Hey Ben (and the list).
(I changed this from a short private message to Ben to one for the list in
reaction to the LO11614 posting, not because it is of such amazing content
as much as it seems to address a common theme of this and other threads
herein.)
Did you ever watch "Johnny Memonic" with Keino Reeves or the Stephen Segal
movie about the oil derrick adventure in Alaska and see the themes of "the
evil corporation" against the people played out? In the former, the drug
company is holding back the cure. In the latter, they are trying to make
profits and, as a result, are out killing those against them. Cool.
A local school teacher asked the high school students to draw a picture of
a factory. And Every Single One had a smokestack bellowing out quantities
of black smoke. Makes you wonder about perceptions of the employees about
their organizations and others around them.
Business (and especially Big Business) sure seems to take on a "popular"
image of "Bad Guy" in the psyche of the general public. In today's
Greenville (SC) News, the top article in the business section is about a
local employer (JPS) who was recently bought out by another in the
industry (textiles) and who was going to let go "17 white collar employees
because they duplicate jobs with the new parent company." The issue is
they make it look like such an evil move.
But I also think as we shift to more technological tools for
communications, keep more people informed, do more for communities and
environments, we can slowly change the perception to one of
"contribution." When is the last time you actually SAW a smokestack
belching smoke. Manufacturers (for a variety of reasons) have cleaned up
their act in most developed countries. And the "re-engineering fever"
seems to have subsided as organizations focus on human capital issues.
As Ben said, "All we really care about is that we can communicate with,
and learn from each other."
And if we can do this better, we should address more of these
less-than-useful stereotypes.
For the FUN of It!
Scott J. Simmerman
Performance Management Company
3 Old Oak Drive
Taylors, SC 29687-6624 (USA)
SquareWheels@compuserve.com (new name, same address!)
--Scott Simmerman <74170.1061@compuserve.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>