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CM Journal Articles HR Corner: Have You Been Left in the Dust?
CM Journal Articles HR Corner: Have You Been Left in the Dust?
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It seems that every week I am reading an article, in the Wall Street Journal, that discusses how workers have been “left behind” in today’s challenging economy. The paradox is that there are strong indicators that the economy is recovering and many measures of productivity show that companies are doing more with less! This is little comfort to the unemployed and I am frankly very suspicious that some of the numbers may be misleading. To explain this view I turned to the work of W. Edwards Deming – one of the great leaders in the field of Quality and the person who is credited with leading Japan towards economic recovery after World War II. Many of Deming’s “14 points” for the transformation of Management can give us essential information on improving our own careers and value to the organization. Despite the view that American business is just as ignorant and resistant to Quality as it was when Deming went to Japan, it is my assertion that we can all benefit from Deming’s teachings in developing our own careers. Read on if you would like to know how to apply these techniques in practical terms and increase your marketability as a technology professional. The Rush For QualityAfter World War II, the Japanese economy was in very bad shape. Japanese goods were viewed as being cheap, low quality and completely unable to compete with American markets. Deming visited Japan , where his views on improving Quality were warmly embraced. Today many of us would prefer to buy Japanese cars (unless you really enjoy being stuck on the side of a highway) and electronics. Toyota and Sony are two of the Japanese firms that enjoy a reputation for quality and dependability. They also have extensive Quality Management programs that would probably not be accepted by American companies today. Ben Sachs My father-in-law was Vice President (and one of the founding members of) of Vernitron, an engineering firm that made medical and defense equipment. Dad used to say that Americans failed to strive for Quality. Instead Unions and Lawyers focused more on reasons why Quality levels could be kept lower than were found in other countries. Dad believed strongly in the value of each person and held dear the rights of workers. His point was that we should all strive to improve instead of making excuses (and Union rules) for why defects should be tolerated. People, in his company, took great pride in the fact that their products helped improve people’s lives. What Do We Expect? Today, we all expect our cars, cell phones, appliances and computers to improve in quality, dependability and functionality. Many people wait six months to buy a computer, because the cost is likely to go down, while the speed and capabilities will improve. Does This Describe Our Own Careers as Technology Professionals? Many technology professionals expect to command high salaries (because two years ago they did!). Many of these same folks put little back into their careers. Imagine if you had to improve your knowledge, skills and abilities at least ½ the rate that the Personal Computer Technologies improve! I am amazed at how many folks earn $ 70,000 to $ 100,000 per year (or more) and rarely visit a bookstore to improve their technical knowledge, skills and abilities. The Wall Street Journal is certainly correct that the job market has left behind many workers. But it is also true that many technology professionals fail to improve their skills. When people ask me, I usually tell them that being a technology professional is a lot like being a doctor. Many technology professionals do command “doctors” salaries and we all need to realize that we have to work as hard as doctors do to keep up with changing technology. Productivity Data Frankly, I am going out on a limb here, but I suspect that many companies are not investing in the future as they should. This may mean that some of the productivity data is artificial, because it does not account for the shortcuts being taken to show profitability. The literature from Deming and many of his followers list examples of companies that used inferior parts to show short term improvements. This was the result of setting quotas and unrealistic goals that did not really promote quality. For example, one country set quotas for manufacturing nails that was measured in terms of either volume or weight. As a result, they had an abundance of large fat nails or short thin nails, but a shortage of needed precision and sizes. The lesson learned is that setting artificial goals just doesn’t help. More Relevant to IT Deming also pointed out that creating “barriers” between departments reduces productivity. As a CM practitioner I am reminded of build teams where the developers throw code over the “fence” and the CM team throws the compile errors back over the fence in the morning. Striving for quality means thinking about the big picture and doing what is best for the company in the long term. Don’t Be Left Behind! Technology professionals need to realize that our field has matured to a point where we need to improve ourselves at the same rate as medical professionals do. Technology provides tremendous value to society and we are part of this evolution, just as doctors are part of eradicating terrible diseases. But this means that we need to take a serious look at how we all approach our career development. Self Efficacy The greatest deterrent to success is FEAR of failure. Many out-of-work job hunters are terrified of applying for jobs that are not within their zone of comfort. This “fear of failure” sabotages the efforts of many competent technology professionals. While being completely honest about our accomplishments and skills is absolutely essential, having a little courage to stretch ourselves is equally important. My dad used to say that during a job interview it was important to convince the employer that I can do more. Having a positive “can-do” attitude is a great indicator of how the person will do on the job. When I was coping with a significant visual handicap (I was born with Cataracts and used a combination of Braille, large print and tapes until I was in high school/early college), I learned to have a strong attitude that failure was just not an option. This positive attitude is exactly what we all need to achieve success!! Bob Aiello is a Senior Contributing Editor for Crossroads News and an Associate Director at Bear Stearns & Co. where he is engaged in Software Process Improvement on a large scale basis. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Organizational Development Network of Greater New York (ODNofGNY) and a member of the Steering Committee of CitySPIN in New York. Mr. Aiello has a Masters in Industrial Psychology and a BS in Computer Science. You can reach Mr. Aiello by email at raiello@acm.org
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| Last Updated on Friday, 07 July 2006 05:39 |
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