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I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 18-Oct-1990 10:29am EDT
From: David Carnell @ALF
CARNELL.DAVID
Dept: PROPOSAL DESIGN RESOURCE CENTER
Tel No: DTN 385-2901
TO: Remote Addressee ( JACK SMITH @CORE )
CC: Remote Addressee ( KEN OLSEN @CORE )
CC: Remote Addressee ( JOHN SIMS @CORE )
CC: Remote Addressee ( ALAN ZIMMERLE @CFO )
Subject: An employee speaking from the heart
This employee, out of fear, wishes to remain anonymous but has
agreed to have these words forwarded since you did indicate on
your DVN that you welcomed feedback.
"I have a lot of personal experience that leads me to believe that
what a Manager says is not what he/she means. When I first was
employed with DEC I made a commitment to the company and to myself
that I was going to do everything within my power to make sure
that the company would remain successful and that I would remain
fully employed with constant career goals before me. I always
believed in very hard work, and that working hard benefits all and
that I would be rewarded for my dedication and commitment. It has
hit me hard when I found out that working hard has nothing to do
with promotions. Working smarter had nothing to do with
promotions, being honest and trustworthy carries no value. Being
open with your peers and Managers appear on your reviews etc: I
thought and probably still think that I'm MARRIED to the company.
I do surprise my Management when I show them first hand that a
buddy of mine and I saved this Plant over a MILLION dollars per
year. Neither one of us were even acknowledged for our efforts.
I mailed a memo to corporate stating what my buddy and I have done
and we were assigned a confirmation number of ###### for our
efforts. I brought this to my management and not even a sincere
"THANK YOU" was ever mentioned or effort acknowledged. As you see
I posess too many ideas and I've been told that my direct Manager
doesn't like to rock the boat. I suspect that he's afraid of me.
He definately has the POWER to teach me a lesson and keep me in my
place. It's very OBVIOUS that I'm a proper example of what NOT to
do to get ahead. You see I keep getting overlooked for any
promotional opportunities. Because I've been here for quite a
while I would consider myself a cornerstone with my customers and
they have complete faith in what I commit to them. I don't lead
them to a cliff and push them over, just to walk away like nothing
happened. I do stick to my religious belief's and do not lie. I
also value differences, everybody needs to be heard and respected.
I don't just talk about it like a lot of Managers and Personnel
folks do I live it! It is a major concern in out Plant and the
subject is used to the point of overkill. I think that if you
don't value people's differences then it becomes an issue, for me
it's not an issue and I try to get along with everybody. For a
time I thought that there was something wrong with me. I knew
that I was depressed from the Management support and direction I
had been given. I now realize that the sick puppy is not yours
truely and I can sleep at night. Management has created an
underground UNION within it's own ranks. The "US" and "THEM".
The US is the Management and the THEM is the worker. If you don't
believe that there is an unorganized, unspoken UNION in DEC just
ask someone who is not a Manager. I firmly believe that DEC will
be crushed by it's own Management structures. I do not worry
about getting another job because I'm not afraid to work. After
all this IS just a job, some people have referred to it as a
career."
These are all the employee's thoughts, shared from the heart to
me; and now I, with you with the employee's permission.
One has to raise the question about mindsets and paradigms.
Do most MANAGERS just consider "regular" employees just "resouces"
to be used, abused, and discarded at will, with the "managers"
doing all the thinking and "employees" doin' the doin'?
And indeed do most EMPLOYEES have the same mindset! Do they
consider themselves "just" employees, paid to come in, do the job,
work hard and go home, with JUST Ken Olsen and Jack Smith and
"managers" owning the rights and responsibilities to solve the
problems of the corporation, creating and implementing "new"
ideas for change, thereby building a better and more successful
Digital?
Intuitive wisdom suggests that ALL employees have the rights and
responsbilities to build a better and more successful Digital.
And who has MORE responsibility to "think" and identify problems,
anywhere, and contribute ideas, anywhere, that lead to reducing
waste and expense, and even more importantly, building more
effectively markets, customers, margins and profit with our
assets. Ken Olsen or the lowest "level" employee in Digital?
Intuitive wisdom suggests EQUAL responsibility, whether your Ken
Olsen or the lowest level employee or in fact, any employee in
between.
Yes, Ken has the most authority and can thus affect decisions that
have the widest impact. But THE ABILITY to bring to the table
intelligence, wisdom, intuition, knowledge and experience, and the
CAPABILITY of identifying the problems and the ideas that will
lead us to greater success, and driving them into reality, is
potentially EQUAL from among any and all employees, WITH
POTENTIALLY EQUAL IMPACT!
Does not intuitive wisdom suggest THEN that the mindset in
executive managers AND the mindset in all employees, and I do
mean ALL employees, should "shift" to one of being a partner in
the great enterprise known as Digital instead of "just" an
employee resource?
Doesn't it seem that a major PARADIGM SHIFT is needed. Sort of
like the realization that the world is NOT flat, but round. That
the earth revolves around the sun rather than the sun around the
earth. That ALL employees as "partners" with REAL empowerment can
build a GREATER enterprise than the old way of managers running
and "overseeing" workers as "resources."
Should not EVERY employee proclaim in a loud voice, wearing even a
large button, that screams, I AM A DIGITAL PARTNER, OWNING JOINT
RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES TO BUILD A BETTER AND MORE SUCCESSFUL
DIGITAL!
And when asked what this exactly means, the employee says, "I am
NOT a resource, NOT just a worker. I am a "partner" in building
this enterprise, this company. I am paid to do my job to the best
of my ability, and JUST AS EQUALLY, I am paid to contribute my
intelligence, wisdom, intuition, knowledge and experience to
identify obstructions impeding improvement in quality and in waste
reduction and in growing customers, revenue and margin, and to
create ideas for change that improve our effectiveness in any of
our company actions in building a better and more successful
Digital.
"I am paid to THINK TOO! And to create and to articulate and to
present that thinking and ideas as they affect my job, my group,
and in fact, any group or activity in this company. I have the
right to ACTIVELY participate in building this company, no less
than Ken Olsen or any manager, and I have the right to EXPECT that
any articulated thinking and ideas I present to anyone be
SERIOUSLY considered for proactive action changes, with PROPER
feedback given to me, in a PARTNER TO PARTNER relationship where
we win together or sink together. This I expect, just as equally
as I am responsible for seriously considering for proactive action
changes, with proper feedback FROM me, to any other Digital
partner, anywhere in Digital, who presents to my group and/or me
his or her thinking and ideas that could lead to improvement in
the activities of my work and/or my group's work which in turn
would lead to increasing our efficiency and effectiveness,
contributing then to continuous constructive change that builds a
better and more successful Digital.
"That's what it means to say, I AM A DIGITAL PARTNER! And not
just an employee "resource" that must be constantly directed and
controlled. I contribute EQUALLY to the thinking that leads to
reality that leads to growing a great enterprise, far greater than
even achieved to date."
Thus, in my opinion, I believe there needs to be a major paradigm
shift in all employees, top to bottom, where we truly are partners
in affecting change in Digital, building a GREATER enterprise, and
not "just employees" in a managers vs. employees working paradigm
philosophy, as now exists.
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| I'm afraid .2 is correct. The really bad managers seem to have the
uncanny ability to protect themselves, despite very obvious
incompetency and/or abuse of their employees. The manager who abused
me (and at least one other person) is still in a position of prestige
and power, making major decisions that affect the Corporation.
Edward Deming, one of the founding fathers of the new quality paradigm,
says that if you see a problem you have to determine whether it is
a "systematic" or "special" problem. A "special" problem is one which
has no pattern, you see it once or twice, but probably never again.
Systematic problems are those that have a pattern. The stories in
note 1228, and the reply in .1 of this note, make it obvious, at least
to me, that we have a pattern in this company regarding control of
management (or lack thereof) which allows for a broad range of
management abilities and competence, from incredibly good, quality-
conscious ones who care about the people in their group, to mediocre
ones who don't want to rock the boat, to demons who will do anything
to rout out anybody that dares to question the status quo.
It is time to apply the quality paradigm to the management of Digital:
1. Prepare a chart of causes of management dysfunction (e.g., lack
of attention to quality, lack of trust in employees, lack of trust
in customers to know what's best, etc.)
2. Prepare a "Pareto diagram" in which you are able to specify which
particular management problems cause the greatest amount of management
dysfunction.
3. Prepare a plan for changing, or educating, or doing *something*,
that addresses the causes of the prime causes of dysfunction.
4. After a time, measure again, and go to step 1.
This is the Six Sigma culture applied to management. One hopes that if
presented in a constructive, beneficial way that the management *above*
the dysfunctional management, at some level, will understand what you
are trying to do.
BUT WE NEED THE SUPPORT OF THE UPPERMOST MANAGEMENT TO IMPLEMENT THIS.
JACK AND KEN, ARE YOU THERE?
Thanks
Jon Campbell
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