Calling a Halt to Mindless Change

"Most businesses need evolution, not revolution."

"One result of pursuing specialization has been the steady division of business operations and the people involved in them."

"In this environment few take risks; therefore opportunities are missed."

"Concentration on short-term profit objectives is an ugly process for which in the long run many businesses pay a horrendous price."

"Looked at with a process perspective, it hardly seems possible that so many companies would allow the financial staff to accrue so much power."

"If people were defined as a capital cost and asset, they might be better maintained and developed."

"Attorneys have no role to play in the essential processes of business, yet our corporations are dominated by them."

"However considerately these systems are implemented, the essential element remains: boss evaluating subordinate to determine reward or punishment."

"Much of what is called motivation in business is the alternate application of the stick and the carrot, punishment or incentive."

"Management is loath to accept that its efforts at employee involvement are at fault."

"Rather than sitting at the feet of an American guru and then instantly changing, the Japanese took their time studying the West and the ideas of the leaders of American industry."

"Empowerment quite simply means granting supervisors or workers permission to give the customer priority over other issues in the operation."

"Downsizing is driven by the god of short-term profitability rather than that of process improvement."

"The client who reacts in desperation to a perceived crisis and calls for help from a consultant, or who has reacted to the clarion call of the latest management guru, is in trouble."

"Success, failure, and change are holistic results of several converging movements, be they evolutionary or revolutionary."

"Let's put the technological and communication "revolution" into perspective."

"In successful companies, the operational and planning activities are varied but not haphazard."

"The common denominator for evolutionary companies is a culture based on a set of accepted values."

"Action counts in establishing the fruits of change."

"Business survival, let alone success, depends on strategies, products, and services that are directed at delighting customers."

"Many corporate communication programs become one-way vehicles for propaganda."

"The traditional pyramid is disappearing, to be replaced with a bag of marbles."

"The day-to-day operations of the organization are beset with a series of situations in which people have to decide how to surmount the natural barriers of resistance and general inertia."