since it is fairly clear to me( based on your statements) that you have never run a business and employed other people.
Hmmm... I guess I'm going to have to revise all of my business cards to read something other than VP/Operations.
And then I'll have to find someone to fire the people I've hired, and re-hire that retired State Dept Special Agent I had to fire for incompetence several weeks back... <sigh>
Thanks for letting me know how presumptuous I've been in over-reaching my authority at the office.
But let me tell you something Rarebird. I see instances every week where employees pilfer, steal, re-direct, or fail to declare, revenues that rightfully belong to their employers. Much of this I see as a result of employer unwillingness to pay a fair wage that might deter employees from fostering the mentality of "It's alright if I steal from my employer since they are exploiting me anyway".
Of course, there will always be dishonest people who can justify outright theft from their employers, or failing to work to their potential productivity. Some will steal anything that isn't nailed down. However, this proclivity to justify non-productivity or theft wasn't created in a vacuum. Somewhere in the past, the "us vs them" mentality was fostered by overly greedy businessmen who chose to work their people 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, for slave wages and in unhealthy work environments. And that has continued to this day where business and labor are constantly at odds with one another, each trying to maximize their leverage in a battle of profits vs wages.
Sure some businesses are service oriented and require good talent. However, many service industries are usually "commodity services" which can be provided by anyone with the desire to start one up. That means the profit margins are small, the competition extreme, and their ability to pay decent wages not exactly great. So I have to assume that the service business you are referring to must be a specialized one providing a unique product.
Secondly, one can be an unabashed capitalist and be quite humane towards one's workers.
And from the tone I see displayed in the above statement, one would almost believe you hold your employees in the same category as your family pet.
One of the problems that US business faced was the lack of focus on building teamwork in the workplace, something that only began to change as the Japanese, following the managerial principles laid out by Charles Deming, ate our lunch on the productivity and quality front (Ironic, isn't it that they were more willing to adapt an innovative American's managerial style while we clung to our old concepts).
So I don't know where you learned your values from Rarebird, but I would never refer to my managerial attitude toward my employees as "humane". I treat them with the respect they deserve as human beings. I have expectations of them, which I communicate to them and so long as they continue to meet them, we work as a team where I'm the team captain. Now were I the owner of the company, little would change since the goal is to create a viable company and product/service line that is profitable for one and all. An owner who operates a corporation merely as a means to siphon off personal wealth is certainly not the kind of wagon I would hitch my future to.
In sum, the days of dictatorial management style has gone the way of the gold standard. And maybe you should reassess how you express relationships with your employees, certainly to the extent that they are spoken of as team mates rather than hounds in your kennel.
you honestly have always sounded to me like one of those Government Bureaucrats running around D.C. I lived in DC for 5 years, met and talked to many of them and can sniff one 10,000 miles away.
Well, I don't know what you've been sniffing, but maybe you should wash your middle finger. |
