LO and Big Layoffs LO5411

Julie Beedon (julie@vistabee.win-uk.net)
Wed, 07 Feb 1996 09:13:52

Replying to LO5377 --

Gary Scherling in conversation with Tobin said

>It's easier to shed costs than to re-engineer and re-direct them into a
>profitable resource in the company.
>
>> consequences of the quick and dirty approach will--like crash dieting--
>> have many unexpected side-effects of the sort you are outlining.
>
>With three sets of downsizing in so many years, I'm still seeing a lot
>of side-effects.

I have not read it yet but Martin Raff is reading... and he may join in
with this conversation and say more a book by Will Hutton (who by the way
folks wil be a speaker at this years British Deming Association Conference
in May - more info later this week!!) which has some interesting thoughts
on this whole issue of downsizing and short term nature of the rewards for
a few people at the top of the organisation (and the shareholders)... it
is a particularly prevalent problem in the UK at the moment with the
senior managers and new shareholders of privatised nationalised industries
making themselves nice quick returns ... only time will tell if it is to
the long term cost of the organisation but it is certainly to the short
term cost of the people who have paid the personal price... their jobs...
I remember again the Deming chain reaction... do we know that these
downsized organisations are more effiecient ... or do they produce less???
could they be producing innovative new stuff... could they be bothered....

--
Julie Beedon
VISTA Consulting - for a better future
julie@vistabee.win-uk.net
 

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