Few time ago I read in a forum a challenge posted by a colleague in a consultancy firm: "He was asked by company CEO to reduce loss in 10%", mainly caused by economical crisis and company drift (that CEO was commanding) in searching business deals.
Answers were diverse, but I will take the one from a "manager" that took all my attention: "Fire 10% of human resources".
So, the problem would be reduced to whom of all those employees should we fire and how expensive could it be (really "fire the less expensive group that suppose an increase of 10% in savings"). Lamentably he was not the only one, another managers proposed similar easy solutions.
"Simple, mathematical and unethical"
My perception of unethical is not only because the consequent human side of the history, but because of the consequences for the company.
There are more to lose than to win if you fire people from a company:
"lazy manager is blind to the fact that firing part of his team will result in a bigger loss than the 10% of saving"
Lamentably this situation is not so rare. Lazy managers are abundant in companies of all sizes, but specially in big ones.
In crisis time real managers, or better said, real leaders are needed. Leaders that empower their employees to think deeply and achieve a real solution to the problems. Leaders that see all the facets of company and take correct decisions. Leaders that see the positive formulation of the situation.
In this problem (where business mix with human facet), a leader that reformulate the problem as the way to "how to earn a 10% more" define a better objective, because focus in growing. Everyone in company would be involved and more motivated in that challenge and, as we can remember, if we propose our brain the correct question to be solved, it is able to give us, early or late, the correct answer.
Those answers could be: finding new products observing market opportunities or competency weakness, redistribution of company structure, enhancing of company activity map, and so on.
"Crisis time is full of difficult moments, obviously, where character of people are proved. But crisis are time for huge opportunities too, if you are able as "manager" to look reality in deep and be brave enough to don't take the easy way and give the steps toward the correct direction"
Answers were diverse, but I will take the one from a "manager" that took all my attention: "Fire 10% of human resources".
So, the problem would be reduced to whom of all those employees should we fire and how expensive could it be (really "fire the less expensive group that suppose an increase of 10% in savings"). Lamentably he was not the only one, another managers proposed similar easy solutions.
"Simple, mathematical and unethical"
My perception of unethical is not only because the consequent human side of the history, but because of the consequences for the company.
There are more to lose than to win if you fire people from a company:
- Loss of knowledge: is a reality in any company that the knowledge is still saved at human hard-drive, the brain of every employee.
- Loss of motivation in those that remain and that see that their heads will fall if more savings are needed.
- Finding a place for those that are forced to abandon the ship, something that is usual in consultancy firms (at least till now).
- Loss of new products and markets: any employee is hired because his capability to generate or develop products, services or enlarge the market.
"lazy manager is blind to the fact that firing part of his team will result in a bigger loss than the 10% of saving"
Lamentably this situation is not so rare. Lazy managers are abundant in companies of all sizes, but specially in big ones.
In crisis time real managers, or better said, real leaders are needed. Leaders that empower their employees to think deeply and achieve a real solution to the problems. Leaders that see all the facets of company and take correct decisions. Leaders that see the positive formulation of the situation.
In this problem (where business mix with human facet), a leader that reformulate the problem as the way to "how to earn a 10% more" define a better objective, because focus in growing. Everyone in company would be involved and more motivated in that challenge and, as we can remember, if we propose our brain the correct question to be solved, it is able to give us, early or late, the correct answer.
Those answers could be: finding new products observing market opportunities or competency weakness, redistribution of company structure, enhancing of company activity map, and so on.
"Crisis time is full of difficult moments, obviously, where character of people are proved. But crisis are time for huge opportunities too, if you are able as "manager" to look reality in deep and be brave enough to don't take the easy way and give the steps toward the correct direction"
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