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Conference 7.286::digital

Title:	The Digital way of working

Moderator:	QUARK::LIONELON

Created:	Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5321
Total number of notes:	139771

2631.0. "Organisation man" by ANNECY::HOTCHKISS () Tue Aug 24 1993 07:57

    One of the first meetings I went to in Digital started with TWO hours
    of explanations from three people about where they were in which
    organisation and how that organisation had changed since last time and
    who from the old organisation did what in which new organisation etc
    etc.
    Being new,I thought better of blotting the copybook first day,so I
    kept quiet(ish).
    This practice continues with one refinement.ORGANISATION MAN(he's been
    christened) now explains all of the above and knows the current state
    of the new organisation PLUS just a little speculation about why the
    current organisation will change and when and who is not happy with
    what.Excellent contirbution which serve to waste time and sow doubt and
    confusion and work politics(particularly if he says something like Mr
    Bigshot doesn't like A,B,C-this means he doesn't like it).
    So,knowing some classic examples in Europe,I decided to calculate how
    much this costs.
    It goes like this:-
    Organisation man goes to 5 meetings per week,with 8 attendees and
    wastes one hour(Usually more time is wasted directly and he goes to
    more meetings).
    This represents 46 weeks and 40 man hours per week-1840 hours per year.
    Average salary,including social security and overheads is around 120k$
    per year=65$ per hour.Total direct waste is 119600$.
    Not finished yet.The attendees of the meeting probably spend at least
    one hour off-line discussing the implications on them
    directly.So,double the direct waste figure-we are up to 240k$ NETT
    using low figures.
    240k$ NETT is earned on 24 MILLION dollars of revenue.
    Believe me,I could list a dozen real professionals in this domain.
    Just imagine the bottom line if we didn't reorganise all the time and
    sacked everybody who discussed their organisation?

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
2631.1		PLAYER::BROWNL	No... I've had my ears lowered	`Tue Aug 24 1993 08:48`	3
	Don't forget the airfares, hotels, dinners etc... Laurie.
2631.2	Too Many Organizations known by Person's Names	17185::DSCGLF::FARLOW	Simplify!	`Tue Aug 24 1993 13:07`	13
	After working in other companies, I have found it very bizarre the way organizations within Digital are known by the person in charge rather than the actual function. It is amazing how often I have heard things like: I work for Dave Johnson's group and he is within Mary Peterson's organization. It just seems that personalities are more important than the function itself. I'd prefer to keep personalities out of it and just say that the A function reports to the VP of B. This focus on personalities seems to be consistent with the complaint heard that its not what you know its who you know. Oh well, Steve Farlow
2631.3		MU::PORTER	550 user not local	`Tue Aug 24 1993 13:10`	4
	But the organization names change more frequently than the people names, so it's easier to use the people's name. dave (head of the dave porter organisation)
2631.4		GSFSYS::MACDONALD		`Tue Aug 24 1993 13:51`	6
	Or the other flavor of that which is even more insidious: "Oh that's handled in John Doe's world." Think about it. Steve
2631.5	If you don't know this, you hardly know anything	TLE::SAVAGE		`Wed Aug 25 1993 12:35`	6
	Re: .2 by 17185::DSCGLF::FARLOW: >...the complaint heard that its not what you know its who you know. But that IS reality. Relating to personal names rather than abstract organizational group names is human and extends well beyond Digital.
2631.6		NQOPS::APRIL	Topical solutions are my specialty	`Thu Aug 26 1993 14:13`	28
	Re: Id'ing with a name/leader rather than an org. Interesting point. I think there is a morale factor in alligning one's self with a leader/name rather than an organization. In the War Between the States (American Civil War) there was a curious difference between the Southern soldiers and the Northern soldiers when asked their respective position within the overall Army structure. The Northern soldier would invariably state something like; I am private Randolf Carter, Company B, 4th Vermont Volunteers, 6th Corps, Army of the Potomac. while the Southern soldier would answer upon these lines; Private Lamar Smith, "Stonewall Brigade", Jackson's Corps, Lee's Army of Northern Virgina. Various reasons have been brought forth to explain this difference but since the Southern Armies were mostly volunteer rather than conscripts I believe they wanted to 'belong' and to feel they had chosen their leadership whereas the Northern soldier would rather get 'lost' in the numbers game and it really didn't matter who lead them. Regards, Chuck
2631.7		QBUS::M_PARISE	Southern, but no comfort	`Thu Aug 26 1993 16:16`	23
	The Organization Man of the sixties has evolved into the RE-organization Man in the nineties; adept at liquidation, consolidation, work-force reduction, and enterprise-wide down-sizing. 1950s the Grey Flannel Suit Man 1960s the Organization Man 1970s the Conglomeration Man 1980s the Merger Man 1990s the Re-Organization Man Over the last forty years the role of the corporate executive has changed to accommodate the emerging global marketplace. The soul of that same executive is still owned by the corporate structure. When that corporate structure is weakened by reorganization or financial problems, then the individual executive's personality can supplant the corporate one, and that individual emerges as the "key man." The tendancy to identify with a personality may be more an attempt to attach to some perceived stability or permanence not found in the tenuous structure of many of our current beleagured corporations.
2631.8	And the next step, past the Re-Organization Man, is...	DRDAN::KALIKOW	Supplely Chained	`Thu Aug 26 1993 17:24`	8
	... the envelope please ... ... as personnel are laid off from one place, and part-timers and contractors begin to be the majority of Corporate America, and loyalty becomes a vague memory: Mid-1990s the Organ(ization) Transplant Man