Fred, I have a reaction also to Ben's msg, but I think it's easy for
precision to slip away from us.
Productivity is a relationship between inputs and outputs, a very broad
measure. I don't think we can say that productivity is unimportant...
Perhaps you're saying that business success depends on lots of factors,
employee competencies being only one of many. I'd agree with that. But, in
today's extremely competitive marketplace, there isn't much slack on any
of the factory. I would say that employee competence is very important.
And, I'd say it's important in non-profits and government institutions as
well... I don't see many places where there are easy resources.
I think that the crux of this issue involves:
1) is competence inherent, or developable?
2) is the motivation to improve inherent, or can good technique help bring
it out in people who are not currently demonstrating it?
In other words, is it operationally effective to generalize, "a bum is a
bum, period!" or not.
Ben's story about his daughter was heart-warming... Ben's action brought
out something wonderful that was not present in her prior behavior. That's
what I try to do everyday in my work. Some people change for the better,
some not; the biggest step is up to them. But, I think my work helps, like
Ben's intervention with his daughter.
Now, on the ethical front, I feel it's my role to open possibilities and
create a possibility of choice. But, it would be ethically (and
practically) unsound to think that I can compell anything in any other
human being... Or reliably produce any result in a given person. That's up
to them, and I'll side with Ben in giving up at some point. I just think
it's worth a try most of the time.
Here's a personal story... A good friend of mine asked me as we walked
towards the fifth tee, "Rick, you're an expert in changing people... How
can I get my wife to change?" And, he had some very specific changes in
mind! I told him, "Yes, I am an expert and I know that one person cannot
change another in the ways you want. Just love her and see what happens."
-- Rick
On Tue, 7 Apr 1998, Fred Nickols wrote:
> The chain of reasoning above is simply not true, Ben. The "life of a
> business," as you put it, does not and never has depended on productive
> work. The life of a business (and the life of a person) depends on the
> ability to obtain inputs. That, in turn, might or might not depend on
> "productive work."
--
Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash>
Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | email: rkarash@karash.com
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