On 07 May 96 12:25 Scott Simmerman wrote -
> Keith Cowan, responding to
>
> >... And in fact we conspire to avoid senior management even knowing what is
> >truely going on. Thus the Conspiritorial LO team theory.
> >Archie Kregear - kregear@lims.lockheed.com
>
> Said in LO7214 that
> >Great story, Archie. Your account is frightening yet realistic. This is
> >one of the major contributors to many change activites failing. The senior
> >managers plot the course without knowing what is really going on.
>
> My experience says it is a two-way street. In Lost Dutchman, one of the
> most common experiences is that, "Nobody ever asks the Expedition Leader
> for Advice." Even though the this person knows the game and teaches
> others how it works, controls the resources and follows two rules:
>
> Rule One: Expedition Leaders are always right.
> Rule Two: Should an Expedition Leader be wrong, please re-read Rule One.
>
> You know, this is Real World Stuff!
> When this is combined with the reality, Nobody Ecer Washes a Rental Car,"
> we have leaders who are (intentionally / factually) isolated from the
> actual activities ("A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the
> world") and who, because of the isolation, don't have any ownership of the
> process or activities.
>
> Yet we will blame them for not supporting us when push comes to shove.
>
> In a past life, I was senior VP of a 126-store chain of retail stores -- I
> had operations AND HRD responsibilities and could offer whatever
> assistance was desired. How many times do you think store managers called
> and asked for help in improving operations?
Keith and Archie told us how it is in many companies. Scott told us not to
blame the bosses if the juniors don't call. We have witnessed the Mexican
standoff in business with each side blaming the other.
The answer to this supposed enigma is that those in positions of authority
are in total control of whether the company becomes like Archie has
related or becomes a group of closely linked team players who love to come
to work and are highly motivated, committed, and creative people 300% more
productive than if poorly motivated. I can give you a set of actions by
those in authority guaranteed to produce the first outcome and a different
set of actions guaranteed to produce the second outcome. I am unable to
provide a set of actions which subordinates can use to reliably create
either outcome.
Executives and managers create the culture which everyone else lives in,
whether or not they know it. Many bosses believe themselves to be victims
of the culture and these have no recourse but to blame someone else since
that is what humans have a strong tendency to do. I will not attempt to
sketch out the correct way to create the best culture since most people on
this list are not into managing people, but I did want to make the point.
The entire world complies with the laws of cause and effect and the
boss-junior relationship does not have a special exemption. Treat me like
gold and I become gold to you. Treat me like dirt and I become dirt to
you.
Regards, Joan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joan Pomo The Finest Tools for Managing People
Simonton Associates Based on the book
jpomo@gate.net "How to Unleash the Power of People"
--"jpomo@gate.net" <jpomo@gate.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>