A consultant friend of mine is attempting to design a "pay for
knowledge" scheme for a manufacturing organization with a union
work force. Here's what he means by pay for knowledge:
...........
Two prominent examples from HBR articles and later followed up with
books are Semco Brasilia, CEO Ricardo Semler, and Johnsonville
Sausages, CEO Ralph Stayer. Nucor Steel and Chaparell Steel also use
similar systems. Semler's book made it to shelves in 1993,
Maverick. Stayers book made it to the bookstores in the last year,
the title has "Geeses" in it, something to do with his v formation
of leadership. This isn't anyhting too new though, many companies
that base advancement on performance have used it although not
publiciszed it. It may be a case of lacking an internal PR job in these
firms than a wild haired HR policy.
I've read Maverick and found it entertainng and full of common sense
as well as insights from someone else falling on his ass and getting
back up. Both books cover experiences at the companies, but a search
of HBR articles will get you an outline of the systems. The Stayer
article even includes an evaluation form.
BTW, I've introduced the Semler article in my classes
and asked studnets if it could happen in the US or was this LO an
example of Latin American collectivist tendencies at the extreme. I
used to get 3/4 of the class or more, now at least 5 or 6 people that
steadfastly refused to believe that this could happen in America--we're
too individualist and set in our manager as omnipotent role. Then the
following week I introduce the Stayer article and viola'. lights go
on.
Happy hunting. .
Charles Barclay 2404 Maile Way
Dept. of Mgmt & Ind Relations Honolulu, HI 96822
University of Hawaii Fax: 808 956-2774
barclay@busadm1.cba.hawaii.edu Phone: 808 956-8545
"It is a bad example not to observe a Law that has been passed,
especially on the part of its legislator; and it is most harmful
to the rulerof a city to commit new offenses every day."
---Machiavelli, Chapter 45 the Discourses.