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Nonviolence

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for including my "guest" blog here.

I've been thinking a lot about the roots of "violence" in the economy. While radical cost cutting and mass layoffs are a symptom of economic violence--where are the roots of violence?

So clearly the idea of massively consolidated organizations create the preconditions for violence--the scale of "fail whales". When you have 40% reductions in revenue like you do in the auto industry, you logically look around for similar scales of reduction in production.

But I wanted to reflect on some of the dynamics that differentiate violent vs nonviolent cost reduction.

I believe that tribalism within the enterprise is in part responsible for some of the violence. Massive mergers and acquisitions and consolidation have created these conditions, and now we have large "tribes" of people working in close quarters but without the kinds of social ties that come from long standing working relationships.

I see directors and middle managers fighting to keep their jobs and teams intact and finding the only solution is to "Game" the system so that the guys in the other division are the ones that get cut. Survival is a very strong impulse, and people are very shrewd about manipulating data and key performance indicators to their advantage.

So violence is not only a "top down" phenomenon. Sibling rivalry is alive and well in the enterprise, and internecine warfare has become the status quo.

When running for the Presidency, Barack Obama referenced the Bible in speaking of our moral responsibilities by using the quote "I am my brother's keeper."

If you look closely at the root of this quote, you'll see that the original biblical quote was from Cain, the first murderer. After Cain had murdered Abel, his brother, God asks him where Abel is. Cain's response is "I know not, am I my brother's keeper?"

In tough times, those closest to you, family, neighbors, brothers, are the ones who consume the resources you depend on for survival. The deep evolutionary roots of individual survival lead to fratricidal behaviors.

To rebuild the economy, we need to rely on scientific, objective measurement, not skulduggery and political dirty tricks. We need to take responsibility for our "families" and to keep our brothers, even if they are working for the "other business division".

We need to ensure that as many people as possible can contribute to the value chains that can help us rebuild our economy.

My 2 cents,
Miko

Posted by: mikojava   Posted on: 04/04/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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