Rol,
I'm close and personal to a corporation too, and see a different view of
management. You said:
> I think the issue is not one of indifference, but of group good versus
> individual good. The best managers care about people who work for them.
I agree with what you're stating, for the best managers. The best managers, as
in most things, probably only represent 5% of the managers in the world. The
others range from bad to good. And the corporation has a lot to do with how
these managers will react...with indifference, with care or with distain. The
corporate culture will reward, socially, monetarily, and visibly, those managers
who act in the corporate good. If they do not reward caring managers, and only
reward bottom line, then you'll build a different culture.
> Managers perceive that at times they must be demanding of people, at times ask
> them to give up something in order to work on a corporate problem. The
> individual has the right and responsibility to say no if that is how they
> feel. The manager has the right and responsibility to ask. It breaks down
> when the individual says 'no' and the manager resents it or retaliates.
It also breaks down when the manager feels the individual doesn't have the right
and responsiblity to say no. This is how we want managers to act/react. For a
large portion of the population, I don't think this is what they would say about
their manager.
> As for the idea that corporations are dying out, it may be so. At the moment
> I incline to the notion that we are going through a cycle, and there will be
> a reaction that pulls us back to a more reasonable position.
I agree it is a cycle...my current vision is that corporations will continue,
but of a largely different type of entity. At the end of this cycle, we'll
have either corporations with employees who bow to the will and whim of the
corporation, or corporations with few (well-rewarded) employees and a very
large independent, constantly changing workforce, which adapts as the
marketplace shifts and fluctuates.
Always enjoying the conversations and concepts shared on LO
Gary Scherling
Helping people help themselves
--GSCHERL@fed.ism.ca (GSCHERL)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>