A couple of days ago, a senior Malaysian minister commented on national TV how cynical the Malaysian public has become about all that they hear from the ruling government controlled mouth pieces.
A few days before that, I heard a similar complaint from an executive of a giant Malaysian corporation. She is tired of having to continuously 'prove' to her underlings that she has their best interests at heart.
Both the minister and the executive are right as the concept of nationhood and the emergence of all powerful corporations are indeed facing a tremendous pressure of legitimacy. True loyalty is hard to come by these days but for good reasons too.
In my opinion although it is true that humans as a whole have gone through a quantum leap in the last 20 years in terms of technology and innovation; the one distinguishing differentiator that not many seem to pay much attention is that humans as a whole have also become much more 'educated' and 'educatable’.
Let me share some examples of this. I hope those of you who are reading this will share your examples too even if they are contrary to my arguments.
Let's take the wheat growers in India. 50 years ago, these are your traditional 3rd world farmers who live at the mercy of weather patterns and the middle men. Both not always in their favour. In fact, the western media often use the faces of these farmers to illustrate their sleek pre-program blitz when dealing with Asian issues which of course are all about strive, poverty and chaos! Today, these very same farmers are adept at using communal internet enabled personal computers to keep track of wheat price and manage their inventory. They are no longer at the mercy of the middle men. Yes, they still need them to move the produce to end users but collectively they are now able to receive a better and fair return from their lands. They have become educated and these 'poor and illiterate' farmers seem to have been 'educatable' to begin with. They had the capacity within them, to learn and to be informed. They just needed a tool.
Then there was this social experiment conducted in the slums of India (I can't recall in which state or city)where specially designed personal computer kiosks were placed at the various spots in these slums frequented by children. The amazing discovery was this : In no time, without any coaching from anybody, without any manual or how-to-do material - these kids learned how to use the machines and navigate the internet! And, they were all illiterate street children...
Corresponding to this, more and more research data points to the increasing disillusionment felt by people at large at institutions that only a few decades earlier held sway over their lives. Religious, legal and community based organizations are facing a congregation that are not so easily convinced by rhetoric. The prevalence of Malaysians who trust blogger produced 'news' compared to the traditional (and official) media is a testimony of this. In fact Obama’s campaign strategy was aimed at positioning himself and his team as separate and different from the existing status-quo and it helped him win the presidency. He appealed to the mistrust that people felt over their government and the large corporations that provide them with employment.
Now let’s get into our workplaces. Do employees buy into the company's stated reasons for certain critical but unpalatable actions. For example, this is the season for down-sizing (oh! please....don't tell me its 'right-sizing'). When you ask people to leave, its down-sizing. No two ways about that. Period. It may be a strategy though. That’s fine. However, the reasons for this strategy needs to be truthful and believable. The company is not doing well? Then make sure the company is not sponsoring a football referee’s shirt sleeves in the English Premier League. Poor financial results? Than make sure, the C-suite guys and ladies behave accordingly. Don't feign pain over the financial results but live life as if there is no tomorrow. Travel economy class and stay in 3 star establishments. Switch to remote meeting tools instead of 16 hour travels and week long stays at exotic locations. Take a pay cut and forgo the fat bonuses. AND, no more symbolic one dollar salary reductions. Make it a thousand dollars.
The following example may be hilarious but it just goes to show how informed and educated our employees can be and we better not take them for granted. This young R&D researcher once told me that his manager informed him and his colleagues during an office meeting one day that the particular natural resource that their company is reliant on will be depleted in less than 15 years and hence they need to be more creative and innovative in their R&D work. Well, the push for more creativity and innovativeness from your people is fine but you had better be more convincing as the young man who shared this example with me said that only days before the meeting, he read in a research journal which quoted the very same manager that his company is in no serious danger as there is enough evidence that there are reserves of this natural resource for another 50 years! I am sure this manager's R&D staff were absolutely energized and became more innovative and creative!!
Just as people are increasingly cynical and suspicious that the governments of the world are in existence only for the benefit of the rich, many workers are also becoming disillusioned with the behaviors of corporations that are seen as having only one purpose for being : The profit of share holders and office bearers. The Enrons, Satyams and Lehman Brothers of the world have further added fuel to this mistrust. How can employees really believe in what their corporate leaders are saying if at the back of their minds there is an ever present fear that they are being taken on a ride and that one day...without any warning... their world will come to a screeching halt. Can you imagine the devastation felt by those who believed in the values of Satyam?
Peter Cappelli's The New Deal at Work: Managing the Market Driven Workforce (Harvard Business School Press, 1999)labeled the relationship between the workforce and their employers as "...an uneasy dance". Well, I can say that today, it's no longer an uneasy dance...it has progressed into a full blown love hate relationship. The revelations of corporate frauds (Maddox-like)and down-right mis-management coupled with the emergence of new forms of news makers and carriers (fueled by the internet and its associated technology)have only exacerbated the cynism of the workforce.
Similar to the examples of wheat farmers and slum children, the workforce of today is also very much more ‘educated’ and informed. Even if they are not, their internet generation children at home will be. I wonder what are the children of those who are working at Monsanto and BAT telling their parents about the environment and health! Karl Marx may well be a satisfied man if he was to live today as he can see how powerful the ‘workers of the world’ have become with their ability to access knowledge and news from multiple channels. Today’s workers are no longer gullible herds. They are powerful forces that will soon revolutionize the may we manage corporations.
But, I do not see a silver lining yet. Governments and corporations are still behaving with blatant disregard to what is true and honorable. Is this the price we need to pay for trusting the mantra of ‘market correcting it self’ before the market finally corrects it self? Only time will tell and in the meantime we have only one tool to manage our workforce as agreed by a team of HR professionals in a recent round-table session I facilitated : Open and honest communication.
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