Conference 7.286::digital

    
         >    	What are the key reasons for the low morale?
		
Its like being on a loosing team, and having the mgr, coach, front office
people all blaming the players for the fact that all the other teams play
better. Then watching your fellow players get canned out the back door,
while more coaches and front office types parade in through the front door.

         >    	Do you feel that this is a critical problem?

Yes, but only to those who are allowed to endure the feeling. While
some groups in certain functions are busy and feel they are contributing,
other groups are not being utilized hardly at all. 

         >    	Do you feel enough is being done about it?
    
No. 
         >    	If you were Bob Palmer what else would you do?
    
Get the cuts over with once and for all. Offer a final TFSO, same as the 
last one, SERP same as the last one, and get it over with. Announce a target
number of cuts. Announce a target ending headcount. Then do it quickly.

If this is not realistic, then simply announce that Digital will be in 
an insecure employment condition forever. IF folks can't work in that 
state, then let them volunteer for TFSO.

This slow uncertain death watch/brain drain is bleeding us dry.


/Bob

    3 main reasons:
    
    	1. Lack of job security
    
    	2. Lack of job security
    
    	3. Lack of job security

Here are my feelings on your questions.

My morale is low because I don't feel there is future at Digital any longer.
That goes for me personally and for the company as a whole. I just don't see 
what we've got to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. And don't 
anyone say Alpha! What are we planning to do to generate revenue growth?   Many
of the SLT members are old line deccies who are seriously out of touch with 
reality.  How can we move forward when the guys who put us where we are, still 
have positions of authority?

This is an extremely critical problem, most people are operating at much
less than full capacity.

As far as I'm concerned, nothing is being done to improve morale.

Bob Palmer can do very little.  Morale will not improve until the company
outlook improves and we regain the respect in the industry we once had.

    Lack of job security is clearly the first thing that comes into most
    minds.  However, I'm guessing that it is not that alone.  People who
    sell on commission have no job security.  They can be canned if their
    sales aren't good.  But at least they can do something about it.  They
    can work harder, smarter, longer hours, etc.  They know that they can
    control their fate to some degree.
    
    At Digital, I believe that many groups do not control their fate. 
    They can do a splendid job and still be let go.  
    
    Who wants to work under conditions like that?  It is almost a form of
    indentured servitude.

    
    Morale is what each of us makes of it.  IMHO morale is low because
    of a host of things.  Job security ***USED*** to be the major factor.
    I think most people have learned to accept the fact that those 2 words
    don't exist anymore.  Ken Olson (God bless him), was forced to take
    them with him.
    
    What "I" think is causing low morale now is the stress.  Stress from 
    not enough people to do the job.  You have to work harder and longer 
    and still get nothing in return.  Stress from not knowing what your
    job is supposed to be.  Benifits are being cut.  
    
    You go home at night and kick the wife and kiss the dog (or is it
    the other way around????)
    
    And to make matters worse, the possibilities outside Digital are 
    no better.
    
    Do you need more....
    
    

    I'm so far down the food chain that I don't think too much about how
    DEC is doing.  My morale is low for the following reasons:
    
    I am tired of seeing people knife each other in the back trying to
    drive the other person out of their job to secure their own.
    
    I am tired of not knowing from one day to the next if I have a job or
    not.  I would just like to know one way or the other so that I can 
    cope with it and go on with my life.
    
    I am tired of seeing productive people go and managers (some completely
    useless who have dodged the chop for years) stay.
    
    I am tired of getting less and less response out of services because
    they have been cut to the bone.  I am tired of having to take 10 steps 
    to complete a job instead of the 4 it used to take because of this.
    
    I am tired of having to cope with other people's errors, made because
    they are tired and overworked.
    
    I am fed up with not having gotten a pay raise in over 4 years.
    

    
    
    	Again, job security....
    
        How can we go on living a comfortable secure life, knowing that
    	we may not be able to make morgage payments tomorrow? Or take
    	the chance of buying a home for your family only to lose it in an
    	unpredictable amount of time.
    
    	I agree with most, that the cuts should be made ASAP so we can go on
    	looking at somewhat of a future for our families. Get it done!!!
    	Obviously there are many more cuts to be made. But where?
    	It's at the point now where it's hard to tell who's at risk..
    
    	 

    Morale, why is it so low... let me count the whys....
    
    
    	1.  Been in current job four and one half years. It's been four 
    	    years since last raise.. Can't get raise cause I don't know 
    	    my job good enough. Don't know job good enough cause it keeps
    	    on changing (how do you say... "can't hit a moving target).
    
    	2.  A feeling that "big brother" is always watching.. Read lack
    	    of trust...
    
    	3.  A feeling of uncertainty over job status.., and knowing that 
    	    the longer you stay at Digital, the less jobs there'll be 
    	    for you and the less a "package" you'll get once you are let
    	    go.
    
    	4.  Watching fellow workers get to the end of their talerance and
    	    seek/find other employment, making quite a bit more money.
    
    	5.  Seeing the bennies get whittled away, one by one, only to here
    	    some cold management type say "be glad to have a job"..
    
    	6.  Knowing that counterparts in other company are making much more
    	    in the way of salary, and not being able to do much about it.
    
    	7.  Watching this company distroyed by mega red-tape and political
    	    and administration issues, as well as obvious bad business
    	    decisions (i.e. advertizing, methods of selling, etc.)
    
    Just to name a few..!
    
    Just my opinion!!!
    
    

	I agree with .1, get the layoffs over with and lets get back to
	trying to make this company sucessfull. I think one of the reasons
	morale is low is because people are constantly looking over their
	shoulders, "thinking that they may be tapped to walk out the door".

	We were told that "downsizing - rightsizing" would be completed by
	the end of Q4. But, now, we're hearing Welllllllllllllllllll, maybe
	theres going to be more. This has been going on for the last two
	years (seems like longer). This rightsizing has been a Virtual one
	that seems to go on and on and on and on and on.....with no end 
	in sight. I agree that the company needs to "rightsize", but put
	a stake in the ground, say we're done for now, and a year from now
	we're going to see where we're at! At least give people "breathing room"
	Things will never get back on track, with a sword hanging over everyones
	head. 

	RC

    
    General comment.  I am entering what are generally considered the 
    15 most productive years of my working life.  These are the years 
    during which my motivation and ambition best leverage off my 
    education and experience; the years during which ambition, motivation,
    education, and experience are all supported by youthful energy (for
    the most part :-)).  
    
    I wish to spend those years working in a high-performing 
    meritocracy.  
    
    Digital used to be such a place.  If I did not think it could be 
    such a place again, I would not still be here; I will not, 
    however, waste very many of those productive years.  If
    I spend those years in a place where: 1) I am not challenged,
    or 2) not recognized and appropriately rewarded for my 
    accomplishments, or 3) where I must constantly avoid the "slings
    and arrows of outrageous fortune" (i.e, *constantly* worry about
    totally random layoffs), then I will die an unfulfilled person.  
    I can't take that chance.
    
    Glenn (who after reading this decided it sounded hopelessly 
    didactic but decided to post it anyway)
    

    I think that morale is down in certain areas, and up in others.  I work
    in MCS base sales, and I would have to say, that generally morale is
    up.
    
    We see the strategy of the company.  We see the results of profitable
    sales.  We work together as a team.  Now this is no fantasy land, it
    has its problems.  However, I look at it that as long as I work for a 
    company, and they put bread and butter on my table, I give it my all.
    Morale does not begin at corporate level.  What the hell are they going
    to do, propose a morale policy.  Morale begins at the individual level.
    Instead of focusing on the negativity and spreading it, focus on the
    positive, carry a tune, and do what needs to be done to change the
    morale.  Change begins with you and me, not a corporate policy.
    
    I don't say be a pollyana, but just focus on the good, and morale will
    be brought up by enthusiastic, positive people.  We are the morale
    makers.  Bottom line.  I make it a point to be friendly and positive
    with everyone I meet in the hallway, as I do my job.  Leave someone
    with a smile on their face, instead of a rumour about another TFSO, and
    it will take care of itself.
    
    IMHO, corporate management is not responsible for poor morale, the
    employees are.  I know that I am going to stir up a hornets nest now,
    but then again, that's what notesfile is all about, expressing
    opinions.
    
    Have a great day!
    
    Bob
    

Some of the low morale can be attributed to 
'organization chart of the month club' as well as the heavy usage of
pretentious, bombastic terminology in the various newsletters,
announcements, organization plans.

It often seems more time is spent thinking about new terms/titles to put
on the charts, than in making organizations just work better by
good old hands on 'leadership'.

A few phrases I have seen recently are:


    Sample of a new phrase                           Common term/translation ?
    ----------------------                        --------------------------------
   'climate sensing'                                  employee survey ?

   'points to learning solutions'                         ?

   'multi-level, multi-directional progress 
    reports'                                              ?

   'face to face engagements'                          meetings with people ?

   'solution creation units'                           software development

   'mistake proof processes'                           no problems ?

    
      re.10- What Glenn said.
    
    re.11 - what Bob said is good for personal morale in everything
    we do. But being low on the supply chain , I feel job security is
    the one focus that we in this organization have missed for some
    time.    
    		If  
      ....I had been TFSO'd a year ago I'd have had more time and
    money to find another job .
    
    		If 
      ....I am TFSO'd tomorrow, I feel I'd have more of a future than
    I do with DEC. That's the bottom line....futures...what can we expect.
    
    		Tell 'em for me to start saying what they mean, and mean
    	what they say.
    
    			Pablo
    

re: .0

If this is about people specifically within your unit, may I suggest
surveying them directly?  You might want to find some person who
is generally trusted by the people in the unit to conduct the survey
(not to preclude the possibility that you're such a person).

I think you'll find that both the levels of morale and the sources
of morale problems vary significantly from group to group.  It's worth
the effort to find out directly, rather than extrapolating from this
notes file.  

There's also an extra benefit:  just asking people about
morale this way generally has a net positive effect (in spite of 
a small number who will react negatively).  This is a corollary of a
well known experiment to find the most productive lighting at some
company; they learned, serendipitously, that showing an interest in the
workers produced a greater productivity increase than the actual lighting 
levels.

   Gary

re: .0
    
>    	What are the key reasons for the low morale?

	1.  TFSO process strikes groups and individuals seemingly at random
	2.  no end in sight to TFSO or to Digital's revenue stagnation
	3.  skilled/hard-working people get dumped while others who could
		not be described that way stay on
	4.  TFSO "package" keeps shrinking, workload keeps increasing
	5.  Palmer seems pretty plain-spoken but management overall has
		escalated the hyperbole, rhetoric and buzzwords above the
		already high levels of incomprehensibility we had 2 years ago
	6.  Palmer is whittling away at the "Maynard politician" types from
		the top down, but the sense is that those a few levels from
		the top will have time to destroy Digital before he gets them
	7.  impossible to plan ahead because products being supported keep
		changing and because groups keep being reorganized or cut
	8.  no convincing message from SLT on how we are going to increase
		revenue and what our leading "differentiators" are
	9.  breakdown of already spotty communication between middle management
		and line workers and supervisors
	10. sense of being "behind the power curve" in terms of skills and
		technology exposure (due to in-house over-investment in VAX/VMS)
    
>    	Do you feel that this is a critical problem?

	Yes.
    
>    	Do you feel enough is being done about it?

	Is anything being done about the above issues?
    
>    	If you were Bob Palmer what else would you do?
    
	Beats me.  He's in one tough position.

								- paul

    I published this one in note 2517.9 however seems that is appropriate
    to post it here one more time.  
    
    
    Why are we in this mess ?
    ------------------------
    
    1) Company Politics -> A great deal of what is happening/not happening
                           is being driven by 'company politics'.  
    			   Therefore, credibility is lost due to:
    
    2) Lip Service -> Our 'leaders' talk about grandiose terms: 'Best in
                      Class', 'Six Sigma', 'Benchmarking', 'Rightsizing',
    		      and the favorite of them all, the infamous 'Cost
                      Competitiveness'.   To be extremly honest, the ONLY
                      one I've seen we've done something about it is the
                      'Cost Competitiveness, as many have mentioned, we
                      have not receive a salary increase in over four
    		      years, some cases more.   The issue here is that our
                      'leaders' dictate things, and they do not held
    		      themselves accountable.   Is like saying this is ONLY
                      good for you, down there.
    
    	3) Entrenched Management -> Varios have mentioned the 'Musical
    	   Chair Syndrome'.  Mr/Ms X goes from here to there but NOT
           OUT THE DOOR, where he/she should be.
    
        4) 'Credibility Gap' -> How can someone be trusted when they say
                                TFSO is going to be over in Qtr. 4 and
    			        latter, same person says, well not really.
                                On the other hand they expect us to be
                                'predictable' -> do as you say you would'
                                'Charity starts on your house first" !!!!
    
       	5) Meeting Mania -> 1,000,000++++ meetings.  Keeping yourself out
                            of the real word.   If you go into a room every
                            single day, how in the world can you 'do what
                            is right ??????   You can not !!!!!
    
    	6) Accountability -> More properly the lack of.   We are
                             accountable as mentioned above, however it
    			     seems that our leaders are not.   Also
    			     accoutability can not/ will not co-exist
                             with Company Politics and Lip Service.
    
    	7) Leadership -> Do we have leaders or mere administrators ?
    
    	8) Management Modelling - Do as you say you would, this will
    			          promptly increase credibility and morale.
                                  Outmost important, you HAVE TO BE
    				  CONSISTENT !
    
    	9) Teamwork -> Everybody is stabbing each other in the back
                       There is also, what I call 'silent discrimination'
                       between management types and worker bees.
    
    LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
    
    	10) Overwhelming emphasis on Cost -> Cost for the sake of cost.
        	If fact this one has get to the point that what we are
    		doing is irrational.   Where is quality (Customer
    		Satisfaction) only talk but no action.
    
    The saddest part of this story is that about 90% of current US
    companies suffer of these maladies.
    

    What are the reasons for low morale?
    
    I think one of the biggest reasons is an apparent lack of direction and
    inconsistencies in organization.  My organization has reorganized, top
    to bottom, at least four times in the last 18 months.  I have had four
    different managers in that time, one for just three months.  I saw a
    40+ percent reduction in personnel in my organization in December, and
    another 40 percent last June.  We now contract out at least one third of
    our work, and have today seen a P&L report which shows that contractors
    are costing DEC at least twice what employees do.  This means that
    management is again making the wrong decisions... and of course we know
    how accountable they are all are.  It also means that a lot of people
    lost their jobs unnecessarily... 
    
    The tree shakes, the monkey's scatter, and those same decision makers
    still land in the top branches... just in different trees.  
    
    Is enough being done about it?
    
    Simply stated: NO (IMHO)
    
    Today I heard that a CUSTOMER called us for help.  He inadvertantly got
    hold of the secretary of a manager in the MCS organization.  Acting on
    orders that NOTHING be done that didn't directly contribute to the
    success of that particular CBU, that secretary wrote "not a DEC engineer" 
    on the phone message, and, though able to help the simple request,
    bounced the call around until someone was found who was not so
    constrained.  Digital is now competing against Digital, and "our"
    customer suffered for it.
    
    I see conspiring and conniving between organizations which were
    cooperative just three months ago.  I see secretaries ordered not to
    pick up telephone calls from each other's organizations, when the
    secretaries are personal friends and are separated by one cubicle wall. 
    I see physical inventories being hidden from one organization to
    obstruct their success.  I see necessary equipment removed from
    employees cubes, used in every day work... to equalize the distribution
    of equipment.  I see people, secretaries, instructors, consultants,
    managers, people directly involved in the development and delivery of
    customer support and training in the PC and PCI/NOS environment having
    to perform their work on VT2xx terminals.  I see unfulfilled promises
    of "sand box" environments where instuctors can prepare for course
    delivery.
    
    I see non-technical managers making technical decisions without proper
    regard to the consequences.  I see Customers brought into class to
    learn the latest NOS subjects... and have to use PCs which are
    inadequate for the job...
    
    I feel frustrated, disallusioned, and disappointed.
    
    tony

    
    	What are the key reasons for the low morale? 
	
	1.Never ending layoffs. 
	2.The same middle managers that have been managing the last
	four years when we failed to make a profit are still managing. 
	3.No direction i.e. what are Digitals goals besides makiing a profit? 
    
    	Do you feel that this is a critical problem? Absolutely
    
    	Do you feel enough is being done about it? No.
    
    	If you were Bob Palmer what else would you do? 
	
	1.I'd look into why there are so many middle managers. What 
	are their functions? What is their skill set? How many paper 
	shufflers do we really need? Too much overhead. 
	2.Also the mentality of cover your butt has got to go. No hard
	decisions are made without 10,000 meetings.
    	3. Stop selling / developing software that does not make a profit.

    Because I feel we are fighting a losing battle.   I see the worker
    bees trying their hardest to do what is right for DEC...but upper
    levels turn it into a political battle.  I see the worker bees
    trying to save money (can't order office supplies), but I see upper
    levels spending very freely STILL. (it's amazing what you see when
    you work in a group that pays part of DEC's bills).  I see the workers
    having all their "benefits" being slowly pulled away...but yet their
    are many other things in Digital that should be cut..but arent.  With 
    layoff's I still see "save your friend" attitude even though there is more
    work expected in a group but yet your "pulling" the weight of
    these saved friends still.  I see management so overwhelmed that
    they aren't even attempting to manage...and I see the worker bees
    looking over their shoulder just waiting for what will come
    next.  I see certain individuals giving their life up for DEC...
    but are not being rewarded with timely raises or a decent raise.
    
    In my opinion morale can either make or break a company...and as of
    today...we're not looking to good.
    
    Sandy
    

Re .11  ODIXIE::RHARRIS 

    
>    IMHO, corporate management is not responsible for poor morale, the
>    employees are.  I know that I am going to stir up a hornets nest now,

No bee stings, Bob, just a question: If we (non-mgmt employees) are responsible
for the poor morale, why haven't we eliminated it? I submit that low morale
exits because employees have no control over it. We (non-mgmt employees) do
not create the working conditions. We do not make policy, strategy, etc. etc.
We work within that which has been created by mgmt. The stress, worry, un-
certainty, and anguish, creating low morale is not caused by employees, its 
a reaction to working conditions.

/Bob

    
    Re: .21
    
>No bee stings, Bob, just a question: If we (non-mgmt employees) are responsible
>for the poor morale, why haven't we eliminated it? I submit that low morale
>exits because employees have no control over it. We (non-mgmt employees) do
>not create the working conditions. We do not make policy, strategy, etc. etc.
>We work within that which has been created by mgmt. The stress, worry, un-
>certainty, and anguish, creating low morale is not caused by employees, its 
>a reaction to working conditions.
    
    I agree with the points you make here, but I think it is a
    mistake to conclude that if employees did control it that we'd
    have done any better at fixing it than mgmt has done.
    
    Steve
    
    

    Here's a good reason morale is terrible:
    
    In group X (name changed to protect, etc.) several weeks ago, cuts
    broke-down as follows:
    
    Secretaries cut: 			50%
    Individual contributors cut: 	45%
    Managers Cut:                        0%
    
    
    That's about as straight-forward as it gets.
    
    kbs
    
                          

    Note 2625, on the tragic closure of Digital's Kaufbeuren plant is just
    another example why morale is low.
    First Clonmel, then Galway, now Kaufbeuren.
    It looks as if manufacturing is fast becoming a dead duck......
    

    
        RE .24
    
        Don't forget the slow lingering death of Albuquerque Stage 1, 
        transferring work to the Chihuahua plant.
    
        The closing of Galway is particularly hard to take.  There's 
        so much that was being done right, and so many excellent 
        individuals that the only message was not about performance 
        but about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  We've 
        lost some of the best talent in the corporation with that 
        decision. 
    
        Not particularly uplifting.
    

    RE: all past....
    
    THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THE MORALE IMPROVES...!
    
    Sorry, but the only thing left, to do, is smile and joke..!
    All else is a lost cause.!
    
    Later, fellow (but for how long) DECcies (or is that DIGITALies)
    
    Bob G.
    

    >Job security? There's no such thing and never was.
    
    
      Beg to differ, Jim. Job security did indeed exist for many years, at
    least for those who performed well. If it did not exist I doubt that 
    folks would have gone out and gotten a mortgage on the house, bought a
    car, took a vacation or numerous other things. The feeling that you may
    be out the door because you happen to be in a group that is targeted is
    relatively new. Time was when good performers could find a job in
    another group, DEC had many opportunities available to cross train or
    start another project. Those opportunities seem to have dwindled and
    now people realize that if their group is not going to be eliminated,
    they too will likely be eliminated. People are in fear they may see 
    their family plunged into poverty, left with illness and no medical 
    coverage, a mortgage but no income, kids who want to go to college but
    can't afford it. I don't call it belly aching, some folks have worked
    hard for this company for many years and they feel betrayed by what is
    happening.
    
    Paul
    

    I think job security is misleading for a couple of reasons.
    
    1) People don't really want job security but rather career security. 
    People lose enthusiasm if they feel their current job is deskilling
    them. 
    
    2) People should not want/require/get job or (career) security from a 
    company but rather from their own initiative, like learning C++ on the 
    side or keeping current with some technology or skill. 
    
    If Digital emphasized and allowed for more training people would feel 
    they were growing and be happier. 
    
    If Digital, like Apple, allowed for a 6month - 1yr leave (without pay) 
    to go back to school, travel, raise a kid or whatever, people that are
    burnt out could see what its like outside (and without a DEC salary) 
    for a limited while. 
    
    If Digital planned more  innovative products like AT&T, HP and Microsoft
    it would build company enthusiasm. 
    
    my opinions only, 
    
    john
    

Re .28   PCCAD::RICHARDJ "Pretty Good At Barely Getting By" 

 >    You think your morale is low because of what big bad management has 
 >    been doing ? Well, you ought to see how low it is on the unemployment
 >    line.

Big bad management's decisions *put* them on the unemployment line.

 >    I'm tire of hearing all this belly-aching. The level of your morale is 
 >    yours to control, not someone else. 

So you feel good? Your morale is high? Perhaps you just don't understand
the situation. It's not all in our minds. 

 >    Job security ? There's no such thing and never was. 

When I signed on in 1976, job security *was* the selling point - the pay
was better elsewhere, but D.E.C. *never* lays off.

 >                                                        Once you grasp on
 >    to this reality perhaps you'll learn to appreciate what you have when
 >    you have it, and learn to grow in the times you don't.

 >    Jim 

I for one do appreciate what I have, the low morale issues being discussed
are involved with what we don't have; job security and freedom from worry
so we can concentrate on our work. 
 
    
/Bob

re:32

> >    You think your morale is low because of what big bad management has 
> >    been doing ? Well, you ought to see how low it is on the unemployment
> >    line.

>Big bad management's decisions *put* them on the unemployment line.
     
    Managers don't spend their time trying to come up with ways to put
    people on the unemployment line. Their job is to make the company
    profitable. If you haven't noticed, the mangers that made bad decisions
    for the company are no longer with the company, including K.O. 


>So you feel good? Your morale is high? Perhaps you just don't understand
>the situation. It's not all in our minds. 

     Yeah, I feel good ! My morale is basically the same as it was 21 years
     ago.  I'm glad I have a job.  I never felt so secure that I thought that 
     the company would never  have laid me off. Fact is in 1975 I watched a 
     department get terminated with no kind of TFSO package because their 
     product was  obsolete and the people left couldn't find jobs elsewhere. 

    Personally, I've learn to live in the moment.



>When I signed on in 1976, job security *was* the selling point - the pay
>was better elsewhere, but D.E.C. *never* lays off.

    It was an illusion. Anyone who thought their job would override
    corporate decisions on how to make more money was a fool. We were
    living in good economic times. The company made money because it was
    good, but I always knew that the company always came first, not my job
    security.


>I for one do appreciate what I have, the low morale issues being discussed
>are involved with what we don't have; job security and freedom from worry
>so we can concentrate on our work. 
 
    Your low morale is your problem. Its not managements job to make you
    feel warm and fuzzy about coming to work. If your morale is low and 
    your job performance is affected, there are others who are willing to 
    take your place and do a good job and feel good about the mere fact that
    they  have a job.    

     Jim

    >Managers don't spend their time trying to come up with ways to put
    >people on the unemployment line. Their job is to make the company
    >profitable. If you haven't noticed, the mangers that made bad decisions
    >for the company are no longer with the company, including K.O. 

       So why aren't we profitable? Perhaps the managers that made the
       decisons that cause unemployment are still here, making other
       decisions. 

    >Personally, I've learn to live in the moment.

	Some of us look ahead. We don't like what we see.

    >It was an illusion. Anyone who thought their job would override
    >corporate decisions on how to make more money was a fool.

        Exactly backwards - those who made decisions to protect their
        empires (jobs) caused the corporation to LOOSE money.

    >Your low morale is your problem. 
    
        Then why is BP et al concerned about it? Could be its a company
        problem.
    
    
    /Bob

    
    If I hear another sales or delivery manager beef about not being able
    to make their numbers because of a lack of delivery people (after
    having TSFO'd them themselves!) I'm gonna scream bloody murder!
    
    Ed_who_*CAN*_write_C++_Code_but_still_almost_got_TSFO'd
    

    RE:34

    
>       So why aren't we profitable? Perhaps the managers that made the
>       decisons that cause unemployment are still here, making other
>       decisions. 

    We made profit last quarter. Will we continue to make profit ? I
    doubt it ! Its not poor  management, but a poor economy that's the 
    primary cause right now.

>    >Personally, I've learn to live in the moment.

>	Some of us look ahead. We don't like what we see.
 
        You worry too much! 

>    >It was an illusion. Anyone who thought their job would override
>    >corporate decisions on how to make more money was a fool.

>        Exactly backwards - those who made decisions to protect their
>        empires (jobs) caused the corporation to LOOSE money.

    Disagree ! The company lost money because the products we had were
    not in step with the times. Along with that, the economy crashed.
    The fact that we posted a profit last quarter, shows that management
    is doing something right.

>        Then why is BP et al concerned about it? Could be its a company
>        problem.
    
    
     I don't think they're as concerned about morale as you like to  think. 
     They're  more concerned about  making the company profitable. If they 
     were concerned about morale, they wouldn't be eliminating benefits and
     perks.

     Jim

From VOGON News Tuesday, August 3, 1993

     			Keeping Up ... with Downsizing     
     			Diagnosing the Layoff Process
			   by Gerald Lewis, Ph.D.

     	{The Hanover Report, Vol. 1, No. 5  Feb. 1993}
        {Contributed by Greg Opp}

    During the last several years, the workplace has experienced a great
    deal of transition under a variety of labels:  layoffs, cut backs,
    down- sizing, right-sizing, trimming the fat, running lean n' mean,
    doing more with less.  We must remember that these terms are part of
    the corporate nomenclature, sounding neutral and impersonal, but having
    significant implications for the individuals involved.

    To help understand the impact of a layoff in the workplace, it may be
    helpful to use the analogy of a patient requiring surgery:  An
    individual develops symptoms that indicate a need for an evaluation.  
    treatments are provided; however, the illness/disease remains until
    more extensive procedures become necessary and surgery is scheduled. 
    After a surgery, the patient requires close care and a variety of
    ancillary  services.  Many times a surgery may be successful but the
    patient dies as a result of infection or unforeseen complications. 
    Further, although we may be diagnosed as "ill" when we enter the
    hospital, we usually feel worse upon discharge and for some time
    thereafter.

    Within a corporate system, a layoff is no different that a surgical
    amputation or resection.  In order for the whole body to survive, a
    traumatic event must take place.  A decision is made and a portion of
    the corporate body is removed.  In surgery, a procedure on one organ 
    of the body impacts upon and involves the entire physiological system.
    This is true for a corporate system as well.  If 20 percent of the
    sales force is to be laid off, this affects manufacturing, service,
    R&D.  If we are replacing blood vessels in the heart with veins from
    the leg,  there are two areas of surgery that require close monitoring
    and interventions.  If we are transplanting an organ from another
    same is true for departmental or corporate mergers.

    As difficult as surgery (or layoffs) may be, the healing and recovery
    is often a longer and more difficult process.  Layoffs must be  done
    with adequate skill and available resources; if not, the corporate
    patient may also succumb to complications and infections as represented
    by the following:

     	-  Resentment toward management
     	-  Isolation from co-workers
     	-  An increase in absenteeism
     	-  Decrease in work productivity
     	-  Increase in accidents and workman's compensation cases
     	-  Increased turn-over in the workforce

    At the time of a crisis, it is imperative to respond to the people in
    the workplace as one would respond to a family in crisis.  Many 
    workers spend more time with co-workers than they do with their own
    family members.  Some of the most important relationships develop in
    holidays, births, deaths, graduations, and marriages with the people 
    at work.

    Among the surviving employees, there is often survivor guilt; "how come
    I survived and my co-worker was laid off?"  There may also be
    resentment since their job responsibilities may now be different or
    their departments may have changed.  They may have lost friends or
    colleagues or be receiving less salary or benefits as a result of the
    transition. I caution managers not to expect that the survivors will be
    thankful and appreciative for having a job.

    Rather, there is often a sense of resentment mixed with apprehension
    and insecurity.

    In the T.E.A.M. Building (Techniques to Energize and Motivate)
    workshops, I discuss the concept of managing with TLC:  Transitional
    Leadership Coaching, Communication, and Commitment.  The following
    are some key concepts.

    "A"s as key ingredients in any prescription for recovery:

     	- Attitude of open communication

     	  There must be an ongoing process through which the provision
     	  of accurate up-to-date information can be made available to 
     	  all employees.

     	- Awareness of reactions

     	  Managers should have training that will assist them in being 
     	  able to respond appropriately to employees as they react to 
     	  the crisis at hand.

     	- Availability of management
     
     	  Management must be highly visible in times of crisis.  In much
     	  the same way that a general goes to the front line to boost the
     	  morale of his troops, or a parent is more available to a child
          who is anxious and insecure. 

     	- Acknowledgment of loss

     	  The organization must recognize that a crisis has occurred and 
     	  acknowledge the event.  Employees must be allowed to acknowledge
     	  any sense of pain or loss.

     	- Appreciation of the efforts of the remaining workers

     	  Employees must hear positive reactions to their efforts, even
     	  if they are doing what is expected of them.


    In the face of crisis, trust is often damaged.  Patients often feel 
    that they can not trust their MD; children their parents; citizens
    their  government; and employees their management.  Disappointment
    abounds and  trust diminishes.  The key issue facing today's
    organizations is how to  restore and maintain a sense of trust.

   Re: Note 2624.36 by PCCAD::RICHARDJ "Pretty Good At Barely Getting By"
   
�    We made profit last quarter. Will we continue to make profit ? I
�    doubt it ! Its not poor  management, but a poor economy that's the 
�    primary cause right now.

   I doubt we will make a profit in Q1 and it will be due to poor
   management (at least in services).  A lot of services business is
   billed by the hour.  Management strongly requested that people
   postpone their vacations from Q4 to Q1, and a great many people did
   so.  A lot of sales people postponed vacations until Q1 also, and
   sales closed in Q4 because of it.
   
   Now, those of us who postponed vacations have taken them (or are
   going to take them) in Q1.  There will be no revenue for these
   people. There will be sales that don't close until next quarter
   because of these people.
   
   Every year at the beginning of Q1 our manager asks how much vacation
   we all are going to take, and we tell him.  We used to think this was
   for some sort of forcasting (I even tell him the dates for mine). 
   However, every Q3 we are asked to postpone our Q4 vacations.  Of
   course, when acruals go to N+1 weeks, people may be less likely to
   comply.

    
    
    Re: .33
    
	> Their job is to make the company profitable.
    
    NO!  Their job is to ensure that the company remains viable and
    in business continuing to provide jobs for employees and value for
    stockholders.  Focusing on profitability has driven many companies
    out of business because what made them profitable at one point
    was ensuring their demise at a later point.
 
    > Your low morale is your problem. Its not managements job to make you
    > feel warm and fuzzy about coming to work. If your morale is low and 
    > your job performance is affected, there are others who are willing to 
    > take your place and do a good job and feel good about the mere fact that
    > they  have a job.    

    NO again!  Low employee morale is very definitely a problem for
    management.  It affects productivity, bottom line results, and threatens
    the company.  Workers called back from TFSO into a system where morale
    is low will soon lose the elation of being re-employed and be affected
    by the situation producing the low morale.  I am not saying that we
    don't have individual responsibility, but any company whose management
    refuses to be concerned about and to take action on low employee morale
    will end up on the scrap heap eventually.
      

    Re: .36
    
    > We made profit last quarter. Will we continue to make profit ? I
    > doubt it ! Its not poor  management, but a poor economy that's the 
    > primary cause right now.

    NO again!  If the economy is responsible then how is it that not
    every company is in the doldrums.  If we don't operate profitably
    it is because we are not managed in a way that will produce profits.
    Because of economic cycles, sometimes it is easy to earn profits and
    other times very difficult to do so.  That is *WHY* there is management.

    >Disagree ! The company lost money because the products we had were
    >not in step with the times.
    
    Disagree all you like but I say NO again!  The company produced
    products that were not in step with the times because management
    allowed that to happen by being committed to a process that would
    produce that result.
    
    >The fact that we posted a profit last quarter, shows that management
    >is doing something right.
    
    NO again!  All it shows is that we posted a profit.  It shows
    nothing about whether what management did to show that profit also
    contributes to the company's long-term well being or whether it was 
    a short-term golden spike in the company coffin.
    
     > I don't think they're as concerned about morale as you like to  think. 
     > They're  more concerned about  making the company profitable. If they 
     > were concerned about morale, they wouldn't be eliminating benefits and
     > perks.

    Here, perhaps, you may be right, but I hope not for all our sakes.
    
    If you wonder why I think you're wrong on so many points, read Dr.
    Deming by Aguayo.  It shows a distinctly different view of things.
    
    Steve
    
    

    Re. Note 2625 Closing of Kaufbeuren Manufacturing Plan
               
    
    	Another example of why credibility and morale are low in DEC.
    Again, our leaders in Qtr. 4 informed that 'there will not be
    major TFSO during FY'94'.   Well in my books the closing of a
    600 employee facility is a major TFSO.   The amount of people
    impacted is tremendous.   We had 1% hope, we got none left.
    We had 1% credibility, we have none left. 
    
    	On the other hand, my theory that we are only interested and
    only implementing the #1 (and ONLY) Goal = COST at all COST.
    Read carefully between the line note 2625, why we are closing
    Kaufbeuren, it was not due to poor quality, it was not due to
    poor performance - the message says so - it was due to: C O S T !!!!!!
    
    	What are we doing to:
    
    		Create more revenue ?
    		Achieve Customer Satisfaction ?
    		Be Best in Class ?
    
    			N O T H I N G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    One more offering:                                 
    
    My morale is low because too many people in this company forget that I
    work to achieve my own needs, not to worship at the great temple of
    Digital.  I work for the money.  If Digital heaps too much *crap on my
    back and make it difficult to earn that money then I leave.  If 
    there are no jobs outside to go to, in order to feed my family I have to 
    keep working at Digital but am very unhappy.  
    
    * Crap = all of the things listed in the replies to note 2624.
    
    FYI (talking of CRAP) I am using the word Digital instead of DEC as 
    instructed by the header on this weeks pay check.

    Re: previous about Q4 profit et al:
    
    In F93 DEC cut costs by $1B.
    
    In F93, DEC laid off 20,000 people, for a savings of -- $1B.
    
    1993 savings = people laid off.
    
    It doesn't take a genius to see that 1993 savings were transient and
    largely illusory.
    
    In 1993 revenues were flat and operating profitability declined. People
    were TFSOed with no visible strategy, and the ratio of managers to ICs
    increased dramatically. TFSO was to have been completed in Q4, yet it
    continues with no apparent resolution. There continues to be no 
    discernable connection between performance and reward. Persistent
    rumors indicate that Alpha is not selling well and that applications for 
    it lag far behind expectations. Many of us have not only not had a raise
    in years but have taken steep cuts in pay and job level while the
    number of highly-compensated vice-presidents has climbed to over 100.
    There is pending a proposal to delete Notes to 'save money.'
    
    Morale is a function of how an organization (1) succeeds in doing 
    its job and (2) treats its people.
    
    kbs
    
                                                                

    RE:  .28, .33 et al...  Man!  am I ever glad I don't work for you! 
    What planet are you from?  It is axiomatic that morale translates
    DIRECTLY, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, to the bottom line. 
    When employees feel reasonable secure, reasonably happy, feel
    empowered, it frees their collective creativity for the greater good of
    the community, in this case, the corporation.  Scared, unhappy people
    who are constantly worried and looking over their shoulders will be
    expending their energies on survival, rather than on ways to
    create/produce new products.  And noone, NOONE, should ever have to
    feel "lucky" to have a job.  In this society where being self-made, and
    productive means societal self-esteem and status, EVERYONE has a right,
    should they feel inclined to put in an honest day's work, to have a job
    that enables them to support themselves and their families, and acquire
    some measure of self-satisfaction, as well as directly help fuel a
    healthy economy!  There's plenty wrong with this company, right now,
    and part of it are the legions of uncompassionate managers trucking
    around, to whom the pseudo-battlefield called an American corporation,
    in which men play out the age-old ritualistic war games of conquering,
    taking no prisoners, remains their reality, in the face of the
    overwhelming need for majour change in the way American corporations do
    business, and treat their vastly diversifying bodies of employees... 
    when will we ever learn???
    
    Marina - to whom human values takes all priority, for only when all
    people are empowered, have a deep, abiding sense of self-worth, are
    treated with respect and dignity, as INDIVIDUALS, can their creative
    powers be unleashed for the greater good of Man.

    -.1
    
    AMEN brother!!

    It is fascinating to read this notes file in the sense that it is
    comforting to know that so many people feel the same way I do. My
    frustrations are the following:
    
    -No job security. Constant rumors that my function will go away. 
     An employee that has a career path and security based on performance
     will definitely work harder, longer, be more creative, think about
     work at home and get ideas...Now the only thought after 5:00 is
     how long will you have this job, what are my options, how will I
     be able to pay the bills....?
    
    -Unfairness of the TFSO Program. Those people that performed the least
     got the most money. No, Digital doesn't owe us anything extra,
     however, at least keep it fair and consistent. If one gets a lot of
     money, everyone should. If nobody gets extra money, then nobody
     should. 
    
    I also think I still haven't gotten over the shock that Digital is just
    like every other company. It used to be special but now people are just
    numbers/costs/resources to achieve a bottom line. Before, people were
    part of a team/pseudo-family towards a common goal. That change is hard
    to overcome after 13 years. I think many people in the company are
    also still grappling with that feeling. 
    
    What to do:
    
    -Be honest. Finish the layoffs now and give people some breathing room!
    -Show career paths so that those that do work hard and well, are
    rewarded both in recognition and monetarily. 
    -Show what direction the company is going. Not just short-term with
     Alpha, but long-term. Show us how we can be part of those goals.
    
    
    My two cents worth.
    
    

re:43

    Did you think that stuff up by yourself, or was it something you got out 
    of some Karl Marx memoirs ?

    A right to have a job ? You have the privilege of having a job, period.

    There are no guarantees in life other than death and taxes. 

    Doing a good job shouldn't be tied to how the company makes you feel.
    Your paid to do a job, how good you do it depends on how professional
    you treat your work. 

    Jim

    re .43
    
      Right on, Sister.
    
    
    re .46
    
      Bronx cheer to you.  Survival of the fittest, is it?  I hope you
    never have to knock on my door looking for a favor.
    
    Marv
    

>    Doing a good job shouldn't be tied to how the company makes you feel.
>    Your paid to do a job, how good you do it depends on how professional
>    you treat your work. 

Maybe it shouldn't, but it is. Think about it. On a factory assembly line,
people are paid to do their job from 8 to 5, go home, and come back the next
day to do it again. There are no incentives to do more than what is absolutely
necessary. The management doesn't go out of its way to encourage you to do
better, to learn, to aspire to help the company in other ways. Consequently,
people do the bare minimum they have to in order to keep their jobs.

That is the direction we're moving in. Now, maybe people such as yourself are
so self-motivated and directed that you flourish in environments like this.
Most people do not. I can't imagine that you've managed people before, or you'd
know how effective it is to manage with a stick rather than with a carrot.

Unfortunately for Digital, our competitors who are doing well are not moving
in this direction. They *are* providing incentives for employees to work harder
to make the company successful. So, surprisingly, good people are leaving
Digital in droves to work for those companies.

Your view of the world is idealistic in the opposite sense of some of the others
in this note string. I'd suggest you, also, open your eyes.

    Mr. Jim,

    You do one hell of a good job at boosting morale yourself..!

    Either you are in some sort of denial mind set, or you are the coldest
    individual I have ever witnessed...!

    There is of course one other reason for your writing what you do, but
    I'd not write it here, cause it most definitely would be considered a
    personal attach, and not allowed in this conference.. But it sure looks
    like a way for you to insure job security in the eyes of management.

    I understand that you may be happy with the way things are going, but
    there are some who are not.... How 'bout giving them the courtesy to
    express their feelings without your personal attacks on them. Maybe we
    will all feel better if you were to do that..
    
    JUST my opinion/observation!
    
    Bob
    

    Re:  .46
    
    I'll bite!
    
    No, thank you, I do my own thinking, and while no fan of Karl Marx, I
    admit that he had a couple of good points, it has been the consistenT
    MISINTRPRETATION of what he wrote that has some upheavals on this
    planet...  but, how'd you come to pick him?  He certainly was not any
    proponent of fuzzy, warm, feel-good type of stuff...  the sort of
    thing you seem to eschew as if it were poison...
    
    Disagree, every able-bodied, able-minded, and even not so
    able-anythinged human on the face of this earth has a right to earn his
    or her own keep, it's that little item called capitalistic commerce
    that sorta tends to fuel world economies...  too late to back to
    hunter/gatherer type of stuff...
    
    Yep, death and taxes seem to be two items we haven't figured out how to
    escape, yet...  you'll never get out of this world alive, but, who was
    looking for *guarantees* in this string?  How about we are looking for
    an honest day's pay, for an honest day's work, and some measure of
    hope/security that we can continue to participate in this ages old
    ritual of economic survival!
    
    I do my job well, out of a sense of pride in a job well done, but, I
    also know that when I feel appreciated, and somewhat secure, that
    permits me to focus my energies on doing even better on my job, rather
    than expend energies on worrying about whether or not I will be able to
    continue to pay my mortgage and feed my son...  I'm a single Mom, noone
    else to do it for me, if I am not permitted to do it myself.
    
    Bottom line, people are living, thinking, feeling beings, and like any
    other living creature that walks, flies or swims, performs best, and
    lives longest under minimally stressful conditions.  Nothing you can
    say can alter those facts.
    
    Where did you get to be so hard???
    
    Marina - who prefers to read and quote Shakespeare, if you must know

    RE:48


>Maybe it shouldn't, but it is. Think about it. On a factory assembly line,
>people are paid to do their job from 8 to 5, go home, and come back the next
>day to do it again. There are no incentives to do more than what is absolutely
>necessary. The management doesn't go out of its way to encourage you to do
>better, to learn, to aspire to help the company in other ways. Consequently,
>people do the bare minimum they have to in order to keep their jobs.

    There are other countries taking over these jobs precisely because of
    this attitude. Whatever happen to the satisfaction of knowing you've
    done a good job ?

    >That is the direction we're moving in. Now, maybe people such as yourself are
>so self-motivated and directed that you flourish in environments like this.
>Most people do not. I can't imagine that you've managed people before, or you'd
>know how effective it is to manage with a stick rather than with a carrot.
 
    You make it sound like there are no incentives left at Digital for
    doing a good job. This is far cry from being a sweat shop. Working
    at Digital is still a whole lot better than working at many other
    companies. Yeah, some departments aren't having their clam and lobster
    bakes this year, but overall its still an environment that many people
    would love to work in.



>Unfortunately for Digital, our competitors who are doing well are not moving
>in this direction. They *are* providing incentives for employees to work harder
>to make the company successful. So, surprisingly, good people are leaving
>Digital in droves to work for those companies.

    Well gee, if there are so many great places to work out there that people 
    are leaving for, your morale should be better than ever, and the threat of 
    being TFSO meaningless. Reality is that there not lot of jobs out there and
    there are very few people quitting to change jobs.

>Your view of the world is idealistic in the opposite sense of some of the others
>in this note string. I'd suggest you, also, open your eyes.

    My eyes have been open for a long time. The people who are upset are
    the ones who have not been looking at reality, but living in a dream 
    world.

    Jim

RE:49

>    You do one hell of a good job at boosting morale yourself..!
    
     Glad to be of help !
    
>    Either you are in some sort of denial mind set, or you are the coldest
>    individual I have ever witnessed...!

    I'm a very caring person if you must know. Its just that I see people
    expecting things that can no longer be given in todays economy. Like
    an old Digital coworker friend of mine told me years ago, "don't
    expect anything, you'll never be disappointed."

>    There is of course one other reason for your writing what you do, but
>    I'd not write it here, cause it most definitely would be considered a
>    personal attach, and not allowed in this conference.. But it sure looks
>    like a way for you to insure job security in the eyes of management.

     You dare speak to me about courtesy and you write this ?

>    I understand that you may be happy with the way things are going, but
>    there are some who are not.... How 'bout giving them the courtesy to
>    express their feelings without your personal attacks on them. Maybe we
>    will all feel better if you were to do that..

    Well, I was the one that was asked what  planet I came from in .43
    I didn't attack anyone personally. In other words, I didn't draw first
    blood.

     
          
   Jim

    re:.51
    
    Jim,
    
    Are you always this cold... or is this a treat of the times..???
    
    Lighten up...! 
    
    It's just incredible how someone can be so cold..
    
    You should open a charm school..!
    
    My opinion!
    
    Bob
    

    
    Re: .46
    
    Jim, You have a lot to learn.  As I suggested read Dr. Deming by
    Rafael Aguayo.  He is a Deming protege and will give numerous
    examples, backed up with data, of what some people here are trying
    to tell you.  
    
    Steve
    

Things are getting a little hot in this string and several replies have come
close to personal attacks.

Please, let's try to keep it civil.

Bob - Co-moderator DIGITAL

    personal attacks aside,
    
    I think more than anything else, employees of this company would just
    like to get respect.. They deserve the respect of their employer and
    the management that represents that employer.
    
    There are cases, now, in this company, where there is little to no
    respect shown toward employees, from management.
    
    Respect is not to much to ask for..
    
    Respect also comes in different forms. Like timely and open
    communications as to what is happening throughout the company.
    Restoration of trust in employees, by management..
    
    Personally, I feel I've given well beyond 100% to this company over my
    12 years... I have taken it on the chin many a time, when salary
    freezes and such would go into effect. I don't say this to have people
    pitty me or what ever... I mension it because most of us in this
    company have bent over backwards for this company, in the past.. All
    that is being asked of "the company" now, is to show a little respect
    for those that have shown respect toward the company...
    
    Just my opinion!
    
    Bob
    

    You think your morale is low because of what big bad management has 
    been doing ? Well, you ought to see how low it is on the unemployment
    line.

    I'm tired of hearing all this belly-aching. The level of your morale is 
    yours to control, not someone else's. 

    Job security ? There's no such thing and never was. Once you grasp on
    to this reality perhaps you'll learn to appreciate what you have when
    you have it, and learn to grow in the times you don't.

    Jim

    It seems that the word JOB SECURITY has about a many different meanings
    as there are replies in this conference that contain that string of
    words.  In my personal opinion JOB SECURITY is not a constitutional 
    guarantee that Digital is required to  provide jobs for all who feel
    that they are entitled to one but actually is a TWO WAY contract
    between the individual and the corporation.
    
    From the corporate standpoint, the corporate management should provide
    a clear cut goal of the charted waters that the corporation is headed
    into in the search of profitability to repay the obligations that it
    has to its shareholders. (Yes we do owe a debt to our shareholders
    because THEY LENT us the money to be in business and are entitled to
    share in the profits and loss of the corporation).  This means that
    Digital Management has the responsibility of crystal ball gazing to
    determine where the markets are going to be in the future, what
    organizational changes are required what skill sets and resources are
    needed.
    
    Job security to the individual means being able to provide the skill
    sets that are required by the corporation to achieve the corporate
    goal....
    
    Here lies the mutal benefit
    
    Any half intelligent corporation manager realizes that in the computer
    world, there are certain skill sets that are required to do the job
    proficiently,
    
    Secretaries need excellent personal relationship skills, organizational
    skills etc.
    
    Programmers need to be aware of how their code fits in with the code 
    already written and code that will be written in the future
    
    Salespeople need to be computer industry oriented, No shoe salepeople
    need apply.
    
    
    Anyone who feels that Digital can handle its everyday business with
    off the street individuals (remember we theoretically TSFO'd with
    performance being one criteria) is pretty dangerous in the damage
    that they can do within the organization and should take partial 
    credit for digital being in the bind that it is in today. I've
    seen more than my share of the two years wonders that destroy
    everything that has been accomplished and then get promoted before
    they can do additional damage.  
    	
    	--That's why the CNE program is in demand
    	--That's why companies want WordPerfect certification
    	--Thats why recruiters look for track records
    
    Just because someone is willing to work cheaply never does and never
    will guarantee that they will be a mutual benefit for the corporation.
    
    Digital avoids paying astronomical sums for part time consultants
    and workers because it is and should be investing in its own pool of
    expertise and knowledge.  
    
    Anyone who thinks that all Digital has to do is hire the best and
    brightest from universities and colleges is also someone I would
    not even bother to take seriously because they obviously haven't 
    even considered that the best and brightest only go with top notch
    corporations who know how to nuture and develop their human resource.
    The best and the brightest DO LOOK CLOSELY at the organizations they
    are going to be associated with.
    
    To get back to the main theme Digital as a corporation NEEDS
    individuals that are familiar with the procedures of the corporation,
    NEEDS salespeople that are familiar with the industry, the product line
    and can sell, NEEDS engineers that can design the super highways of the
    future, using the equipment developed today.  Anyone who thinks that
    this talent can be bought on the streets from the unemployed is a
    danger to our success as a corporation.  Only by developing individuals
    to meet our needed skill sets as a corporation can we succeed.
    
    In my mind the ability of the Corporation to let me know what skill
    sets and directions I need to develop in to ensure that the resources,
    skills sets and manpower are available to Digital to achieve the
    corporate goals is the two way street named   	JOB SECURITY.
    
    
    And where there is JOB SECURITY and VALUING OF THE INDIVIDUALS
    CONTRIBUTION  you will also find MORALE.

       I find it sort of depressing to read this string, and come to the
    realization that Mr. Richard--sadly enuff--not only professes the
    beliefs that he has, but actually believes them!! Sadly enough, the
    MANAGEMENT of Corporate America also believes a lot of them, which is
    probably the biggest reason why the economy is currently in shambles.
    
      Could someone explain to me just exactly WHAT "DIGITAL" is?? From
    what I can deduce, it's nothing but 7 letters....not very
    sophisticated, nothing much To talk about. BUT.....add the PEOPLE who
    make it tick, those who lived through the growth, worked their tails
    off, sweated their blood, gave their LIVES to the making of the
    company, and NOW you have an entirely different picture. THIS "Digital"
    is the entity that was honorable, honest and trusted, and which
    imparted those concepts to the customers.... Sadly, along with Morale,
    this seems to be a thing of the past....which is reflected in the
    current state of the company too. I do NOT think that we'll see a
    profit this quarter....not enough people were discarded.
    
      Being a DECCIE from the past, I can ASSURE you that in the days of
    the HONEST Digital, 'job security' WAS a real, valid thing. In NO
    uncertain terms, I was told VERY CLEARLY when I was first employed "Do
    your job, keep your nose clean, and you will NEVER HAVE TO WORK
    ANYWHERE ELSE! Digital doesn't want "short termers"! We expect you to
    stay through the remainder of your working life." I was not alone in
    This...and this was a BIG reason why clocks were things that were
    really unnecessary in the workplace. Managers were PREVENTED from not
    managing. We had LEADERSHIP! We made mistakes, but were not crucified
    for them. We helped each other correct those mistakes...we all pulled
    in the same direction. We succeeded!!! NUMEROUS people came here,
    worked their entire working lives, and retired...after contirbuTing a
    lot of energy and sweat...
    
      But...Times DO change. Lieing is now viewed as a way of life in
    America. We have a president of the United States and an entire
    congress that have made dishonesty and scamming a career path. We have
    an educational system that cannot educate...and we have people that
    believe that this is just fine. 
    
      I came here via 2 other large corporations...both of which went the
    exact path that Digital is going on today, although not as fast. Both
    of these companies are now history. Both of them had people who refused
    to see or admit that people DO count and their morale IS important.
    
       We have a hard road ahead. As long as this corporate shell-game
    continues...until the alleged leaders begin to realize that PEOPLE are
    what make companies work right, and they begin again to take CARE of
    those people, we won't be any better off. 
    
      Morale?? Morale in the U.S. Military during the Viet Nam conflict was
    BETTER than it is around most of Digital today!! I knew from first-hand
    experience, because I was there then and I am here today... 
    
       JM

    RE:60

    Gee, when I read your note I could hear violins,....
    
    but then of course I would, I was listening to some bluegrass music 
    on my tape player.;)

    Jim

    Unfortunately DIGITAL is a reflection of society and the times. As the
    economy goes, so does Digital. As working mores change, so do
    Digital's. This company stood by itself for many years espousing
    a totally different people-management technique; and was very 
    successful at it for a long, long time. Once we gave up that Digital
    culture and set of values (remember those?), we gave up our identity,
    our culture, our morale and our distinction for success.
    
    
    -Bert-

RE: .62 

>>                   -< Why did the date/time change on .28?  >-

Probably because the author decided to modify his entry, then repost it
then moved it to the original location by using the command:

	SET NOTE/NOTE_ID=2624.28 (old_note_location_#)

so it wouldn't be out of sequence.  That makes you read the whole string
all over again unless you press NEXT UNSEEN.  :-)

Ohh... I thought SET NOTE/NOTE_ID was limited to moderator priv only.

Thanks-

Lee

      Re .61
    
      Thanks...You just confirmed every item that I wrote in .60....
    
      Sarcasm is a neat way to avoid reality, isn't it??
    
      

        Well, I work on the Assembly line so to speak. I am a tech on
        such a line and I can tell you that here in Albuquerque the
        Moral is at an all time low. You see we've been told that TSFO
        will probably nail some of us in the Q2 time frame. So lots of 
    	folks are updating resume's, looking for other work elsewhere. 
    	Some have been successful most not. Others wait and see if internal 
        job postings will be posted in the Stage 2 portion of the plant 
        that is staying here in this facility. 

        The whole reason the Stage one bidness is going to Mexico(this 
        is what  we were told some time ago) is because we needed the 
        space here for expansion of Stage 2. HA! Hasn't happened yet. 
    	The real reason is of course because the labor there is much much 
        cheaper and it costs much less to build a module there. This is by 
    	no means saying that they can't do the job. Once they get the
    	experience they will do just fine and it will cost Digital much
    	less money.  
    
    		But for now we have to very conveniently get working 
    	visa's and a passport and fly down to Mexico to train those who 
    	will be doing the jobs we now have. A good portion of the test 
    	equipment and modules we used to build are now in Mexico, yet we 
    	have rather large schedules here to build ourselves to support what 
    	they cannot achieve and we're supposed to do  this with minimal 
    	equipment here, and they the same without experience.           

        We are expected to keep producing as if nothing is  happening. 
        This wears a little thin after awhile and it affects work and 
        attitude toward it. There is no incentive to perform well 
        anymore, after we're done with the training in Mexico we
        are history. 

        Unless by some miracle the work load level in Stage 2 is so large
        that they could use more folks, (I'm talking about DL grunts like
        me) there are going to be lots of folks on the unemployment line 
        soon.

        Ben



                                         

    My heart goes out to you, Ben.  What a nightmare.  Hang in as best you
    can, this too shall pass.
    

    Article in a local Massachusetts paper:  New England Business Systems 
    (a med. sized company that makes business forms) gave bonuses to all 
    it's employees of 5.3 percent of their base weekly pay.  Each year quarter
    the company makes a profit ALL the employees get a share of it.  This has
    been their policy for the last 22 years.  Over that time they have
    given an average of 12.2 percent of base weekly pay in profit
    sharing bonuses.
    
    That is what I call an appreciative employer, one that recognizes that
    ALL it's employees are instrumental in the making of that profit, not
    just a few lucky managers who get fat stock options.  Good times and 
    bad, I have never heard that they have laid off or "downsized" anyone.  
    And the only time NEBS has to advertise for workers is when it's 
    expanding operations. 
    
    Wish DEC would would valued my contribution to the company's successes
    over the years, even if it was just a pat on the back.  

re: .51 ("living in a dream world" etc.)

It seems to me that these comments and those that preceded them are saying
"you're wrong to feel the way you do, you should feel like I do", which is
highly suspect in my opinion.  People have their own reasons (background,
expectations, hopes, etc.) for feeling as they do, and what's "right" for
one person may be wrong or even nonsensical for another.  You can be judged
(i think) on how you act out your feelings, but not on what you feel.  If
that sounds like moral hair-splitting, OK...and i'm not sure there is much of
a moral dilemma to explore in this morale business anyhow.

Look at it practically instead.  Is the health of a company made better or
worse by poor morale?  I'd say worse: even people who continue to meet
their obligations to the company are probably not going to "go the extra
mile", as they would if they were enthusiastic and gung-ho about working there.
And some people will start to fail in meeting their basic obligations just
because they're too distracted by anxiety.  So from the standpoint of the
BOD, Bob Palmer et al, poor morale should be a legitimate concern.  It makes
no difference whether you feel the poor morale is unjustified: it's still
destructive anyway.

Anyone who has devoted a significant portion of their career working here
WANTS the company to succeed.  Many of the skills/knowledge we have are
peculiar to the Digital environment and probably won't transfer to some other
company.  Sure, you can build up your technical skills if you're in a technical
job, but a lot of your hidden value is in "knowing the ropes" in terms of where
to find information, how to work with the system (or get around it if needed),
your personal credibility with peers, etc.  Unless you've been here a short
while, that stuff has probably contributed as much to your advancement and
salary increases as anything else.  Go somewhere else and you lose that.  (And
that's also the fallacy of employing a mostly temporary/contract worker base,
in my opinion...too large a percentage of your population will always be in
"ramp up"/"learn the ropes" mode.)

Trying to "look on the bright side" because "it could be worse" (being on the
unemployment line or in Somalia or Bosnia or wherever) is not any way for me
to live my life, other than possibly in the period it takes me to recover
from some sort of personal disaster.  Eventually i need to have expectations
for something better (and the whole notion of "continuous improvement" is
based on that too!): new goals to shoot for, a sense of progress being made,
ways of broadening and deepening my knowledge and experiences.  When i'm in a
situation where goals keep getting "downsized" (OR made so grandiose as to be
unattainable), where retreat replaces progress, where "keeping a clean nose"
and pinching pennies replaces being part of a shared enterprise (i almost
said "adventure")...that's when my morale suffers.

Ultimately learning to have no hopes or expectations for improvement strikes
me as being akin to despair, the "sickness unto death" both for individuals
and enterprises.  The long drawn-out nature of our current difficulties, and
of the company's attempts to deal with them via cutbacks, keep frustrating
any up-swing in morale.  Better to take drastic measures quickly and get them
behind us than this.  Maybe it does all reflect the similar inability of US
industry or the world economy to get out their slump.  But i wish Digital
could be on the leading edge of the recovery rather than being pulled along
for the ride.  I think Bob Palmer is taking a lot of the right steps (like
realizing that Alpha AXP is not going to take off unless we push it as a UNIX
hot box at competitive prices), but there still seem to be too many middle
managers giving confused directions, making work for themselves and others
(cynically one might say, "to justify their jobs"), and fighting for their
position in the hierarchy rather than for the people underneath them who want
this company to succeed but can't figure out how to effectively contribute.

I hope Bob and his team understand the seriousness of this.  I bet they do!

								- paul

    .71
    
    Right on.
    
    It's not that I don't WANT to do a good job or go that extra mile, I am
    just using so much energy on worry.  It's very hard to really care when
    you don't know if you will be around next week to receive the return
    calls to the calls you are making this week.  

    Re: comment a WAYS back by now...
    
    Someone disagreed with my comment about people leaving Digital to work
    for the competition, saying that people really aren't leaving because
    there aren't any jobs out there. Well, that isn't true for software
    engineers. I don't know about others. That's what I was thinking of
    when I made the comment. We've been losing 2/week for over six months
    in my group alone. They're not all leaving the company, but many of
    them are. There *are* software engineering jobs out there. Morale isn't
    the only motivating factor here, but bad morale doesn't help matters.

    RE:73
    So  software engineers can afford to be a little cocky,... eh ?

    That explains it !

    Jim

    about software engineers etc..

    please note that there is more and more good programmers being trained
    in countries where salaries are much less than in the US and i 
    predict that companies will start sending their software to be written
    over there because it is cheaper, i hear that already a number
    of companies do somethings like that.

    just wanted to point out that things are not going to be rosy
    all the time for programmers, as a matter of fact i hear also
    that there are less need now adays for programmers, even in DEC itself.

    so, this only goes to show that you can't take every thing for granted.

    \nasser

    Enough. He is not being cocky...he is just stating the fact that you
    were unaware of that there are jobs out there if you have the skills
    that are in demand.  Which just happens to be software engineering at
    the present time.
    
    It is unfortunate that Digital is losing software engineers to higher
    paying more secure environments, but, I cannot blame them.  Digital has
    offered job security and paychecks to non-revenue generating positions
    for years and still there are complaints about job security.  
    
    My perception is that Digital has one of the lowest revenue/employee
    ratios in the entire industry(if not the lowest) and still manages to
    pay the salaries of many that do not contribute to the success of the
    company.  If anything, Digital's desire to provide job security to many
    people who would have a difficult time finding a job elsewhere because
    their skillset is not in demand, is one of the big reasons the company
    is losing money.
    
    Several notes back(I can't remember which one) someone suggested that
    if you put a pencil to the revenue/employee figures that IBM is headed
    for(at least they say they are) and that other computer companies are
    at currently, Digital will have to pare down to ~55,000 employees to be
    at a ratio that will allow the company to survive.
    
    The best thing someone can do for their personal moral is to try to
    retrain themselves in something that will generate revenue unless they
    are already working in one of those areas.  If you are not in one of
    those areas then, it is possible that a TFSO will affect you.  No
    company, not even Digital, can afford to continue to carry non-profit
    projects and personnel. And currently it appears that over 35,000
    employees fall into that category.
    
    You can work hard and do a great job and get a pat on the back for it.
    And, I will respect what you do.  But, if your work cannot help to
    generate revenue, how can you expect to get a paycheck.  Currently, it
    appears that these paychecks are being generated on the backs of the
    55,000 or so that are making the money.  It hurts their moral too, when
    their job secuity and pay is being jepordized to guarantee the job
    security and pay of the 35,000 mentioned above.
    
    Moral is self-generated and contagious.  I'm starting with the man in
    the mirror.
    
    Bill K.

re Note 2624.76 by COMET::KEMP:

>     at currently, Digital will have to pare down to ~55,000 employees to be
>     at a ratio that will allow the company to survive.
  ...  
>     company, not even Digital, can afford to continue to carry non-profit
>     projects and personnel. And currently it appears that over 35,000
>     employees fall into that category.
  
        While I have no doubt that there are some truly non-profit 
        projects and personnel, the above illustrates the very
        simplistic thinking that appears to be behind some of the
        layoffs.

        Your writing suggests that 35,000 employees are not pulling
        their weight, and that ~55,000 are contributing.  I suspect
        that it is much more likely that the vast majority of Digital
        employees are under-achieving in comparison to industry
        norms.  I believe that in most cases this is due not to
        personal incompetence or laziness but to systemic business
        and organizational factors, i.e., the way we have always
        worked is inefficient, the kinds of things we do (in today's
        market) are of insufficient value to customers.

        If that is the case, and I believe that it is, if you cut
        35,000 employees you simply have a smaller failing company,
        perhaps failing more slowly if you can identify a significant
        percentage of the true non-profit projects and personnel.  It
        doesn't give you a winning company.

        Bob

    re. 77 
    
    I agree, Bob that my thinking may be simplistic.  However, some of the
    management principles that you mention as the cause of under
    achievement pertain to the inability of management to send the lazy, ie
    'deadwood' packing.  Therefore, the truly hard-working are forced to
    carry the truly non-motivated.
    
    Is 55,000 the number?  Probably not.  But, more revenue has to be
    generated if that number is going to be higher.  And, I for one am
    tired of people bemoaning the fact that their jobs are not guaranteed
    for life.  That type of guarantee creates an environment of
    complacency that Digital is known for outside of Digital.  
    
    Nasser is correct in saying that other countries will provide the same
    services for less and Digital cannot afford to pay people to produce
    high priced products that can be obtained from foreign competitors for
    a fraction of the price.
    
    That may be simple but it is a reality in a global economy.
    
    Bill K.

    Imagine what could happen if the 94000 empoyees that are left started
    over achieving, rather than underachieving.

    Imagine that there are other ways besides downsizing to become
    profitable.

    Imagine that deadwood is a function of business context, not personal
    capability;  change the context, change the capability.  Witness what
    happened at NASA during the years of preparing for the flight to the
    moon, and then what happened afterwards.  
    
    Imagine that vision is more inspiring than the path of least resistance
    (layoffs).
    
    Imagine this company alive once again...
    

    >Witness what happened at NASA during the years of preparing for the
    >flight to the moon, and then what happened afterwards.
    
    No cigar for this. NASA got funded by its stockholders (us) because PR
    (marketing) created a "national cause". Had little to do with the
    mission itself. In fact, take a visit to NASA's Goddard-MD visitor
    facility and sit in a "real" Apollo module. You'll be thankful that
    you're a computer person rather than a rocket ship person.

    re: -1
    Charles Garfield, who worked on the moon project at NASA, comments in
    his work on Peak Performance, how people who prior to this mission had
    only been weak to moderate performers changed virtually over night
    because they were part of a mission that mattered.  This was a seminal
    experience for him and led to his investigation of peak performance
    that goes on to this day.  He's written several books, the most recent
    being Second to None.

    
    First, there are more than just a few folks who think that revenue
    per employee is a metric that isn't useful so managing to get to
    that metric isn't wise.
    
    Second, morale, used in this context, as defined by the New World
    Dictionary is the mental condition with respect to confidence and/or
    enthusiasm within a group, in relation to a group, or within an
    individual.  So it specifically means what prospects you believe you
    have around you and what level of confidence or enthusiasm you can
    generate because of it.  When the collective morale is low then it
    means that the general perception is that things aren't too hopeful
    and the outlook is not too bright.  People can't escape being
    psychologically affected by this and the range of symptoms is as varied
    as the range of individuals.  Simply telling people to buck up shows
    a complete lack of awareness of what morale is all about.
    
    Finally, Deming is fond of saying that in his over 60 years of working
    as a management consultant that he has never once met a person who
    gets up everyday and sets out for work intending to screw up or to be
    deadwood.  If people feel like they are valued and that what they do
    matters then they achieve amazing things as was mentioned in .81 about
    what happened at NASA.  Management is responsible for ensuring that
    people know they are valued and that what they do matters.  If there
    are 35,000 people who are not pulling their weight then what more
    evidence do anyone need to see that the organization and the processes
    it uses are the problem.  35,000 did *not* set out with a goal of being
    deadwood and did *not* set out to be doing jobs that don't contribute. 
    
    Steve
    

    I agree that nobody sets out to be "deadwood."  What I do notice,
    however, is that engineers I knew to devote nights and weekends as well
    as days have made a conscious switch to just working 8 hours a day.
    It is a form of rebellion and is closely linked to morale.  The fact
    that management seems not to notice the lack of output only reinforces
    the decision.  
    
    Others are pushed by management to put in much more than 40 hours per 
    week to make deadlines.  But, even this is really not a good sign.  
    
    Both situations are not the same as when engineers are so enthusiastic
    about a project that they don't have to be told or encouraged to put in
    the long hours.  They do so voluntarily and have fun at the same time.
    Some notes recently posted seem to indicate some renewal of this spirit
    of fun and energy.  I hope we see more of it in coming months.
    
    Steve

    
    If you don't understand the value you have to a company then you're
    most likely out of touch with the function your job serves and I would
    recommend discovering why a company needs such service or start looking 
    into a different career. 

     Jim

    re. a couple back
    
    Revenue per employee is not a metric.  It is a requirement.  Where do
    think the money comes from to pay salaries?  You have got to make
    enough per employee to do other things besides pay salaries. 
    Advertising, Research & Development, etc. as well as all of the things
    that are so important to many writers in this conference, such as
    Wellness Centers, league sponsorships, daycare, etc.
    
    All of these things that everyone wants and thinks they are entitled to
    cost money and to say that revenue per employee is just an unimportant
    metric doesn't make sense to me.  Tell me how you pay for all of the
    things that everyone wants.
    
    bill

	Re .81:

>    Charles Garfield, who worked on the moon project at NASA, comments in
>    his work on Peak Performance, how people who prior to this mission had
>    only been weak to moderate performers changed virtually over night
>    because they were part of a mission that mattered.

	Well gosharoonee!  It sure is a good thing Charles Garfield 
	discovered that, or how would we ever know?

	Regards, Robert.

    
    Re: .85
    
    Yes, it is required that we get revenue, but revenue per employee
    is most *definitely* a metric.  What else would you call it?
    
    Revenue per employee is simply the number of employees divided into
    the amount of money you bring in, but, by itself, what useful
    information does it give you that you can take action with?  Does it
    tell you if you are profitable?  What number is "bad" or "good"? 
    How do you know?  If it is high does it tell you why it is high? 
    Does it take into consideration what kind of business you are in? 
    A few years back I remember Digital being compared to Apple on
    revenue per employee and how we came out far behind, but comparing
    us to Apple was the old apples and oranges comparison since Apple was
    a very different kind of company in terms of cost structure.  So we
    knew we were lower than Apple.  Okay, now how do we know whether
    knowing that is useful information or not?  Does that mean that there
    is action we have to take?  What would that action be?
    
    Without being used within the context of perhaps a half dozen or more
    other metrics from which we can make decisions about what, if anything,
    we should do, we may as well not even take the trouble to calculate
    it.
    
    Steve
    

>    Revenue per employee is not a metric.  It is a requirement.  Where do
>    think the money comes from to pay salaries?  You have got to make
>    enough per employee to do other things besides pay salaries. 

'Revenue per employee' is indeed a metric. The gas gauge on your car
is a metric but it is not a requirement- fuel in the tank is. If you
intend to continue driving, however, you make fuel quantity an important
metric.

To use an aircraft analogy, you can jetison fuel to improve your
short-term climb performance, but slavish attention to this 'metric'
and a fuel-jetison 'do-loop' may lead to your trip being cut short
unexpectedly.

Lee

    
>    All of these things that everyone wants and thinks they are entitled to
>    cost money and to say that revenue per employee is just an unimportant
>    metric doesn't make sense to me.  Tell me how you pay for all of the
>    things that everyone wants.
 
	The reason it doesn't make sense is because so many companies fudge
	what an "employee" is, so to use it as a metric is useless.

	Contractors are often not considered employees, boost them by a
	bit, and your revenure-per-employee starts to look real good.

	We used to count part-time people as 1 employee (beacuse of all the
	overheads)
	We now count them as .5 of an employee - of course our 
	"revenue-per-employee" looks quite good then - although our "expense
	per employee" has just jumped.
	Oh yes, sell off media services, move the headcount off the numbers,
	and buy back the services. Revenuue-per-employee just jumped, although
	our expenses have risen too!
	
	So, people are now very scepticle about things like revenue per
	employee - it's too easily "fudged"

	Heather

    My take at it.  "Revenue per Employee" is a "metric" in the sense that
    it is a valid indicator of how well a company is performing from an
    economic point of view, IMO.  The problem is that it implies a
    simplistic solution to improve -- increase revenue or cut employees.
    In a market that is not growing, management might then conclude that
    they need to cut employees.  The problem is that the simple ratio DOES
    NOT accurately represent the true relationships between revenue and
    employees.  It is an AVERAGE number and can lead to the erroneous
    conclusion that it doesn't matter which employees you cut.  A more
    accurate metric might include a standard deviation figure so that there
    would be at least some indication of the hazards of letting go of the
    wrong people.  That is, a high standard deviation would indicate that
    you could expect a significant difference of revenue between a small
    collection of employees.
    
    Otherwise, one might let only a few of people go who are responsible for 
    a LOT of revenue and see the revenue per employee number go drastically
    down rather than up as might first be expected.  Worse, one might let a
    lot of people go who are responsible for a lot of revenue (in
    anticipation of hitting some sort of "best in class" target) and see your
    company go down the tubes entirely, as well as mess up the revenue per
    employee.
    
    Steve

    
    Re: .90
    
    > The problem is that it implies a simplistic solution to improve
    > -- increase revenue or cut employees.
    
    Yes it does imply that, but neither of them may be right.  
    
    For example, what if you found a backlog of orders and upon investigation
    found that it took twice the time you thought it should to process them,
    fill them, and ship goods to customers.  What effect would that have on
    revenue.  Right, it takes longer than it should to collect the money.
    How does that effect your revenue?  Right, the revenue is stalled in the
    ordering process because your customers don't pay until they receive
    the goods.  Now if you didn't know this and jumped to the conclusion
    that you needed to increase revenue, what effect would it have to tell
    the sales force to drum up more business?  Right, a bigger backlog. 
    You don't, perhaps, have a revenue problem at all.  It's an order
    processing problem which has a clear effect on revenue.
    
    Steve
    

    
    
    Re: .92
    
    If we don't satisfy our customers, what Wall Street thinks won't
    matter.
    
    Steve
    

    
    I thought the attached memo would be very interesting in the context of
    this discussion.   Be sure to take particular notice of the final
    paragraph.  It's a clear example of where management understands its
    role in the company.  There are more than a few examples, particularly
    in the auto industry, where auto plants owned by US companies that
    were near being written off as hopeless were turned over to Japanese
    companies and using the same assembly process and workers produced
    a startlingly different result.  The most telling case was a GM plant
    in California rampant with absenteeism, drug use, defect rates, etc.
    turned over to Toyota to produce Corollas and GEO Prisms.  The
    handwriting is on the wall if we want to read it.
    
    Steve
    
    
<<forwards deleted>>
Subj:	FWD: Digital Japan - SERP Program and Mgmt.Pay Cuts
Subj:	Digital Japan - SERP Program and Mgmt.Pay Cuts
From:	NAME: Bobby Choonavala @AKO         
	FUNC: GIA Field Headquarters          
	TEL: DTN 244-6542                     <CHOONAVALA.BOBBY AT AKOV12A1 
at AKOMTS at AKO>
Date:	13-Aug-1993
Posted-date: 13-Aug-1993
Precedence: 1
Subject: VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT PROGRAM - JAPAN 
To:     See Below

Attached is a translated version of the open letter our Japanese 
President, Yoji Hamawaki-san recently sent to employees regarding 
the voluntary retirement program and pay cuts for senior 
management in Japan.

Regards,

BC/jig






                      Enlistment of Voluntary Retirement

                                                            Aug. 6 '93
                                                            President
                                                            Yoji Hamawaki

I express my regret that "the settlement of accounts for fiscal '93 ( July '92
through June '93 ) " has fallen into the red, making the worst record of 
deficit since our company was founded.  There are some reasons: business 
depression and dull market as well as decreased competitive strength of the 
company and lack of the leadership.  The major reason is that the company is
overstaffed.  With the unstable political situation, the future business trend
is unclear.  I cannot help but judge from the existing state of things that the
prompt recovery of market conditions cannot be expected for some time.  If we 
remain an idle onlooker, the company will inevitably fall into management 
disruption, which will force our employees to make great sacrifices.  Such the
worst situation must be avoided.

To plow through rough seas and continue the safe navigation of a ship named 
Digital Equipment Corporation Japan, we must positively carry out urgent 
countermeasures as soon as possible.  This is my duty as the captain.  I feel
my heart breaking, but I have decided to enlist voluntary retirement.  In 
consideration of the corporate philosophy that the company puts great 
importance upon the human rights, it is a matter of regret to propose the 
voluntary retirement to the employees who have been sparing no pains for the 
company over a long term of years.  I truly respect the human rights of the 
employees and would like to follow the corporate philosophy.  I think that it 
is also my duty to provide the crew with an opportunity of taking another ship
before our ship goes on a rock.

I provide a career support program for those who will seek a new job outside 
the company and make a challenge.  This program is more careful and cordial
than other companies in the computer industry.  It is quite different from the
existing support programs of other companies.  Based on the corporate 
philosophy that the company pay deep regard to the human rights, the program is
widely opened and designed to provide an equal opportunity to every employee 
regardless of the age.  The choice completely rests with each employee.  In 
addition, a constructive system, which supports higher education and studying 
abroad and considers preferential re-employment in the future, is also provided. 
I believe that this system is suitable for the management style of a new age.
For detailed information, please refer to the attachment and the pamphlet of 
this support program which is available later.
                                  
Digital Equipment Corporation Japan is not the only way of career. Now it is 
the time of choice.  Everyone selects his/her own way of living by
himself/herself. The company is merely a means of career.  I will have
sincere talk with those who consider my proposal as the turning point for a 
new life, and support them as much as possible.

I would like to give some advice to those who will decide to remain in the 
company. You are asked not to remain in your post aimlessly. You should keep 
it in mind that the severe demand for indirect rationalization including 
indirect personnel cut will continue.  According to the hard and fast rule of 
"No work, no pay," you are requested to work much harder for the 
re-construction of the company.  If you make a choice of remaining in the 
company, You should be prepared for a so- called way of the Cross.  For 
increased productivity, I am planning to re-assign some people to the 
departments which are directly related to sales promotion.

Talking these tight conditions, I fully realize that the management is
responsible for unfavorable business results for fiscal '93.  I will take the 
lead in making effort to curtail the expenses.  To show my strong
determination to recover the business condition for this fiscal year to the 
inside and outside of the company, I have decided to carry out the following 
cut of remuneration/wages for the time being,.

  <Remuneration/Wages Cut>

  President and Vice President            10% cut of the monthly pay
  Managing Directors                      8% cut of the monthly pay
  Directors                               5% cut of the monthly pay 
  ex-IBG Managers and Branch Managers
                    5% cut of the monthly salary and bonuses
  Senior Managers (above level 12)
                    bonus cut equivalent to 0.3 monthly salary

  *  This rule applies to the current level as of Aug. 6, '93.

This "Enlistment of Voluntary Retirement" was unanimously approved by the 
Board of Directors which was held on Aug. 4.  The employees are kindly 
requested to understand all circumstances and support this program.

 
To Distribution List: CORE
DELETED
    

    re .94: 
    
    The man isn't a manager, he's a leader.  We could use more like him.
    
    					andrew

    
    Re: .95
    
    > The man isn't a manager, he's a leader.  We could use more like him.
    
    Precisely the reason I posted the noted.  You can be made a manager
    by decree or appointment.  You can only be a leader by choosing to
    *be* one.  It's too bad that not enough of those appointed as managers
    make the choice, once there, to *be* leaders.
    
    Steve
    

I guess I have been looking upwards into chaos, politics and rank amateurism
far too long. Since the memo is a clear indication of management accepting
responsibility for failure, I first took the memo as a joke. 

Sigh.....

Dave

    
    Re: .98
    
    > I first took the memo as a joke.
    
    I can understand why.  It simply does not square with the way
    American management typically operates.  It is very clear evidence
    of the influence of Deming in Japan.  I suppose it's beating a 
    dead horse, but a fundamental Deming principle is that management
    is responsible for the results, good or bad.   The Japanese companies
    that listened to Deming and have adopted his principles have done
    and continue to do well.  It appears the lesson was not lost on
    Hakamaki-san. 
    
    fwiw,
    Steve
    

Responsibility for your personal actions has nothing DIRECTLY to do with
Deming. It is a matter of personal, individual integrity.  

It is not fair to paint all of American management with that same
irresponsibility brush, although from our position, it may be difficult to NOT
feel that way.  It is also gratuitous, at best, to suggest that all Japanese
managers accept responsibility for their actions. 

Accolades for executives who share the hard times as well as the good times.

Dave

    
    
    the  L O W  morale that I see in the support center is, surprisingly 
    enough, not so much caused by lack of job security, but by a myriad of
    other things.  
    
    From my own experience, I'm tired and very stressed out by having to
    scam customers day in and day out. I have to lie, and tap dance and
    talk UP the company that is making me do these things.
    Seems like evryday we get a new product to support. We usually don't
    know about it until a customer calls in and asks us to help with a
    configuration problem to it. 
    I don't have the manuals, I don't have any training, I have to look
    thru notes hoping to find some mention of it.  The customer asks if
    I'm the expert on xyz. I say no, but I can help and get assistance from
    an expert if we can't resolve it. (an expert? and who might THAT be?)
    So, I muddle thru, trying to fake the cutomer into believing that I
    have a CLUE about what he's talking about, being careful not to slip
    up, having him search the index in HIS manual for some clue as to some
    syntax......by now, he's pretty confident that I'm NOT the expert....
    Probably 50% of the calls we get fall into that catagory anymore. 
    Try troubleshooting an OSF/X25/Programming call without manuals,
    training, or the product installed anywhere.......
    
    We call engineering. BEG for training on their product. They're too
    short handed and busy to help us. We can't afford external training
    (on two occasions they have referred us to OUTSIDE CONSULTING FIRMS
    who charge $1300 per person, minumum 10 people for user level
    training.. like we can send 10 people to training anyways..)
    
    So we just keep going. We've been supporting UCX for several years now
    with ZERO training. With the growing complexity of the product, we're
    drowning in it. Queues are going crazy. Backlogs are out of control.
    And we just keep going.
    
    I see no relief in site. No one seems to be able to grasp the
    importance of having trained people talking to our customers.  
    It's like taking your car to a repairshop and having someone who only
    once looked under the hood of a volkeswagon, 
    and has no automechanics training, work on your Porche. 
    The customers think they are calling a well training, well honed, 
    expert support service.  
    So we try to train ourselves. We come in after hours, suck whatever
    info is available across the network, try to install and configure 
    whatever it is using that info, make up 'cheat sheets' for each other,
    and get back on the phones "Oh yeah, I'M the expert on that" (cause
    I was in till midnight trying to get it installed)......
    
    They HAVE GOT to understand that the importance of training.
    A friend of mine (actually, a couple) left Digital in the last few
    months and went to MicroSoft in Seattle. (they love it!)  Before they
    were even allowed to talk to as customer on the phone, they were sent
    off for 6 weeks training on the ONE product they were slated to
    support.  I support >15 products(so far this morning) and have little
    or no training on any of them.  
    I HATE providing this kind of service to customers who are paying
    BIG BUCKS for the service that they were sold....the service that would
    provide them with EXPERT ASSISTANCE with a single phone call....
    
    
    Oh, some training IS provided.  I got mail the other day that there is
    a new training class that everyone in the center must go to...it will
    resolve alot of our problems and allow us to do a better job.
    The class?  "How to Take Criticism"......
    We also can take Beginning French, Beginning German, or Beginning
    Spanish....
    So now I have the opportunity to provide really LOUSY service in four
    languages, and take the customers criticism with a smile when I'm done!
    
    Well, sorry for the wordy reply.....this has been a really good
    opportunity to blow off some steam. thanks!
    

    
    Re: .100
    
    I am not mixing personal and professional responsibility here.
    Agreed, Deming did not invent the concept of responsibility.  But
    he *is* the one who has done the most to show the direct affect
    that acceptance of responsibility for results has on mangement's
    ability to do their jobs effectively.
    
    As always, no one is saying that every American manager behaves one
    way or that every Japanese manager behaves another.  It is most
    definitely true, however, that the evidence shows a distinct tendency
    for one way in the US and a different one in Japan.  When was the last
    time you heard of an American CEO proposing and then ordering that
    his/her own pay be cut by 10% to show that management is part of the
    reason for the results.  It happens, I am sure, but I don't remember
    ever hearing about it.  From many anecdotes over the last several
    years, I understand that in the same context the action taken by
    Hakamaki-san is common in Japan.  I'd venture a guess that very few
    DEC Japan employees are criticizing or second guessing their president
    right now.
    
    Steve
    
    

    I agree with the sentiments of -.1, btw...
    

    re .101
    
    Come on Kathy, giving good answers is not what the customers want. 
    They want to get you live whenever they call.  And if you are in
    training, how can they get you, live?  You read the surveys that go to
    1 of every 500 customers, so you should know that. ;-)
    
    Stick by the phone,
    Bill

    re: .101
    
    I'm not sure if you're in Atlanta or Colorado Springs but if you're in
    the Springs then I have a sugfestion for you.
    
    First, are you aware that for this fiscal year, training is offered
    FREE to the cost center if you're within MCS.  My understanding is that
    MCS has swallowed the $ for employee training for this year and I know
    for fact that at least regarding OSF/1 training, skilled instructors
    will produce customized training and deliver it to your territory when
    requested.
    
    For example, there is a customized course being delivered to the
    CSC in the Springs beginning Sept 27th for 15 people handling either
    OSF/1 or networking; I forget which is being offered.
    
    My understanding is that the person who is responsible for the training
    in the Springs area is Dee Vargus Enriquez.  She has done a nice job of
    quantifying the need for this training based on the number of calls
    that have come in and the duration it has taken to close these calls,
    as compared to the desired time to close the calls.
    
    If you want and need training ask for it formally, put it in your job
    plan, keep on top of getting what it is that you need to do your job.
    
    Now, if you're in another area, check with your area training manager
    along the same lines as I mentioned regarding Dee for the Springs.
    
    BTW, there is a new Skills Assessment process that is pretty much in
    place at this time which is an honest attempt to produce useful
    information relating the current skill set with the Buisness
    Obligations required/expected for each district.  Make sure you include
    your individual concerns/needs/wants on this form and then you may be
    able to share in the training planned for the near future.
    
    Also, BTW, if anybody can help me determine the skillset needed for
    OSF/1 within the Central States Region of MCS, I am most interested in
    your information.  My assignment is Alpha AXP Readiness for the field
    with regards to OSF/1.
    
    	Regards,
    
    	Ron
    

    RE: .94
    
    I'm gobsmacked. What a concept!
    
    Laurie.

    .94   Gobsmacked is an understatement -- I'm completely blown away. 
    What class.  What style.

    
    In case anyone is interested I highly recommend reading
    A Better Idea: Redefining the Way Americans Work by Donald
    Petersen former CEO of Ford Motor.  In the early 1980's
    Ford asked Deming to help them get started on the road to
    recovery.  Petersen has written a very readable book about
    the Ford recovery, what it takes, and how management should
    behave and lead the way.  I suggest that anyone who takes
    the time to read it, then encourage their mangement to read
    it too.
    
    Steve
    

    Don't give Deming too much credit. After all, Japanese workers today
    are wondering how they ended up becoming corporate slaves. 
    
    Jim

    Who wants to take bets on how long the email from japan stays in
    this string once 'management' finds out its been posted?  Did the 
    person who posted it have permission to do so from the author?  Better
    extract it now!  Seriously, what will repercussions from this be?

    
    Re: .109
    
    You're comparing apples to oranges.  The reason why Japanese workers
    work such long hours and are so devoted to their companies has
    to do with Japanese culture and nothing to do with Deming's 14 points.
    There are US companies which have embraced Deming and the workers
    at those companies certainly do not believe they are slaves.  Ford
    Motor is one of them.
    
    
    Steve
    

    
    Re: .110
    
    I posted the email and I do not have the permission of Hakamaki-san.
    The mail was openly forwarded around the ENET by Bobby Choonavala who
    is the senior VP of the Far Eastern Region.  I took that as meaning
    that it was in "the public domain" so to speak and OK to post.  If
    the moderator's disagree and forward it back to me then it is up to
    them.  I stand by my action and will take any heat if necessary.  I
    think Hakamaki-san deserves the praise he is getting here.
    
    Steve
    

    
    Re: .112
    
    My apologies for not properly spelling the Japanese president's
    name.  It is Hamawaki-san.  
    
    Steve
    

    
    Re: .108
    
    Given some comments about stock prices in another note
    and my suggestion in .108, I thought I'd share a brief
    excerpt from Petersen's book that I think is particularly
    germane to this discussion.  Page 135-136, the beginning
    of Chapter 9 Working at the Top and Helping Others Get
    There:
    
    	Some people believe that the CEO's entire obligation
    	is to serve shareholders.  They think that all his or 
    	her other responsibilities should be subordinated to
    	making profits and boosting the company's stock,
    	usually with a short-range focus.  I agree that the
    	CEO has a strong obligation to shareholders, but I
    	part company with a lot of CEOs over how that is best
    	done.  I seldom opened the paper and looked at Ford's
    	stock price.  And though I did explain what Ford was
    	trying to do to the Wall Street analysts who recommend
    	stocks to millions of shareholders, and although
    	knowledgeable Ford people were certainly in touch with
    	analysts frequently, there were only two occasions when
    	I as the CEO talked one on one to a Wall Street	analyst.
    
    	I also never spent a lot of time studying daily automotive
    	sales.  That kind of report is inaccurate; it tells you
    	only how you're doing right then and is too short-term
    	for a CEO to concentrate on.  Even the quarterly 
    	earnings report has little to do with the thinking you
    	have to do to devise a five- or ten-year plan.  The CEO
    	is the person responsible for keeping the company or
    	business on a successful long-term track.  This requires
    	sound strategies for the future, a realistic business
    	plan, and effective steps to implement them.  I believe
    	that if you work to improve the whole people side of the
    	business and to develop your products and services so
    	that you are delivering real value to your customers,
    	profits will come in the end.
    
    fwiw,
    Steve
    

    re -1
    Got my attention.  I went out and bought the book.  Unfortunately it's
    still only available in hardback.
    
    Thanks.
    

    
    Re: .115
    
    All right!  I've nearly finished it.  Let me know what you think.
    
    Steve
    

    Wake up!  Senior management is doing exactly what they want in
    lowering morale.  It is called flushing the system.  The startegy
    is to make life miserable enough that people will leave without
    the company paying the costs associated with TFSO.  They have
    ceased to care if they lose some of the better folk.  It is 
    the cost they will pay to reduce headcount.  Look no further
    than UNISYS.  They cut way back, further than they had to, and
    added new folk(LOW PAY, LOW VACATION) as they needed them.
    
    Yogi said, "It ain't over till its over"..........well.....IT'S OVER.

    You know, the stock market seems to be influenced to a remarkable
    extent by investors in mutual funds.  These folks are basically putting
    a significant chunk of their life savings into the stock market.  It is
    understood that mutual funds may not do well in the short term, but
    they pay off well in the long term.
    
    Combine this with increased pressure on CEOs to make short-term
    profits at any cost ...  (Slight detraction from the topic, but seems
    to pertain to the current discussion.)
    
    re: .101
    
    Man, that is a sad, sad story.  We're feeling it here, too (in
    engineering support).  Had one engineer that cited lack of support in 
    training as a reason why he quit.  Basically, he had $45K of 
    consulting lined up for Digital and needed our org to invest $1K for 
    training so he could do the work.  They refused.  We lost the business.  
    He's now working for a competitor.
    
    Steve

    re: .117
    
    I don't believe that management is consciously trying to make life so
    miserable that people will leave.  This smacks of conspiracy between
    management and workers.  Though the thought has some appeal, I don't
    believe there is such a conspiracy, at least a coordinated one.  Rough
    as things are in my organization, I have the distinct impression that
    management really doesn't enjoy seeing the brain drain that is
    happening here.  In my communications with them they are every bit as
    tormented and threatened by what is happening in the company.  My
    cost center manager sees the damage being done and understands the 
    threat to the future of his organization.  I hope there are many 
    others as perceptive as he is.
    
    I think it is closer to reality that higher-ups are mandating and
    cost-controlling "to save the company."  When these hit the lower
    levels of management, they have to "figure it out" and "make the
    Company more successful and more productive" with less.  If you want 
    to see where the REAL hard decisions are being made, you may need 
    to look no further than your own cost center manager.  
    
    I really feel for cost center managers within the company who are being
    torn between edicts from on high versus the morale of their people.
    My cost center manager is one of those.  (BTW, he doesn't read notes
    and will likely never read this, so I ain't sucking up.)
    
    Steve

    
    re. .117	Bingo...
    re. -1	Digital, what ever it is in X years, will look back on the
    past 20+ months as "noise". Wang is touting a comeback, based on
    Software and Services. We are in a very competitive market right now
    and TOUGH decisions have to be made. My .02.
    
    		fred deady	
    		

    re 117
    Maybe that is the management strategy - make conditions miserable
    enough so that people will want to leave.  
    
    Candor and honesty can achieve the same result, without the
    repercussions that will inevitably follow from the above strategy.
    People do not forget these kinds of experiences.  If it can be said
    that the success of an organization is ultimately rooted in trust, then
    that strategy is clearly bankrupt.  It flies against everything we are
    coming to regard as necessary prerequisites to business success.
    
    That Wang is coming out of bankruptcy is small consolation to the
    disaster it left in its wake.  If that is the definition of success
    that our management is working toward, then it is indeed time to leave.
    

    re.99
    
    � I can understand why.  It simply does not square with the way
    � American management typically operates.  It is very clear evidence
    � of the influence of Deming in Japan.  I suppose it's beating a 
    � dead horse, but a fundamental Deming principle is that management
    � is responsible for the results, good or bad.   The Japanese companies
    
    Taking responsibility (at least in Japan, and many oriental cultures)
    are not an influence of Deming, but rather a part of their culture.
    Though I'd admit it is a lot more visible and dramatic in the Japanese
    culture. Leaders in Japan (be they managers, CEOs, generals,...)
    traditionally commit hari-kiri (slitting your own abdomen) when they
    fail.

    Morale...
    
    Of late I've been feeling like a manic depressive up one day and 
    down the next.
    
    I meet with customers every day and lately have started to 
    perform regular SW delivery in addition to my sales support 
    duties, to get that all important expense relief for my cost center,
    but I really hurt somedays to crawl out of bed.
    
    Hurt?  Oh, no, not real physical pain but the feeling of dread that 
    comes from having to pump up for customers who've:
    
    a) Never heard of Alpha AXP yet.
    
    b) Want "things" for "Free" just like the Old Days.
    
    c) See every growing markets that Digital's doesn't even play in,
       and wonder who's at the helm...
    
    Or work with Digital people who:
    
    a) Vary from a little battle fatigue to the walking wounded,
       many who are still recovering from the layoffs and job
       shuffling (eh right sizing) of last year.
    
    b) Want to succeed but are just too worried about their jobs
       to even move.
    
    c) Are so ill trained as to be embarassing (I've given up calling CSC
       as have many of my customers) (Call Microsoft of Lotus support lines
       it's 100% different -- This isn't a put down of the people but the
       managers who think they're doing the job -- they aren't)
    
    
    The people side of the job has gone downhill dramatically for the
    last 12 months... downhill for even those who have been successful 
    and bring in large amounts of dollars for the company.
    
    
    The Pain wears you out but the good things are there too:
    
    a) Reminding folks that Digital has the highest performing CPUS
       available today.
    
    b) Being able to position OpenVMS, Unix, and the Desktop to customers
       with a real message around each without worrying what's P.C....
    
    c) Selling something that you know no other vendor in the industry
       can deliver!
    
    c) Seeing Excitement about Digital in folks that 12 months ago wrote 
       us off...
    
    Sometimes, it's very rewarding;
    
    LAST WEEK:
    
    Late Afternoon after doing a Storage PID for a customer I drove 
    from Dallas to Abilene (about a three hour drive) to speak to 
    the Abilene and San Angelo DECUS LUGS about WNT.  We met in a 
    Steak House and they bought me the finest steak I've ever eaten 
    and it was only $6.99 (for 1lb!) I thought I was back in the 1970s. 
    
    I had carted out a Jensen, and a trunk full of Alpha/DEC Books (I don't 
    believe in the glossies;-).  
    
    The 35 or so DECUS folks were wonderful (and all major customers of 
    Digital in the heart of Texas).  Interested, and hungry for Digital's 
    view of things and I did my best to entertain and enlighten them on 
    the mysteries of WNT and Alpha as well as what Digital was doing with 
    the DECPC AXP 150 or what ever the new name is this week;-)  
    
    I took 8 boxes of tehnical books -- I didn't have to bring any home!
    
    It was a long trip home, about midnight outside of Ft Worth, a State 
    Trooper clocked me doing 77 in a 65 and gave me the ticket (but he 
    skipped the ticket for expired proof of insurance - it was only about 
    a week anyways:-) I also had a PID scheduled for 8:00am the next morning;
    sometimes coffee is the only way to survive;-)...
    
    --
    LAST WEEKEND:
    
    I attended a SuperSaturday Meeting of the Local Computer Council of 
    User Groups in our city and just walked around.  Apple, MSDOS, and 
    other computer groups were present, as were over 400+ users who gave 
    up a Saturday Morning/Afternoon for the privilege.
    
    I looked very hard, talked with some folks and looked for any Digital
    content at all.  There was none.  I wandered into a couple of sessions,
    and these folks were wrestling with problems and issues that I've 
    considered shrink wrapped from Digital for quite some time.  I spoke 
    with several of them off line and think I helped a little.
     
    I started as just an observer of the event and found myself part of it,
    I went back out to my car I got 50 crunchies with Kermit, DECinfo, WNT
    FAQs, and some other DECUS/Internet free/shareware and some local DECUS 
    newsletters and gave them out at at session on Internet connectivity,
    about 100 interested computer users were touched by Digital that day
    and of that 100, my local DECUS BBS got over 30 call for more
    information Saturday night and Sunday.
    
    After the sessions I spoke the the president of the User Group Council
    and offered some technical sessions from DECUS next month.  They were 
    delighted and we'll most likely have 3-4 technical sessions and a 
    business session to prostalitize for Digital and DECUS next month.
    
    --
    
    Now I'm not in marketing, or sales, but I wander around in the course
    of my job and see opportunities to showcase Digital that we entirely
    ignore -- I take care of what's in my and my customer's back yards
    that's the best I can do but I wonder about the other cities... 
    
    
    
    And as I perform my daily job, and hold a good front for Digital 
    to the public, who worries about me?  
    
    * Who worries that an employee might start having more bad days 
      than good?
    
    * Who is concerned that as an employee's support network shrinks, 
      their days get longer and longer?
    
    * Who is staying up at night and saying a silent prayer for the the
      Loyal Digital Employee driving home late or fixing a customer's 
      problem in the middle of the night, on weekends or on holidays?
    
    * Who is concerned that today's solid product being sold is tomorrow's 
      embarassing migration tool to yet another worthless software strategy?
    
    * Who consoles the worry that technical prowess that was encouraged
      by management last year will be rewarded with retraining instead
      of TFSO?
    
    * Who cares that ongoing TECHNICAL training is the most important
      facet of most employee's professional career?
    
    The answer to WHO; is and should be managment.
    
    When I wake up in that cold sweat from the Dream about being TFSO'd
    at DEC100 I console myself that I can always get a job -- but if 
    all I wanted was just a job, I wouldn't have joined Digital in the 
    first place.
    
    John W.
    

    Amen!  Been there, done that (here in MBO)....

    
    Re: .122
    
    > Taking responsibility (at least in Japan, and many oriental cultures)
    > are not an influence of Deming, but rather a part of their culture.
    
    Yes, the concept of taking responsibility is not due to Deming's
    influence.  What Deming did influence, however, is the way in which
    Japanese managers take responsibility.  Deming helped them to develop
    a way of doing that which would help the company improve.  Hari-kiri
    does not produce managers who learn how to succeed.
    
    Steve
     
    

    re 123
    
    John,
     
     Next time take I20 west instead of east from Abilene. Drive 2.5 hours
    to Midland. We'll also feed you and have lot's of loyal Digital
    customers here. All the major oil companies, U. of Texas and a few
    others. We would all be happy to have you.
    
     Thanks for your efforts.
    
    Reis 
    MCS

    
    >the Abilene and San Angelo DECUS LUGS about WNT.  We met in a 
    >Steak House and they bought me the finest steak I've ever eaten 
    >and it was only $6.99 (for 1lb!) I thought I was back in the 1970s. 
    
    yum, yum ! 
    
    sounds like a great place! i heared that food in general is sheep in 
    Texas more than any other place in the America.
    
    one thing iam jeoluse about from the DECeees who are in marketing and sales
    and all that , is that they get to travel all around and to eat good food
    at different places during their travel, here in engineering we eat the 
    same thing, day after day after day :(
    
    \nasser
       

    
>    sounds like a great place! i heared that food in general is sheep in 
>    Texas more than any other place in the America.


	sheep???????


	Heather

    
    Re: .128
    
    > sheep??????
    
    Yes, a quite brilliant pun actually.  In the last century there
    were range wars between sheepmen and cattlemen.  Cattle won out
    for the most part, particularly in Texas.
    
    Steve
    

    
    Maybe he was confusing Abilene with Adelaide (?)
    
    

    re: .last few "sheep"
    
    Bubba, let's not forget that San Angelo, Texas, is home of the 
    Miss Wool Pageant.

>           <<< Note 2624.127 by STAR::ABBASI "iam a good si'kick" >>>
>               -< one advantage to being in sales and marketing >-

    
>    >the Abilene and San Angelo DECUS LUGS about WNT.  We met in a 
>    >Steak House and they bought me the finest steak I've ever eaten 
>    >and it was only $6.99 (for 1lb!) I thought I was back in the 1970s. 
    
>    yum, yum ! 
    
>    sounds like a great place! i heared that food in general is sheep in 
>    Texas more than any other place in the America.
    
    Food in general is Tex-Mex in Texas... Although Sheep is available
    too;-)
    
>    one thing iam jeoluse about from the DECeees who are in marketing and sales
>    and all that , is that they get to travel all around and to eat good food
>    at different places during their travel, here in engineering we eat the 
>    same thing, day after day after day :(
    
    Let's see:
    
    1) I'm not in Sales or Marketing I'm a Software Consultant.
    
    2) Traveling all around in Texas/Oklahoma is not one of those
       casual road trips... Make sure your A/C works -- it was 105
       on my trip to Abilene.. and bring along plenty of fluids to 
       drink... You'll need them.
    
    3) I've traveled to many parts of this country and I can honestly
       say that the food is good everywhere I've been:-)
    
    >    \nasser
       

    Nassar,
    
    I can't recommend Sales Support/Customer delivery to everyone but 
    it's been and continues to be a challenging career for me.  If you 
    are actively considering it for the excitement and the food;-) 
    
    I would hope you would reconsider -- you would be disappointed;-)
    
    Best of luck in engineering,
    
    John Wisniewski

    I haven't been able to read this file for a couple of days, but I've
    been thinking about this note, in particular.  I've been thinking about
    the few people who claim that morale is a personal thing, "just be
    grateful you have a job."
    
    As someone recently wrote (paraphrase), "If all I wanted was a job, I
    wouldn't have come to Digital."  There's a big difference between
    having a *job* and having a *career*.  If I wanted a job, I'd quit this
    place and go to work in retail again - or in a restaurant again. 
    Othere people make fine careers in those areas, but for me, they were
    only jobs.  I could go to work, do my job, go home, and sleep.
    
    I have been here 9-1/2 years, and worked here on a temporary basis on
    and off for four years prior to that.  Most of those temporary jobs
    were jobs.  Then I took a temporary job for someone who made me realize
    I could actually have a career in this company.  And I do.  I don't go
    home and go to sleep.  I take things much too seriously, sometimes.  I
    go home and try to think of ways that things can be done better, ways
    to help improve morale, "smarter" ways to communicate.  When I come to
    work and try to get management to buy-in or at least hope to spark new
    ideas from mine, I get zip.  Then I have to drag myself out of bed the
    next day.
    
    Yes, I, too, am feeling somewhat "manic-depressive," only the periods
    of mania (highs) are so few and far between, it's really just
    depression.
    
    (Sigh)  I'm beginning to wonder if it's still possible to have a career
    here.  Maybe we can only expect to have jobs.
    
    
    Susan

	I'm about to delete DIGITAL.NOTE from my notebook because,
	frankly, it's depressing the living hell out of me. Maybe
	my job isn't so bad? Maybe rather than spending time being
	depressed about where I am it's time to think about where
	to go and what to do? Maybe if I spent less time noting and
	more time learning I'd be a hell of alot better off?

	The depression is driving me crazy and although it may be
	symbolic, starting here with this notesfile couldn't hurt.

	I'm outta here...

						mike

    re .136
    
    Mike, sorry to see you go.  This and many other similar note strings
    are depressing.  The problem is that everything being said is true.
    
    Morale is in the basement around here.  Our manager says that there is
    another round of layoffs scheduled for the labor day weekend.  I'm so
    stressed out I volunteered for the package, but was told that I can't
    vounteer so someone else is being TFSO'd instead.  Sure is a great way
    of improving morale.?.?.?   Something is wrong around here, and it
    won't change until the L1 and L2 managers that still reign as part of
    the "good ole boy network" are gone.

    > another round of layoffs scheduled for the labor day weekend
                                                 ^^^^^^^^^
    somehow this doesn't surprise me - somebody has a twisted sense of
    humor - a couple of years ago, the April 1st layoffs were delayed one
    day in my group... another round happened on/near Pearl Harbor Day...
    
    one day at a time, and have that resume up to date!  
    
    /dlw

    From an article on the brain drain going on at IBM... A quote from Tom
    Whiteside who left IBM to become president of MIPS:  He gleefully
    observed ... "something in the budget code called "morale"."

    Yesterdays Boston Globe (Sunday-8/29) help wanted had a sizable display
    ad for about a 4-5 software engineering positions mostly involving OSF
    and networking. Response address was Spitbrook facility in NH.
    
    Thought it was ironic seeing this ad just yesterday and then this
    morning I opened Digital Notesfile and first saw this string on
    morale.
    
    JBS

    Its part of the 'bring in the cheap help' program. Dump the
    higher paid veterans, and save money on salaries by bringing in 
    new (cheaper) recruits. Lots of 'temp' positions replacing full-time
    positions too.
    
    /Bob
    

    I understand the "gold badge" will not be recognized for
    entry after 13 Sep.

    Re. .142
    
    For the uninitiated, what is the "gold badge" ?
    

    Re .143:
    
    The "gold badge" is the retiree badge, thus named for the gold stripe
    and lettering of "Retired" on the face of the badge.
    
    Re .142:
    
    Where did you hear about cessation of entry privileges for gold
    badgeholders?  If the gold badges will no longer be honored for entry 
    at Digital facilities, what good are they?
    
    Mac

    RE.: .144....
    
    A more better question than that would be... WHY would they not be
    "honored" for entry.... What cost(s) could this possibly save, keeping
    retirees from entry into the building(s)....????
    
    
    What is left to strip away..???
    
    

    re:.144 From a retiree (SERP) over the weekend. Evidently,
    the corporation sent a letter to all retirees stating an
    escort would be required after 13 Sep.

    on a related subject, on TV just came out a medical study that
    said that employees with stress at work have 5 times, yes, 5 times,
    as much risk on getting cancer than the ones with no work stress,
    i think they mentioned colonel cancer as the one, they also said
    that the study showed that unemployed employees for more than 6
    months have higher risk of cancer too.

    source: CNN network news, give us 30 minutes we'll give you the world.

    \nasser

    	Uh oh. There's been a lot of colonel cancer in my family. My uncle,
    colonel mustard, died of colonel cancer. I'd better keep a much closer
    eye on my bowl.
    	It explains why the bathroom stalls here in Spitbrook are occupied
    all the time. Many stressed out software engineers are tuning into
    their colonels.

re .146

� source: CNN network news, give us 30 minutes we'll give you the world.

I only have to give WINS New York twenty-two minutes, but maybe they can do it
faster since they're a radio station.

Paul

    RE: .146  by CAPNET::MEDRICK 
    
    >re:.144 From a retiree (SERP) over the weekend. Evidently,
    >the corporation sent a letter to all retirees stating an
    >escort would be required after 13 Sep.
    
    Retirees have been prevented from coming onsite unescorted at MRO1
    since about a month ago, much to the consternation of one Golden Badger
    who was meeting some people for lunch and couldn't reach any of them
    for an escort as they had already left for the appointed meeting place.
    
    I know another SERPer who is going to be VERY disappointed not to be
    able to use the Library at MLO any more.
    

	... of SERPees out there who are working with competitors, or
setting up businesses as competitors to Digital.  Courtesy aside, business
is business!  You could possibly use some sort of Non-disclosure agreement
with them, as with other free-roaming third-parties in Digital buildings.
I'd be surprised if that wasn't a part of the SERP package at the time.

	FWIW, I've seen nothing here in ALF about restrictions coming next
month.  Could be I just haven't looked, too!

    >Lest we forget, there are probably more than a couple of SERPees out
    >there who are working with competitors, or setting up businesses as
    >competitors to Digital.  Courtesy aside, business is business!
    
    So, on the off chance that some (perhaps only a few) of retirees
    *may* be using our resources in a competitive situation, we will
    treat ALL retirees like adversaries, not to be trusted.  
    
    Sounds like a morale booster to me!
    					
                                        andrew

Re .145 
    
>    A more better question than that would be... WHY would they not be
>   "honored" for entry.... What cost(s) could this possibly save, keeping
>    retirees from entry into the building(s)....????
    


Well, I know of more than one (SERPer) who regularly uses fax machines,
makes long distance (overseas) phone calls, and wanders around...the building
    

Re .152
    
>    So, on the off chance that some (perhaps only a few) of retirees
>    *may* be using our resources in a competitive situation, we will
>    treat ALL retirees like adversaries, not to be trusted.  
    
>   Sounds like a morale booster to me!
    					

First off, all the SERPers I know ARE in their own businesses - using Digital
contacts, facilities, etc. So on the off chance that some (perhaps only
a few) of the retirees *may not* be using resources...we should be fair
to those who stayed.

BTW, its the present employees who need the morale boost - not the people
who chose to leave.

/Bob

    I clearly remember the day that a co-worker had a meeting set up with
    someone who had retired and gone to work for a direct competitor.  At
    the appointed time for the meeting the person showed up in my
    co-worker's office.  Needless to say he was somewhat surprised.  When
    he asked the person how he got in the building he said that he just
    showed his retiree badge and walked in.
    
    I spoke to the Manager of Mill Security about this.  He said that
    retirees are "suppposed" to just use their badge to go to the cafeteria
    and credit union in the mill but that they were on the honor system not
    to go anywhere else.  Needless to say the honor system is not working.
    
    I am in favor of restricting access to Digital facilities for anyone
    other than current Digital employees.
    

    
    I think this exhibits extreme paranoia on the part of these folks.
    
    
    Mike

What's the big deal. If you want to walk in, just follow somebody in through
an unmanned employee entrance. I've never seen anyone challenged.

--RS

    
    Outside contractors are allowed to walk around some of the facilities
    after signing in and picking up a visitor badge.  It's no big deal.
    

.140>>    Yesterdays Boston Globe (Sunday-8/29) help wanted had a sizable display
.140>>    ad for about a 4-5 software engineering positions mostly involving OSF
.140>>    and networking. Response address was Spitbrook facility in NH.

Interrupting the current rathole about retiree badges to return to this
rathole -

These positions have been posted on VTX for several weeks, and in some cases
more than a month.  If you believe you are qualified for these positions,
I invite you to apply immediately!

bruce 

note:  although I am a member of the OSF group, my opinions do not necessarily
represent the OSF group.

    From a field perspective, one of the obvious things to do is "new", and
    at the same time "old" (as in 1983 old):
    
    Start giving visibility and recognition to people that actually
    accomplish something, like winning a deal or reaching a significant
    customer milestone.
    
    Collect them all in a photograph that goes into a newsletter that reach
    the appropriate audience to provide inspiration for other teams.  Buy
    the team dinner.
    
    The contrast between the simple and frankly crude materials of 10 years
    ago with the slick "Supply Chain" newsletter is the difference between
    a positive lift to morale (...we didn't know it then) and the cynicism
    that's repeated here and in office conversations.
    
    I'd really like to hear the story of how large Alpha orders and SI
    deals have closed.

    Back to Morale - Perspective from a nearly empty sales office
    
    Out here in the field(Apologies to THE WHO) the situation is
    growing desperate.  The WALL STREET JOURNAL recently had an
    article which described the salesforce as "DEMORALIZED".  This
    is an understatement.  Based on what I am seeing in my office
    there is a growing exodus of salespeople streaming out the door.
    Most of the folks sprinting for the exits are the best and
    brightest.  They have had enough.  The grass IS GREENER on the
    other side.  The claims being made about better salary and
    compensation can be readily verified by the 5 OTHER Digital
    sales reps who also interviewed for the same job.  Before the
    thought crosses your mind that Digital is better off to be rid 
    of those who do not want to be part of turning this company
    around, consider, these folks were multiple award winners(COE,DEC100).
    They excelled as the company struggled.  The salesforce that
    remains grows weaker and weaker as the best people leave.  Does
    that sound like a good foundation for a turnaround?  As a company,
    we do need new blood in sales, however, to believe these "kids"
    can step in and pick up the slack is not realistic.  
    
    If you had not heard Q1 is shaping up to be rather poor.  This will
    most likely necessitate further TFSO.  Most likely a good number
    will be targeted in sales.  
    
    Where is the upside at Digital?  Please, please, please, please
    do not say ALPHA unless you think a 35,000 employee chip maker
    IS the upside.