Replying to LO29041 --
Sorry Rich,
I was just using employment security as an example and you are fully right
that Pfeffer sees it as a set of measures that should be undertaken by a
company who sees his employees as intellectual capital. I also don't
disagree with you that is is far more pleasant to work for a company that
has a positive atitude towards employees than one that hasn't. I only
think that the aproach of Pfeffer doesn't work that way. You cannot
convince a company that it will get surplus value from its employees by
being nice to them, you will have to provide more.
I think most companies are lead for a major part by people who have a
sound backing in finance. So we have to convince these finance guys that
it pays off to be a "good" employer for its enployees (perhaps associates
is a better term, because a contractors are often also of great value for
the company). I think you will have to provide "hard" evidence, in terms
of SMART objectives, to get them so far they will agree on the positive
stance. There are some good instruments and books on this, like Stewart's
Intellectual Capital and Ulrich's HR scorecard (I also published an
article on the Balanced Scorecard for HR, alas not international, so it is
now Ulrich's game). I think these instruments/books are of more use for
consultants and management than Pfeffer's soft approach just to get us
where we think a successfull company should be.
What I have most against this book by Pfeffer is that he acknowledges that
his theories did not work out like he envisoned, but instead of looking at
his approach he developes a new theory, the other companies are even
worse. It feels like somebody who cannot take his loss and instead of
looking critically at the whole environment looks for a way out.
Regards,
Gijs Houtzagers
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>Gijs,
>I have to take exception to the characterization of Pfeffer's The Human
>Equation as a waste of money.
--"Gijs Houtzagers" <gijs@houtzagers.com>
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