The authors of a recent HBR article, Wells Fargo and the Slippery Slope of Sales Incentives, provided the answer “to meet sales quotas and earn incentives” to the question “why they (they being the lower level employees of Wells Fargo) did this in the first place.” The “this” being unethical if not illegally selling and charging customers for services they did not need or request. It seems that the perspective here is that the employees where at fault, after all they are the ones who acted fraudulently! Continue reading
Ethical Principles
A Drowning Class and the Invisible Hand
Whether as a symptom of or as a commentary about the state of affairs of the U.S. economy we hear many (pundits especially) say the middle class is declining… if not disappearing. A growing number of people the state of affairs is quite stormy as they are finding it harder and harder to stay above water, yet for a select few who are smoothly sailing along it has never been better. Continue reading
In The Larger Scheme of Things
What happens when the larger-scheme-of-things is ignored and denied out of existence? Continue reading
Why GM Acted as It Did
As we learned that GM had waited until 2014 to recall vehicles having a defective ignition switch which causes the car to suddenly shut off rendering brakes, steering and airbags non-functional which can lead to accidents killing people I am reminded of a brief discussion about GM’s tunnel vision in the post Gravity of Vision.
“It is unfortunate that many believe that it is not what the vision is, but what the vision does that makes it so important. For many having a goal is all that matters. Accordingly most visions are in effect mission statements—what some might call BHAG (big hairy audacious goal).
As illustration consider GM’s vision, “Design, Build and Sell the World’s Best Vehicles.” This speaks not of people but of things—yes the objects—the organization makes. While GM’s statement offers a far-reaching noble goal it does not offer guidance to people toward developing and maintaining meaningful relationships with each other and the work.
When results-only becomes the thing then meaning is lost as everything becomes objectified. Moreover as concern for results dominate relationships all interaction among people become mere transactions. Unavoidably, motivation turns to movement caused external authority and people become disconnected from the work. Because engagement in the work turns superficial keeping people on task toward results guides the approach of management.”
I think it speaks to why GM acted as they did—choosing not to incur costs in recalling and replacing the defective part—and likely will continue to act similarly in the future unless management changes the profit-only intent and correspondingly the morally bankrupt vision of the business.
Join the Race
With the race to become more productive, more competitive and more profitable having the answer to the question that continues to challenge business managers, how do you motivate people, can be the ticket to winning. Even though Frederick Hertzberg offered a direct and complete answer give them something motivating to do, the question for the majority of business managers remains unanswered. Further, not understanding the depth of Hertzberg’s answer, we’ve even advanced another classification of management—management can’t do it but leadership can—in hopes of meeting the challenge. Yet whether you are labeled a manager or a leader the challenge goes largely unmet.
What could be the root of the problem and the difficulty in dissolving it? Continue reading
The Rat Race—It’s Not Metaphor
When those in authority over an enterprise employ/hire someone they give him/her work to which he/she is to apply his/her labor in support of aim of the business enterprise. This employer-employee arrangement is consistent with a basic principle of capitalism where capital employs labor.
We speak of being employed and being an employee without much further thinking about just what this could mean. Continue reading
A Caveman Can Do It
Revenue, cost and profit are seen as foundational components in business and those viewing cost as a cause likely focus on a simple linear equation—(Profit = Revenue – Cost)—as the basis of their view. After all it is quite straightforward since for a given amount of revenue cost determines greater or lesser profit. Accordingly if one can get cost to zero (or to approach zero) then profit will be at its maximum—the very business of business is assured. But is not so simple. There is a missing piece to this. Continue reading
On Being Instrumental, A Tool
We’ve all heard in so many ways by so many that the customer is important to (our) business. Why is the customer important to business? Simply, the customer is the one who purchases the goods or services that a business sells; customers can bring profit to a business! That is to say, customers are instrumental to revenue generation that in turn can lead to profit. So all you customers out there must feel pretty important, huh? Continue reading
No Progress To Be Found
In their article on labor relations Ellen Dannin and Ann C Hodges remind us that when companies compete on price the most prevalent approach is to cut wages and benefits—globalizing labor is the latest means to this end. Labor (aka employees, people) is viewed as a cost against the business of business that is profit. Correlatively to ensure that employees remain powerless individuals and not become a powerful collective voice they inhibit (and even obstruct) the formation of unions. Why? Continue reading
Leadership or Dictatorship
Today, America’s captains of business and industry command increasingly vast sums as compensation for their services. Accordingly, there is an enormous disparity—on the order of 325-to-1—between what the average paid-worker in an organization gets and what the CEO gets. We refer to these captains of industry as business leaders: But are they really? Continue reading
Gregory Gull 