[From Fred Nickols (2015.01.05.1137 EST)]
To be honest I was a little bit flabbergasted to see the attached article in the latest issue of TD (Talent Development) formerly the ASTD Journal. Oh well.
Regards,
Fred Nickols, CPT
Assistance at a Distance
The Knowledge Workers’ Tool Room
“Be sure you measure what you want.”
“Be sure you want what you measure.”
Improve Employee Performance With Behavior Modification.docx (56 KB)
[From Rick Marken (2015.01.05.1015)]
Fred Nickols (2015.01.05.1137 EST)--
FN: To be honest I was a little bit flabbergasted to see the attached article in
the latest issue of TD (Talent Development) formerly the ASTD Journal. Oh
well.
RM: I don't understand why you are flabbergasted. Isn't this an
article about how to do management? Isn't management about controlling
people? Indeed, the dictionary definition of management is "the act or
skill of controlling and making decisions about a business,
department, sports team, etc". Aren't management consultants supposed
to help managers do what he says in the beginning of the article:
"guide employees toward activities that will help them make progress
in their jobs"? Isn't this a description of controlling the behavior
of the employees, just using "softer" terms like "guiding". Isn't the
job of the management consultant to improve the performance of
employees from the manager's perspective, that is, to bring the
behavior of the employee to the manager's reference level? Since
behavior mod promises to be a means of achieving this goal it seems
like an obvious way to go for management consultants.
RM: I think PCT would suggest that the field of management consulting
should be eliminated and that a new field called something like
"enterprise consulting" be started where everyone in the business
enterprise, management and labor, is consulted together. Management
would be seen as being no more important than anyone else in the
enterprise; all are perceptual control systems! The enterprise
consultant would help everyone control better.
Best
Rick
--
Richard S. Marken, Ph.D.
Author of Doing Research on Purpose.
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