[From Fred Nickols (2009.04.20.1542 MST)]
I think what we’re all dealing with in the world of
organizations and work is a giant disconnect between what is, what was, and
what should be.Â
Years ago I took a look at what was then being called “the shift
to knowledge work� (largely the creation of Peter F. Drucker). As best I could
determine, there was in fact a huge reversal in the composition of the US
workforce between 1920 and 1980. We went from being roughly two-thirds manual
workers and one-third knowledge workers to the other way around – two-thirds
knowledge workers and one-third manual workers. An even starker shift took
place in the first 50 years of the last century (1900-1950): the agricultural
workforce dwindled from roughly one-third of the country’s workers to less than
3 percent.
Now the interesting thing in all this (to me at least), is that
so-called manual work is readily observed. Duh! Consequently, the “one best
way� can be determined and compliance with that one best way (even if it’s not)
can be enforced because it’s all highly visible. In short, the work itself can
be prefigured. So-called “knowledge work� is not so readily observed but that’s
not the big issue. The big issue with knowledge work is that they are not
processing materials so as to produce a product that meets specifications.Â
Instead, they are interacting with information and with other people. The big
deal is this: the responses of most of the workers in today’s workplace must
be configured to meet the circumstances at hand. In other words, they have to
figure out what to do.Â
Where we are, then, is in a situation where, when it comes to
work, management can no longer prescribe prefigured routines to which workers
must adhere. Nor do they have a clue as to how to obtain the results they want
from living control systems or what I call “autonomous performers.� To be
sure, they know all about carrots and sticks, rewards and punishment,
incentives and those nasty little things called “disincentivesâ€? – but it hasn’t
yet dawned on them that the fundamentals of work itself have changed and this
means the fundamentals of working and dealing with workers have changed too.Â
They’re all still living in the past, confident that they can demand or command
and what they want will happen.
What I think is really going on in most modern organizations is
that just about everyone is running around pretty much doing as he or she
pleases. The “system� as it were is easily gamed and lots of people are gaming
it. Bosses are powerless for the most part and, for the most part, that’s
probably a pretty good thing. Why? Because what gets done gets done because
the people doing it see to it that it gets done. In short, there is a
tremendous, unstated, unrecognized reliance on individual initiative,
competence and responsibility.  Are there people out there who take advantage
of this situation and do little more than milk it for personal gain. You
betcha! That’s essentially my take on things like Enron, AIG and others. The “system�
is and has been out of control for quite some time now and the only reason it
hasn’t completely blown up in our faces is that the real snakes are few and far
between. Most people, in my view, are decent, hard-working people and they are
what keeps the ship of commerce afloat. It sure as hell isn’t the dandies and
fops up on the bridge.
In short, we should all be extremely thankful that we are indeed
living control systems and not compliant little patsies doing only as we are
told. Hail PCT!
I first tumbled to the changing nature of work as a technician
in the Navy in 1957. Here’s a little “sea story� to illustrate what I mean.
The
ship was the USS Gregory (DD-802), an old WW II Fletcher-class, 2100-ton
destroyer. We were in Subic Bay in the Philippines, taking a break from our
assignment of patrolling the Formosa Straits.
Â
Tommy
Lee Crabtree, a Gunner’s Mate second class (GM2), was working on Mount 53, one
of the ship’s five, five-inch gun mounts, trying to repair an as yet
unidentified malfunction. I was new on board and I was working on Tommy Lee,
trying to persuade him to invite me to join the armory coffee mess. The armory
coffee mess was, in my mind, the most prestigious coffee mess on board the Gregory
and I badly wanted an invitation to join. The invitation had to come from
Tommy Lee; he was the Gunner’s Mate in charge of the armory. Short-term, my
hopes weren’t high but I was prepared to hang in there for the long haul.
Tommy
Lee and I were taking a break, hunkered down on our haunches next to the gun
mount, sipping coffee and chatting in a way calculated to help him take my
measure, when we spotted our division officer approaching.Â
Our
division officer was a Lieutenant Junior Grade (Ltjg) whose last name was LaRue.Â
A bit of a martinet, he had been nicknamed “Lash,� an appellation borrowed from
a star of western movies of the 1940s.
“What
are you two doing?� he demanded.
“Drinkin’
coffee and shootin’ the breeze,� replied Tommy Lee.
“What
are you doing here?� Mr. LaRue asked of me.
As a
Fire Control Technician (FT), my work required close coordination with the
Gunners Mates so I had a convenient and true cover story. Standing up, I said,
“I came down to find out when Tommy Lee thinks we’ll be able to include the gun
mount in the daily workouts and if he thinks we’ll have to realign it with the
rest of the gun battery.�
“Well,�
demanded Mr. LaRue, turning to Tommy Lee who was still squatting, “when will it
be fixed?�
“I
dunno. I’m workin’ on it. Probably some time today.�
“That’s
not good enough! Get off your ass and get back to work! I want that gun mount
back in working order A.S.A.P.!�
Tommy
Lee looked up at Mr. LaRue, studying him much the way he might contemplate a
cockroach he was thinking about crushing. Then, rising slowly to his feet,
Tommy Lee grinned wickedly and asked, “Are you ordering me to fix this
here gun mount, Mr. LaRue?�
“Yes,
I am,� snapped Mr. LaRue.
Shifting
his coffee cup to his left hand, Tommy Lee saluted smartly, and said, “Aye‑aye,
sir. What would you like me to do first?�
The
reactions played across “Lash� LaRue’s face like moving scenery: first puzzlement,
then compreÂhension, followed in quick order by surprise, shock, humiliation
and, finally, red-faced, apoplectic anger.
Ltjg “Lash�
LaRue had been heisted on his own authoriÂtarian petard by a master of the
game. Tommy Lee had done what all those who must submit to auÂthority have
been doing for thousands of years, he submitted. He went passive. He asked Mr.
LaRue to tell him what to do and he would do it. The problem for Mr. LaRue was
that he couldn’t issue the necessary orders. Tommy Lee knew that all along. “Lash�
LaRue was just then finding that out.
Furious,
Mr. LaRue glared at Tommy Lee, then turned and stomped off without a word.
I didn’t know about
prefigured and configured responses back then nor did I know anything about the
shift to knowledge work, human performance, or anything else. That came later.Â
But I did realize that authority had its limits and so did a
command-and-control view of the world and the people in it.
Speaking personally, I have
always made a practice of negotiating results and just about everything else
with the people who reported to me and for whose work I was responsible.Â
Frankly, it’s a whole hell of a lot easier and works out better than trying to be
an order-issuing martinet like Lash LaRue. For me, getting people to do things
because they want to do them is the key and, or so I am told, it is also the hallmark
of real leadership. That’s what’s in short supply in the workplace: real leadership.
End of Rant #2
Regards,
Fred Nickols
Managing Partner
Distance Consulting LLC
nickols@att.net
www.nickols.us
“Assistance at a Distance”SM