Crisis Management - Just One’s Opinion.
Posted: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
by straight talk
We have all heard the term Crisis Management. It has become a mainstay of college business courses and of business today. You see it in many who attain a Masters in Business and are implementing their education. My definition and opinion of Crisis Management as expressed within this article is that of maintaining the lowest possible cost while maximizing and extracting the fullest extent possible in productivity from your employees. The thought being, people usually excel when placed into a crisis mode and therefore can accomplish more. The side benefits being lower cost / higher profits. Firms accomplish this by keeping people in a constant flux with a high degree of fear and anxiety for their job and the constant threat of replacement, or loss of income. However, the downsize to this methodology is burnout and replacement of staff prematurely and loss of expertise and no corporate loyalty except from those in the high income jobs and with the golden parachutes who this approach works for. This method produces high emotional stress and exerts exorbitant physical demands on people. In my opinion it also accounts for some of the miserable state of families today, high divorce, people living out of wedlock, problems in our schools and discipline, an overall lack of character and morality and little sense of loyalty or trust and the general low state of the health of people.
You will find or tell who these companies are regardless of what they profess by the tell tale signs and characteristics of not caring and mismanagement. These are identified as they never have enough staff [who are consistently pushed to the max to achieve what management knows can’t be done, but who are happy with anything more than they thought possible], excessive overtime - at less than time and a half and the comp days you never seem to be able to take,- the money and time to always do it over but never enough to do it right the first time,- the CFO who counts beans all day and could care less who is impacted by their decision- only profit and the bottom line, the “team" flyers and memo’s circulating, that everyone knows are a joke, and the “open door" policy, which means just that- goodbye to you. The lack or resources to do the job and stupid deadlines that are consistently changed as needed ,so that people don’t see the mess they are truly in. You also see it in the high turnover rates and the general negative comments concerning the last person who left and who all that is bad is heaped on. You see it in the finger pointing and the questions everyone asks. You see it in the raises and promotions that are never fair or based on achievement, goals and intrinsic if your even lucky to get a raise. Usually you hear how poorly they are doing. Does this sound like where you work? Then it is possible you work in a Crisis Management environment.
We now get into the college degree preferred category. These employers think that that piece of paper makes these people achievers! All that says is they passed a test and stayed in school. These same employers never look at career achievement and substantiated track record when hiring and could really care less if the degree is from an accredited college. These grads fit real well into the Crisis Mode because they don’t know any better and they are taught how good it really is. They push these people, since they are seeking advancement and opportunity and the side benefit is they can get two for the price one. You find many, I did not say all, just many, of these grads have poor communication and language skills, poor math skills and organization is an unknown entity and they don’t plan well. These are the people who they put in charge of the average worker, who they train to push people harder, to extract the last ounce out of them. They do well at this because they see their managers as successful people and they are hungry to mimic their style and approach. Firms proceed to use these people until such time as they can be discarded for the next batch of newcomers or they become educated and find out they are just a tool as well and move along in a few years,
Now we get to the Global marketplace we export the same philosophy. We bring these people here, give them a free education and then hire them to run our business overseas in the same way we run it here. American business now gets to export our jobs to nations in poverty and hire workers at ridiculously low wages, and little to no benefits, all in the name of democracy, free enterprise and lifting these people up from poverty. It’s strange the only ones who seem to be lifted are the owners and politicians and elite of these nations. They point to the percent of increase of wealth and life improvement these people are making over what they used to have, and that is true. But when you look at it for the truth, you know it for what it is - exploitation. They get to use people at the lowest possible cost and they will move along as soon as another opportunity presents itself. Once again these same owners and power brokers are usually righteous and God fearing and are the first to tell you all the wonderful things they are doing.
So Crisis Management is good for business and it will remain for quite sometime. It has become the approach that is denied by everyone who incorporates it under the guise of productivity. You will here it is just not so. As for those who think business worry about the working man, I’d like some of what they’re taking. Business is worried about THE BOTTOM LINE and you who are making money feel right at home with that approach. There is nothing wrong with wealth or bettering yourself. However, if you fit into and endorse any of the things I have mentioned, in my humble opinion you may want to reexamine just who your real God is.
Robert T. Melaccio Sr.
Copyright ©2005 Robert Melaccio
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