Roxanne S. Abbas wrote
>One of the primary stakeholders in an organization is its employees.
>Generally speaking I believe the relationship of employees to the
>organization is more important to them than the relationship of the
>stockholder or the external customer to the company.
While I agree that employees are primary stakeholders I am unable to place
them first on the list. Depending on how the enterprise is funded I think
that the external customer or the shareholder (financier) is first. The
organization needs venture capital or income to survive. The only profit
center is the paying customer. For non-profits or start ups the source of
funding is contributors, however you name them.
Yes there is a social contract with employees that mitigates for retaining
them as long as possible. Yes it is sometimes necessary to let employees
go, a decision I don't think that managers or leaders take lightly. I
think that there is a devil's choice sometimes, do I 'downsize' and save
the corporation or keep everyone until I file bankruptcy.
IMHO the priority of stakeholders is situationally dependent on the
position of the enterprise within its environment.
----- bhobler@cpcug.org ( William J. Hobler, Jr.) Bill -----
-- "William J. Hobler, Jr." <bhobler@cpcug.org>Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>