I saw a documentary on TV that was looking into innovation and change in corporate circles, and amazingly, the High-ups (CEO's etc) actually seem to want innovation.
As a worker all my life at various levels within different companies, I had exactly the opposite impression.
In the documentary, it was stated that 75% of all employees are looking for a new job, and for the higher executive positions, the figure is at around 80+% , I think it was 87%.
This explains a lot.
I have, throughout my life, wondered why when I have a great idea, it is just brushed aside by my boss, and seldom exploited. Now, to be realistic, I know that some of my 'great ideas' are maybe great only in my own mind, and that in reality, the usefulness would be limited by factors in other areas of the corporation.
But probably the main reason for the rejection of innovation is that the people receiving the information are not interested in it, because they are not interested in ANYTHING.
This might be why they act so stupidly, and show little commonsense, other than to give the impression to their specific boss that they are doing a great job.
Looking at it with the knowledge about how most employees are looking to work elsewhere, I can now see what is happening.
If I have a great idea, and I tell my boss, this will mean more work for him/her. It will additionally introduce a budgetary demand, even if only for the time spent presenting the idea.
So, from a purely selfishly personal point of view of anyone in the corporate structure, it has no merit, only liability.
The innovative companies will be those who are innovative at the top.
All others can never have true innovation as it will be stalled at a low level due to personal agendas.
Showing posts with label Corporate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corporate. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Companies That Stink, Generally Stink In Many Aspects.
I don't know if you have noticed, but bad companies are like bad drivers. They don't know that they are bad, and if it is even politely suggested that they might have a little problem, or maybe can improve some little aspect (even though this is a polite way of saying the whole place sucks) the response will be either total denial, or if the information is passed on by email or voice-mail, there will in 100% of cases, be no response whatsoever. Complete and total denial, they are so introvertedly wrapped up in their own perceived glory that anyone suggesting that anything is, or might be, wrong is to be avoided and not engaged into two-way communication.
Bad drivers will typically, also, be bad in many aspects. For instance, the moron who swerves across the road due to being in the act of using a cellphone while driving will typically also cruise through stop signs without stopping, will race up to junctions and slam on the brakes at the last minute, causing others to brake in case they are as out of control as they appear to be. They will generally also fail to signal intentions, or will signal a turn or lane change at the same time as they make the actual move, way too late to be of use to other drivers, but of use to the perpetrator in meeting the law, because yes, the signal did come on before the turn was made........like about a nanosecond before!
I often feel sorry for companies. Sometimes when they are, for instance, asking for advertising to be done for them, they stress this must be like this, that must be like that, and then you go to their webpage, and find it full of typos or the very same bad grammar that they insist is not acceptable to them!
During my lifetime, I have worked for many companies. For a good number of years I was a contract machinist, and so worked as a fill-in for staff who were on vacation. The interesting thing about having such a wide experience of different management styles is that I have ended up being able to forecast the future demise of many of those companies. There are also a good many who SHOULD have gone broke, but were saved by the type of business they were in, such as mining for instance. To manage a mining business is maybe way easier than managing a production concern, because you are just basically digging stuff out of the ground and selling it. Provided you check that the stuff is what it is supposed to be, then you cannot go wrong, as your only limitation is cost of operation.
You cannot 'make' it wrong, because you are making nothing. The only added value you are creating is by the physical transfer of location from under the ground to a place where it can be transported from.
So, statistically, you are probably more likely to find incompetence within a resource industry than within a production industry where the added value is from the conversion of the raw material into a merchantable item.
Bad companies generally stink from the top down. After all, if those at the top are dissatisfied with the way things are done, they have the power to change that, and so they do. Being at the top, however, they are often completely blind to reality in what is going on below them. So if told things are bad, they will generally choose to ignore it, especially if the company is still making profit.
Now, take for instance a phone company such as Primus Canada. Their service is surely comparable to other phone companies. People who use them are probably able to pick up their phone, dial a number, and get connected to the person they are calling. Likewise, the customers are likely to have their phone ring, and when they pick it up find that the person calling them was able to dial the number and get connected through OK. So, technically, Primus are comparable to other phone companies, and might even have better pricing, who knows.
But just try getting in touch with their customer service department. What a nightmare of ignorance! Check out my recent blog entry at:
http://bloggerjohn.bravejournal.com/entry/25417
Like many companies these days, Primus have probably worked out statistically the likelihood of the failure to impact their profits, and the likely conclusion is probably that, provided they keep their sales dept working hard at getting new accounts, then the new accounts will exceed the accounts that ticked-off customers cancel out on.
I suspect that with the upcoming shrinkage of the world economy, such practices will fail to work any more, and these companies will be the ones who disappear and make room for companies who are not behaving so badly.
Bad drivers will typically, also, be bad in many aspects. For instance, the moron who swerves across the road due to being in the act of using a cellphone while driving will typically also cruise through stop signs without stopping, will race up to junctions and slam on the brakes at the last minute, causing others to brake in case they are as out of control as they appear to be. They will generally also fail to signal intentions, or will signal a turn or lane change at the same time as they make the actual move, way too late to be of use to other drivers, but of use to the perpetrator in meeting the law, because yes, the signal did come on before the turn was made........like about a nanosecond before!
I often feel sorry for companies. Sometimes when they are, for instance, asking for advertising to be done for them, they stress this must be like this, that must be like that, and then you go to their webpage, and find it full of typos or the very same bad grammar that they insist is not acceptable to them!
During my lifetime, I have worked for many companies. For a good number of years I was a contract machinist, and so worked as a fill-in for staff who were on vacation. The interesting thing about having such a wide experience of different management styles is that I have ended up being able to forecast the future demise of many of those companies. There are also a good many who SHOULD have gone broke, but were saved by the type of business they were in, such as mining for instance. To manage a mining business is maybe way easier than managing a production concern, because you are just basically digging stuff out of the ground and selling it. Provided you check that the stuff is what it is supposed to be, then you cannot go wrong, as your only limitation is cost of operation.
You cannot 'make' it wrong, because you are making nothing. The only added value you are creating is by the physical transfer of location from under the ground to a place where it can be transported from.
So, statistically, you are probably more likely to find incompetence within a resource industry than within a production industry where the added value is from the conversion of the raw material into a merchantable item.
Bad companies generally stink from the top down. After all, if those at the top are dissatisfied with the way things are done, they have the power to change that, and so they do. Being at the top, however, they are often completely blind to reality in what is going on below them. So if told things are bad, they will generally choose to ignore it, especially if the company is still making profit.
Now, take for instance a phone company such as Primus Canada. Their service is surely comparable to other phone companies. People who use them are probably able to pick up their phone, dial a number, and get connected to the person they are calling. Likewise, the customers are likely to have their phone ring, and when they pick it up find that the person calling them was able to dial the number and get connected through OK. So, technically, Primus are comparable to other phone companies, and might even have better pricing, who knows.
But just try getting in touch with their customer service department. What a nightmare of ignorance! Check out my recent blog entry at:
http://bloggerjohn.bravejournal.com/entry/25417
Like many companies these days, Primus have probably worked out statistically the likelihood of the failure to impact their profits, and the likely conclusion is probably that, provided they keep their sales dept working hard at getting new accounts, then the new accounts will exceed the accounts that ticked-off customers cancel out on.
I suspect that with the upcoming shrinkage of the world economy, such practices will fail to work any more, and these companies will be the ones who disappear and make room for companies who are not behaving so badly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
