只是我約略讀過還沒搞清楚 the Manila Electric Co的"醜聞"究竟
Monday, May 12, 2008 | ||
| ||
|
The answer is a big capital NO. But sure, most of us have heard the story of many corporations, even big moneyed conglomerates having been brought to the courts by their complaining workers to their great embarrassment. But believe me, this was for the purpose of subsidizing the operations of their legal counsel which could have been simplified if the money went straight to the workers themselves. What happened (according to the standard fine print of a retainer contract between a lawyer and his client) was this contract had one provision whose main purpose in the Great Supply Chain of Life is to financially support the cause of litigious lawyers and their children of school age. Of course, this needless tragedy could easily have been prevented via legislation (here we go again) requiring all lawyers to carry their business cards with a message such as: “Warning: The Solicitor General has determined that you should not put your complete trust and confidence in the bearer of this card.” On the other hand, this could be one of those stories that everybody hears even though it’s not true, like the one that implies that the Government Service and Insurance System is more efficiently and effectively managed than the Manila Electric Co. This probably could never happen. And so our opener for this article is really an interesting ethical question, which I must intelligently answer with nothing but The System of Profound Knowledge by W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993). As a statistician, Deming’s early works were studies on how to measure production efficiencies, how to survey every worker and manager’s opinion and how to correlate those surveys with the gaps in operational efficiency. Dr. Deming advocated against management tyranny, bootlicking and blackmail that pushed workers into the role of a robot who were paid peanuts. He argued that the ultimate success in any endeavor is rooted in the basic concept of human behavior, such as trusting the worker to do good, if given the chance. Everything must start from the premise that every human being is strategically important to the business. And that we, in management must optimize human enjoyment while producing goods and services that cater to the needs or wants of the consumer. Dr. Deming’s philosophy of The System of Profound Knowledge is not complicated as your typical household electric bill, which incidentally is now being delivered again in a crisp, white letter-envelope. But this is another story. Really, all one has to do is understand the rationale behind Deming’s maxim that “80 percent of quality problems are caused by management, and only 20 percent by the workers.” This means that quality of work is everything. It is controlled by management and is the basis for the joy of workers’ work-life. It is a “win-win” approach for management. If the workers are happy then they are bound to produce more that contributes to profitability. Otherwise, the organization is bound to lose. I don’t wish to do a lecture here. But those timeless statements from Dr. Deming make me forget that I’m a columnist here and not a university professor. So anyway, Mr. Winston Garcia of GSIS, what I’m trying to say here is: Big thanks. Thanks a million for taking the time to rock the Meralco boat because we too, would like to know the answer to the question posed in those whole page newspaper print ads accusing the National Power Corporation as the culprit causing the Philippines to have the most expensive electricity rate in this part of the world. So anyway, that’s another ethical question that must be answered…this time, by our government officials who are currently enmeshed in a wholesale electric disaster. __ Rey Elbo is a business consultant specializing in human resources and total quality management as a fused sp |
沒有留言:
張貼留言