Re: Corporate Knowledge Repository LO537

Keith Cowan (cowan@pci.on.ca)
Sat, 25 Mar 1995 15:23:03 -0500 (EST)

Replying to LO468 --

> There is fast-food company headquarted down in Miami that learned
> a very good lesson as a result of the devastating effects of Hurricane
> Andrews, two years ago. Right after the hurricane, people showed for work
> dressed with what they could find. Some of them in shorts and a t-shirt,
> some in jeans,... etc. Company officials developed a new udnerstanding of
> people's intentions, and appreciated very much the fact that people who
> have lost everything (houses, clothes, etc.), still foudn the way to make
> to work and keep the company mpving. Well, to make a long story very
> short, the top brass of this company decided to relax its strict dress
> code for all employees, and even set Fridays as a dress-as-you-want day,
> or something like that.
>
> A little less than a year ago that CEO left the company and a new
> one took over. The rigid dress code cam back, the strict rules that
> existed before also came back, and a few hundred employees where sent home
> forever... Everything has gone "back to normal". Well, the former CEO's
> learning experience left with him, and nobody else benefitted from it.
> R. IVAN BLANCO, Ph.D. Voice 305 899-3515

What you have going on here is the old vestages of the "command and
control" paradigm which is very deeply entrenched in our culture. It is
exactly this type of circumstance that is the cause of erosion of
learning. Until the executives start to recognize the value in reaping
human potential, these cases will be repeated. The "reasons" for the old
CEO leaving also bear some analysis because he might not have been able to
SHARE his learning with the Board of Directors who are the ultimate boss.

-- 
Keith Cowan       Phone: (416)565-6253           FAX: (905)858-7131
Toronto        Internet: cowan@pci.on.ca  Compuserve: 72212,51