Bolman and Deal: Chapter 6 Notes – Human Resources
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2003). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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– Following a scientific approach to industry, men were originally seen as pieces in a Taylorean sense, yet when businesses try to cut down labor expenses and be “lean and mean”, they at times created a short term gain, but over the long run the workers would be discouraged, demoralized, and depressed
– GE despite paying workers well was recently faced with a strike. The redundancy and repetitiveness of the work led the workers to strike against the management.
– In an example, even when a tough foreman was introduce to replace a worker friendly foreman, after a while, he was forced to give some slack to the workers as they began to sabotage the industry.
– Some businesses such as Southwest have benefited from recruiting a good hard working labor force, but it has not been emulated by other airlines.
– The chapter gave examples, including a Chaplin film in which workers were portrayed as dumb and childish. The movie includes a machine which attempts to feed him (without success) while he continues to work in the assembly line.
– X Y theory contends that what workers are perceived, the more likely that they will become that as a consequence of the perception.
– Some factory workers tried to diminish their boredom by hiding (doubling up), through sabotage, and soldering. Some lost control, went mad, and resigned. Many of them would simply resign themselves to the dullness of their labor. Feeling as if they had no freedom and having to “ask for permission to pee” was and is denigrating to the human spirit. They demoralization had intergenerational consequences.
– As the children of factory workers lost the hard work ethic of their parents, the factories began to move to rural areas to recruit farmers who still exhibited a hard work ethic. Yet, while this could also provide for a short term success, over time this approach is likely unsustainable.
– One of the most successful human resources theories, Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy or needs deals with human motivation by ranking them according to human necessity. Despite Maslow’s hierarchy of needs having limited support through empirical research, some enterprises such as FEDEX have been very successful as the result of following Maslow’s theory guiding principles.
– The need for workers to be seen as more than cogs has led some new industries to grow, yet the debate over what is most successful, the intelligent worker strategy or the lean and mean business strategy continues – today in Texas two different pipe businesses employ opposite approaches. The one with a humanitarian policy received 10,000 applications for 100 jobs, yet the other one has had 10 times more safety violations and 9 deaths over less than 10 years. However, it is not known which is financially most successful as the businesses remain private.
– Bolman and Deal remind us through the use of examples that this debate continues and is ever present. While the United States continues to reduce its blue collar labor force, industrial production has primarily continued, with all its dullness and repetitiveness to expand oversees in countries such as China.
