View Single Post
Old 03-16-2015, 03:02 PM   #55
THD
Guru
 
City: Seattle
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,142
B (and Wifey B!)-I admire your approach to running a good and effective business. As you mention, an art lost to many in management nowadays. In too many companies, when the word "competition" comes up, it gets framed in purely $$ terms. The idea that effective competition also involves customer service, employee loyalty, length of service of employees has been entirely lost in the financial culture. For instance, I go in a Nordstrom and am approached by at least one employee asking if I need help in each department I go to, generally one who has been there a while, yet I go into Macy's, Sears and others and search vainly for an employee to help or answer questions. Yes, Nordstrom is a bit more expensive, but which one do I feel better about when I leave the store?

One of the most famous management studies ever, from the '30s, used tp be taught in Mgmt 101. A Harvard study about the lighting in a factory. First, the lighting was increased, then decreased, then left the same. At each change, employees were surveyed, and each change was approved of by the employees. Management was confused, how could employees approve of every change, no matter what it was? A little bit of further research showed that employees did not really care about the lighting, what they cared about was that management cared enough to make some changes in their working conditions and involved them in the process. A lesson long forgotten in modern "efficiency" management.
THD is offline   Reply With Quote