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With Regards: Archives ~ |
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It was an early fall evening back in Kentucky, for what ever reason I had stayed too long
at a friend's house and it was already full dark as I began the mile long walk home. On this moonlit night it was
bright enough to see clearly but overcast enough to cast splashes of dark shadows on the road I had to travel.
A brisk Fall wind caused the reeds and the remaining leaves in the dense oak trees along the side of the road,
to sway and rustle. An owl’s hoot, the flutter of a crow's At an early age my Dad taught me to whistle. Whistling became one of my favorite things to do and still is. Those associated with me in my work often know when I am around because they hear me first. By the age of ten, I had already become a pretty good whistler and I sure needed to be on this particular night. You see whistling is a sure deterrent to whatever evil is lurking out there in the dark. Like my associates, I was sure that those imaginary things would hear my whistle, know I was coming and scurry away. Now any boy growing up acquires a nemesis or two and mine was named Kenneth Hawkins. It seemed that he took great delight in causing me strife and this particular night was no different. Kenneth and his family just happened to live on the road I had to travel and he just happened to be sitting on his front porch when the sound of my attempt at protective night music reached his ear. Never being one to let an opportunity like this pass, Kenneth proceeded to run down the road to a small hollow where the moon was casting just the perfect shadow on the road. With malicious intent and a suppressed giggle, Kenneth proceeded to lie down in that dark depression to await my arrival. I was about half way home and feeling somewhat confident that my whistling was working its charm as I approached where he lay in waiting. With eyes darting from one side of the road to the other, it had not occurred to me that the thing that I feared would come up from the middle of the road. Needless to say, the second half of my trip home that night took considerably less time than the first half and I didn’t notice that my jeans were wet until I reached the safety of my bedroom. As time passed I found a way to put most of my fears (and my anger at Kenneth) behind me. I suppose most all of us have done this, however many of us still use fear as a tool to accomplish our objective just as my nemesis did lo! those many years ago. Regrettably, the use of fear in such forms as spousal abuse, racial discrimination or oppression, sexual harassment, intimidation, road rage, and stalking (to name a few) are all too prevalent in today's society. Unfortunately, that which is present in society will (sooner or later) find its way into the workplace.
When World War II ended Japan was literally in ashes. Not only was its war machine defeated, its economic faculties were in ruin, such that the proviso "Made in Japan" was the exact opposite of a symbol of quality. One tactic was instrumental in the Japanese recovery and that maneuver was the 1950 enlistment of an American by the name of W. Edwards Deming to teach their managers and engineers a system which came to be known as Total Quality Control. Some 36 years later the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Engineering Study published Out of the Crisis. This book was the realization of The Deming Management Method that was so effective in Japan, that in just 30 years, the quality of the Japanese products were now far superior to those of the USA. As an example of this flip-flop: In 1980 the US imported over $30 billion in Japanese goods which were m ostly complex manufactured items and exported just over $20 billion mostly in raw materials. It seemed that they took our steel and made better cars than Detroit. They copied our products and produced them better than we could, then sold them to us at a cost that was cheaper than we had to pay for our own inferior output. America wanted to know how this happened and Out of the Crisis provided the answers. Central to the Deming method were the well knows "Fourteen Points".
The initial reaction to the 14 points was one of nonacceptance and the attitude was something like; "You have got to be kidding, Institute leadership?" "Institute training?" "We have the best leadership and management class in the world and we train all of our worker class!" "What does "Adopt the new philosophy" mean?" By now you may be wondering what was Deming's Eighth Point. Well, that point is the subject of this With Regard ..... 8. Drive out Fear.
Final Thought Those who were intent on perpetuating the Autocratic system of management had to find a new way once slavery was not available to them. Rather than reinventing the wheel, they resorted to an old tried and true method known as "indentured servant". The primary difference between slavery and indentured servant is that the slave had no choice in the matter. The indentured servant had to actually sign a document (contract) which bound him/her to work for another under the conditions set forth in the document. One of the ancient examples of this system at work would be the act by some of our ancestors to indentured themselves in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance to get to the New World (America). This specific example is one of the few Indentured Servant situations which could be considered as Mutually-Beneficial. Most others were/are just a continuation of Serfdom. The master - slave relationship which is driven by fear combined with (somewhat one-sided) economic considerations. In modern times this "indentured servant" concept can be readily observed
in many Timeshare or Vacation Ownership If these individuals are going to continue down that dark and spooky road, I would advise them to learn how to whistle real good because, who knows what lurks ahead?
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Jerry Sikes, RRP / CHA, is President of Professional Resort Operators, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona. He has 35 years in the Hospitality Industry / 25 years in Timesharing, and is the current Co-Chairman of ARDA Arizona as well as Chairman of the Arizona Timeshare Management Association. Jerry is a frequent guest speaker regionally and nationally on all aspects of Timeshare Management and a frequent contributor of articles for industry publications. Email: boyjerry@cox.net Phone 480-947-3300 Fax 480-947-6853 Web site: http://www.protimeshare.com |
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wing and the singing of a wire fence all added to the typical eerie night sounds
and provided the cause that peculiar feeling coming from the back of my neck.
In the early part
of the last century the most prevalent form of management was "scientific
management". This format held as its basis that: "man
was merely a cog in the giant industrial machine, whose job could be defined and directed by appropriately educated
managers, administrating a set of rules". This method was not restricted to industry, governments used it
as well as did the service segment. The guiding principle of this form of management is that all the power and
responsibility are embedded at the top of an organizational chart and were administered in an autocratic and/or
dictatorial manner.
In order for the
Autocratic system of management to function there has to be Serfdom. As slavery had long been abolished in America,
FEAR became the tool of choice to keep the "classes"
separated. The driving force of this tactic was economic considerations. Without a job the "Worker Class"
could not enjoy the bounty his/her labor produced. Without a job the very necessities of life, such as food and
shelter, could not be provided. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was just an illusion for those who worked
in the steel mills, factories, the coal mines or onion fields.
Resort Sales and Marketing situations. Would you believe that groups of (so called) professional
people have actually agreed to serfdom when they executed a document which made them independent contractors (without
the typical benefits) and subject to other provisions such as non-compete and reserve clauses. One would presume
that these individuals had yet to outgrow their FEAR because
they have no confidence in their ability to earn an adequate lively hood without giving in to a nemesis who wears the disguise of Benefactor.