Stafford Beer argues that the Pareto curve is misunderstood. (My Beer
books are gone, so I can't give the citation.) The idea is that a
particular shape persists, no matter what. Yet many managers, when they
are told that a proportion of activities contribute very little, decide
that they need to find those activities and eliminate them. After a few
rounds of chopping the tail off, only to see the same curve with the same
tail reappear, the result is a much smaller operation. Since the
operation isn't necessarily more productive or profitable, downsizing
eventually loses its appeal. This focusing mechanism, however dressed up
in science, is a poor substitute for strategy.
--Kent Myers myersk@us.net Alexandria, VA
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>