Efficiency Does Not Equal Effectiveness

When I went to work for BT [British Telecom] in 2004, I was exposed for the first time in my life firstly to being employed by a corporate structure, as opposed to more human scale business or academia, and secondly to what would become the bane of my life for sixteen years: performance management. Although not a new branding of the concept, even then, its origins stretch back nearly a century-and-a-half to the concepts of work management dreamt up by one Frederick Winslow Taylor in the U.S. His approach was to essentially break down working practice - mostly in heavy industry - into discrete, time-managed units which could in theory be quantified in scientific terms, circumventing entrenched guild and unionised working practices where roles, conditions and time management devolved to the workers themselves under the traditions of their trades and crafts and the relations between the various skill groupings.

In essence, his approach was to solidify the aspirations of profit motive of employers, and corporations particularly, as scientific orthodoxy disguised [essentially] as efficiency; reducing skilled manpower and therefore wage burden, by declassifying skills to mere labour and applying cost/benefit analysis as mantra rather than simply tool. In short, shafting the working classes - their sole means of production and profit - by 'scientific' means. And we thought this was a neo-capitalist invention. Nope, it's been around for a very long time, and the arguments, debate and discussion remain; only the flavour of the underlying malaise remaining constant: removal of as much cost, ie. labour, from business' balance sheets, as is 'scientifically' possible, using the pseudo-scientific methods of suchlike business philosophers to justify the unrealisable [for a 'reasonable' consultancy fee, of course].

The truth is that economically, this modus operandi will always bite its operator in the butt. Profits require turnover: turnover only happens through shifting product/services, and shifting product/services requires consumers with the wherewithal to actively participate in the market; the more workers are marginalised into the newly-burgeoning lumpen proletariat, the worse it becomes for manufacturers and retailers in shifting their wares to make a living as their customer base dwindles. This might in the short term affect principally affect only the small to medium sized businesses that comprise the bulk of business by percentage; but it will eventually impact the behemoths of corporate trade, either through the sheer force of economics or societal/political kick-back. Efficiency is a myth when applied to the workplace: you have to treat people fairly in order to make them effective in your work environment. Remember, a happy worker means a happy employer: your workforce will shaft you back if you try and shaft them. Trust me, I know that first hand...