I've always been interested in workplace policy, politics and issues. The main reason I started my own company was so I wouldn't have to work for fools anymore. We joke that now I'm the fool to my employees. And I know there's a bit of truth to it. And I still have to work for my customers. I'll just leave it at that.
One of the reasons I wanted to bring this up is because a lot of the posts relate to group dynamics.
Just as a generalization some of my observations included how they guided the group through so called conscensus building to attain a preconceived result.
I believe initially I was accepted into the group because the salaried coordinator was a religious sort and during my interview I mentioned my commitment to Christ.
I did not know this till after the fact. Later on when he found out that I was not your typical church going Christian things went south from there.
This group was pretty unique in that they were allowed take part in the design and layout of the facility, travel all over Europe (not me) to evaluate different social systems as it related to the work environment.
Each member's responsibilities where decided by conscensus. This included everything from designing and operating the equipment, developing training for the group to cleaning the bathroom.
We meet for weeks to develope a set of guiding principles, governing values etc that we posted on the wall and took turns reading them out loud at every group meeting. Me being the naive country boy that I am took these to heart.
Each member when given a responsibility was suppose to have the authority to direct their piece of the project as they saw fit.
I see a lot of the same dynamics in play here at GSC. This is not saying it is all bad, but just be aware and learn from them.
To qualify....Several extremely talented people, many in different stages of personal and group development, and some saboteurs along the way just to name a few.
Please don't assume that anything else on this post is meant to be any kind of comparison to GSC.
During this time I was also coaching the local high schools varsity soccer program. This had me spread pretty thin.
Some indication that not all was what it was presented to be started to become obvious when two members of the group got a bonuses for the work that all of us had been doing.
One of them happened to be the salaried coordinator and the other the guy who just so happen to be the one who installed computers in the coordinators church.
Just a month or so earlier each member was to evaluate each other submit the results which was published for all to see. These evaluations were to have some bearing on who got rewarded monetarily or otherwise.
The guy who got the bonus and installed the computers in the churches just so happened to get to lowest evaluation of all in the group. To his credit he was a very good computer tech but he was also blatantly chauvinistic, bigoted and generally did not get along well with anyone.
When I first came into the group, during one of the meetings someone made the comment that anytime we traveled that anything that went on was to stay in the group. I spoke up and told them that if they did not want my wife to know about it then don't do it in front of me. That was good for a laugh but that was the beginning of my lesson in group politics.
The corporation had two other entities that were attempting to develope the same product by using a two totally different processes. Each of these were allocated somewhere around 9 million dollars.
At some point they decided which one was more promising and the other two they would shelve (so no one else could use it) or can it altogether. Ours got canned midstream after millions of dollars in construction, training, travel.
I was involved for about 5 years. The project was going about 2 years before I came into it and lasted about a year after I left.
I know there is a lot of gaps here but as a general overview it became personally brutal. I was isolated partly because I stood up for what I believed. After a while I became my own worst enemy. I began to withdraw and became contentious.
Not that they did not deserve it but I was playing right into their hands.
From the beginning we were encouraged to be open and honest, think outside of the box, help one another to the benefit of the group.
That is what was said the reality was far from it.
They were a couple other individuals that also fell out of favor. One was a lady who had contributed so much to the group but refused to sleep with the union coordinator.
After all was said and done it took me several years to figure out just what had taken place.
I did learn a lot of valuable lessons but I don't think it was because they were intentionally trying to help me.
This was a major deal to me because I took the challenge so seriously. I did not enjoy the cutthroat environment. Even those who you thought were your friends would not stand with you for fear losing some sort of perk or something.
Now that I look back I see that some of the manipulation was not just by happenstance but was coordinated to get the desired end result.
Admittedly after they lost my trust I made it easy for them.
Three of us were ask to leave under the guise that it was a manpower adjustment. Later they brought two more people in. One was the union coordinators brother-in-law the other was an attractive lady whom confided that she had no idea why she was selected but we think we knew.
That all ended around 1996 and I am still with the corporation but plan on retiring this year. Life is good, but sometimes there are some hard lessons along the way.
I've always been interested in workplace policy, politics and issues. The main reason I started my own company was so I wouldn't have to work for fools anymore. We joke that now I'm the fool to my employees. And I know there's a bit of truth to it. And I still have to work for my customers. I'll just leave it at that.
I am by no means an authority on this subject but I have been on the hourly side of workforce for over 38 years. The R & D experience was a tough lesson but I came out of it more informed and hopefully a little wiser.
Some of my general conclusions, personal observations. All of us desperately need structure even though most of us will resist it. Integrity, honesty from the leadership makes any kind of changes easier to incorporate. If you lie to them you can't count the cost. This is all concerning some sort of business but it could apply to other organizations. The company I work for is unionized, sort of a two edged sword from my perspective. There have been up to 1200 people at this facility and for the most part the employees are hard working and dedicated with a few exceptions of course. Dealing with the small percentage of people who over time have proven to be unreasonable usually takes up a tremdous amount of time and energy. It is invaluable to take the time to have a process in place that is fair but none the less absolute to deal with employees who have proven not to be willing to be part of the productive group.
With all of the research on statisical process control and the like I think if the social issues are ignored or minimized that is what can seperate a company that survives from a company that thrives.
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Jim
I'd love to hear more if you have the time.
I've always been interested in workplace policy, politics and issues. The main reason I started my own company was so I wouldn't have to work for fools anymore. We joke that now I'm the fool to my employees. And I know there's a bit of truth to it. And I still have to work for my customers. I'll just leave it at that.
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jeast
One of the reasons I wanted to bring this up is because a lot of the posts relate to group dynamics.
Just as a generalization some of my observations included how they guided the group through so called conscensus building to attain a preconceived result.
I believe initially I was accepted into the group because the salaried coordinator was a religious sort and during my interview I mentioned my commitment to Christ.
I did not know this till after the fact. Later on when he found out that I was not your typical church going Christian things went south from there.
This group was pretty unique in that they were allowed take part in the design and layout of the facility, travel all over Europe (not me) to evaluate different social systems as it related to the work environment.
Each member's responsibilities where decided by conscensus. This included everything from designing and operating the equipment, developing training for the group to cleaning the bathroom.
We meet for weeks to develope a set of guiding principles, governing values etc that we posted on the wall and took turns reading them out loud at every group meeting. Me being the naive country boy that I am took these to heart.
Each member when given a responsibility was suppose to have the authority to direct their piece of the project as they saw fit.
I see a lot of the same dynamics in play here at GSC. This is not saying it is all bad, but just be aware and learn from them.
To qualify....Several extremely talented people, many in different stages of personal and group development, and some saboteurs along the way just to name a few.
Please don't assume that anything else on this post is meant to be any kind of comparison to GSC.
During this time I was also coaching the local high schools varsity soccer program. This had me spread pretty thin.
Some indication that not all was what it was presented to be started to become obvious when two members of the group got a bonuses for the work that all of us had been doing.
One of them happened to be the salaried coordinator and the other the guy who just so happen to be the one who installed computers in the coordinators church.
Just a month or so earlier each member was to evaluate each other submit the results which was published for all to see. These evaluations were to have some bearing on who got rewarded monetarily or otherwise.
The guy who got the bonus and installed the computers in the churches just so happened to get to lowest evaluation of all in the group. To his credit he was a very good computer tech but he was also blatantly chauvinistic, bigoted and generally did not get along well with anyone.
When I first came into the group, during one of the meetings someone made the comment that anytime we traveled that anything that went on was to stay in the group. I spoke up and told them that if they did not want my wife to know about it then don't do it in front of me. That was good for a laugh but that was the beginning of my lesson in group politics.
The corporation had two other entities that were attempting to develope the same product by using a two totally different processes. Each of these were allocated somewhere around 9 million dollars.
At some point they decided which one was more promising and the other two they would shelve (so no one else could use it) or can it altogether. Ours got canned midstream after millions of dollars in construction, training, travel.
I was involved for about 5 years. The project was going about 2 years before I came into it and lasted about a year after I left.
I know there is a lot of gaps here but as a general overview it became personally brutal. I was isolated partly because I stood up for what I believed. After a while I became my own worst enemy. I began to withdraw and became contentious.
Not that they did not deserve it but I was playing right into their hands.
From the beginning we were encouraged to be open and honest, think outside of the box, help one another to the benefit of the group.
That is what was said the reality was far from it.
They were a couple other individuals that also fell out of favor. One was a lady who had contributed so much to the group but refused to sleep with the union coordinator.
After all was said and done it took me several years to figure out just what had taken place.
I did learn a lot of valuable lessons but I don't think it was because they were intentionally trying to help me.
This was a major deal to me because I took the challenge so seriously. I did not enjoy the cutthroat environment. Even those who you thought were your friends would not stand with you for fear losing some sort of perk or something.
Now that I look back I see that some of the manipulation was not just by happenstance but was coordinated to get the desired end result.
Admittedly after they lost my trust I made it easy for them.
Three of us were ask to leave under the guise that it was a manpower adjustment. Later they brought two more people in. One was the union coordinators brother-in-law the other was an attractive lady whom confided that she had no idea why she was selected but we think we knew.
That all ended around 1996 and I am still with the corporation but plan on retiring this year. Life is good, but sometimes there are some hard lessons along the way.
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jeast
I am by no means an authority on this subject but I have been on the hourly side of workforce for over 38 years. The R & D experience was a tough lesson but I came out of it more informed and hopefully a little wiser.
Some of my general conclusions, personal observations. All of us desperately need structure even though most of us will resist it. Integrity, honesty from the leadership makes any kind of changes easier to incorporate. If you lie to them you can't count the cost. This is all concerning some sort of business but it could apply to other organizations. The company I work for is unionized, sort of a two edged sword from my perspective. There have been up to 1200 people at this facility and for the most part the employees are hard working and dedicated with a few exceptions of course. Dealing with the small percentage of people who over time have proven to be unreasonable usually takes up a tremdous amount of time and energy. It is invaluable to take the time to have a process in place that is fair but none the less absolute to deal with employees who have proven not to be willing to be part of the productive group.
With all of the research on statisical process control and the like I think if the social issues are ignored or minimized that is what can seperate a company that survives from a company that thrives.
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