwalk was a good investment? Not anymore…by the time you land on it, it’s been sold off to a foreign player to raise funds to support infrastructure. Driving the car around the board. Sorry, your car company went bankrupt and unless you can bail it out, you’ll need to walk. Draw a Chance card and expect to advance to the nearest railroad? Forget it. The government now owns 80% of this industry and they can’t get the trains running. Bankrupt your partner. Heck no, that would be anti-competitive, so your partner just pulled off an interest free loan under the “too big to fail” act. (Hey Parker Bros, I’ve got dibs on the new “Ever Shifting Rules” version of your board game.)
One of my favorite business writers, Gary Hamel is back this week with his very relevant message that it is high time that we reinvented management and shed some of the late 19th century practices that persist. His focus this week is: The Three Forces Disrupting Management.
Hamel’s Three Discontinuities:
1. A wildly accelerating pace of change, an onslaught of new, ultra low-cost competitors, the commoditization of knowledge, rapidly increasing customer power and an ever-lengthening menu of social demands.
2. The invention of new, Web-based collaboration tools
3. The mash-up of new expectations that Generation Facebook will bring to work in the years ahead.
–
Yep. In this case, we didn’t need one of the world’s foremost management writers and thinkers to tell us what those of us running businesses have been painfully aware of for the past few years. Things are changing in front of us, even if our approaches are not changing to embrace and leverage the new dynamics.
Something’s gone horribly wrong with our pre-established convictions and our comfortable understanding of the old rules. There was no memo. The new rules are not written in stone anywhere, and in fact they are changing so quickly, that by the time you understand and write them down, they’ve changed yet again. Heck, a good number of firms and leaders never optimized under the old rules, and now look at what they are facing!
I work constantly with professionals and teams desperately trying to break free of the shackles of the old rules, the archaic premises and obsolete leadership practices that govern so many businesses. A good number of professionals get the fact that the game has shifted, yet organizations and leaders tend to hang onto the old premises. The obsolete and dangerous practices that still predominate, include:
- Rigid hierarchical leadership-it’s time to end the royal leadership model
- Silo structures-maybe the single most value destroying approach to organization
- Dysfunctional matrix approaches dominated by functional interests
- Ad hoc leadership identification and development practices (if any)
- Farenheit 451 type thinking about access to the internet and adoption of new methods of working and communicating
- Traditional strategic planning models that fail to take into account systems, constant change, the need to adapt, the difference between adapting and proacting etc.
- 1950’s HR practices (in many cases) that emphasize compliance and fail to focus on enabling performance
- An accountability paradox…those in charge are the least accountable
–
The Bottom Line:
Instead of a more traditional passing of the baton from one generation of business leaders to the next, I get the feeling that this period will be characterized by social and cultural revolution in business. It’s needed and in my opinion, appropriate.
The current situation will see record numbers of firms fail, and in many cases, they should and must. This painful cleansing will be just that a cleansing. The only way it doesn’t create a better landscape is if we through our governmental institutions destroy the ability to regenerate. That is an unfortunate but real possibility.
Jefferson’s perspective on the appropriateness and need for the French revolution shocked many of his contemporaries. I am right there with him. Forward progress will require significant business casualties and some shocking restructuring of what we view as conventional approaches to business.
I like Hamel’s thinking on management innovation and even revolution. I do think that his message is too soft. It’s time to rise up against the tyranny of hubris and the post Civil War management approaches that many leaders still cling to as their hold on power. There are many great people inside of even the most dysfunctional organizations that have some valid ideas on embracing the new rules. If you are a leader, its time to listen or beware the march of time and the villagers lighting torches!
A Rave Against Miserable Customer Service, Lousy Leaders and Protectionist Policies
Filed under: Current Affairs, Customer Service, Leadership, Organizational Transformation, Performance, Quality Systems Management, Social Commentary, Surviving Lousy Leaders, voice of the customer
One of my favorite, provocative business thinkers, Gary Hamel, says what we’ve all been thinking about in his Wall Street Journal blog post, “Too Many Industries Suffering from Detroititis.”
While the term “Detroititis” is not yet in common use, it isn’t hard to intuit the meaning. A mix of myopic thinking, short-term management approaches and a damn the consumer mentality, all jump to my mind.
Hamel appropriately skewers the U.S. airline industry for suffering from a chronic case of this newly named malady. He also chastises the U.S. government for propping up this industry with a “blatantly protectionist policy” that bars foreign ownership of U.S. air carriers.
Note from Art: this protectionist policy and the adverse implications for consumers and for society speak to the heart of my post: If Ayn Rand Could See Us Now.
The U.S. airlines are easy and deserving targets. It is nearly impossible to find any customer satisfaction, much less enjoyment flying with these broken-down flying bus companies. (Apologies to any bus companies that I’ve insulted.)
More often than not, you deal with ridiculous lines, grumpy attendants and flight personnel that visibly hate their jobs. Most of the customer service practices recently put into place are shortsighted and designed with the carrier in mind, not the customer.
In the vernacular of one of my favorite recent books, Tuned-In, the carriers truly do create remarkable customer experiences. Unfortunately, they missed the memo on making these experiences positive ones.
The contrast between the customer experience on a U.S. Air Carrier and an overseas carrier is stark. Fly Singapore Airlines or JAL and you’ll spend most of your trip in shock over how nice the experience can be. Something will feel very different and out of place. The poor treatment is gone, replaced by great service provided by people that seem to enjoy creating nice experiences for customers.
Other than the cathartic exercise of criticizing the U.S. carriers (of which I have over 1 million miles on), there are a few reminders for all of us in our businesses as we work to immunize our thinking against the deadly disease of “Detroititis.”
- Keep the government out of the business of artificially protecting under performing industries and companies. Hamel is right. If Singapore Airlines wants to compete for routes in the U.S., they should have that option.
- Evaluate what your customers truly think about their experience with your firm and DO SOMETHING to improve the experience. The airlines employ legions of marketing people to fly around the globe and evaluating customer experiences…but nothing seems to come out from this effort other than dumb policies and new fees.
- Fight for the customer like you livelihood depends upon it. It does.
- As a leader, work unceasingly to instill a sense of pride and commitment to customers in your workplace. If your business is a high-contact customer business, every person that touches a customer must strive to create a positive experience. Working a ticket counter at terminal B at O’Hare may involve dealing with thousands of people per day who are stressed and frustrated. Take away a little of their stress and frustration, treat them like humans and show them that you care! Send thousands of people home everyday with an improved experience, and maybe your business will improve. Go figure.
- No one ever wants to talk to someone that they cannot understand and that they cannot hear on the telephone. Stop subjecting us to these horrendous phone experiences. If you are in charge of this area of your customer experience, what the blank are you thinking?
The Bottom-Line for Now:
The people that I don’t get are the managers and leaders responsible for managing and leading the customer service representatives in organizations that clearly have lousy customer service. Fire yourself, please.
The customer experience at Gate C14 starts at the top of the organization. The same goes for your firm. Unfortunately, we can all learn a lot about what not to do from the auto companies and air carriers in the U.S.
Now quit reading and find something that you can do to improve the experience for your customers!
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