
Issue No 90		30 March 2001

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Satire

Management for the Post-Industrial World

By Jim McDonald

A new management fad is sweeping the post-industrial world, which has major social and political implications at the macro and micro level. We have called it "Purge Management Strategy" (PMS).

The core of PMS is IDS. IDS contains three elements. Identify your best and most talented performers. Demote them. Finally, sack them or force them into a position where they resign (the latter is called IDR).

"PMS targets individuals. Its principal objective is to rid the organisation of corporate memory and entrenched expertise which might provide an impediment to the PM (Purge Manager)."

Where PMS addresses the whole organisation it is called FEEE. FEEE refers to the key principle of downsizing: Fewer Employees Equals Efficiency. This is said to be particularly effective for providing customer service. The longer the queue being dealt with by a single employee the more productive the employee. The queue may be a physical one but FEEE discourages this approach.

Customers are encouraged to queue on their own phone at their cost. This is called FEEE for service, which is why they tell you your custom is valued.

The employees who remain following a FEEE program often suffer from what is called survivor syndrome (SS). We call these employees the SS. The more senior SS are encouraged to emulate the PM and weed out any other inefficiencies such as creativity, commitment and loyalty to the organisation.

This is a very dynamic strategy leading to two key outcomes. First, much of the work, which was formerly performed by employees, is outsourced. This is commonly known as OSCAR (Outsourcing Staff Competence Accumulates Revenue). OSCAR is strongly supported by consultancies.

Second, the organisation begins to lose market share. It is then taken over by a rival. The new executive management team, called a SEEPS (Superimposed Extra-organisational Executive Purgative Structure), usually then introduces its own FEEE program.

PMS, FEEE, OSCAR and SEEPS are key characteristics at organisational level of a social and economic system called CAPITALISM (Capturing Accumulated Profit and Income while Terminating Alienated Labour In Survival Mode).

At the macro level, the outcomes of the PMs or SEEPS eventually throw the capitalist economy into a state of social and political turmoil. This is called DISCUS (Disequilibrium In Society Caused by an Unemployed Surplus). And the economy slides into negative growth.

Finally, a state of REVOLT arises (Revolution Emanating from a Vast Oversupply of Landless Toilers) and the masses seize the diminished assets of the corporations only to find that they have been SCREWED (Stripped Corporations Reduced to Establishments Without Equity and in Deficit).

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Issue 90 contents

Interview: On the Up and Up
On the eve of new figures showing the slide in union membership may be bottoming out, ACTU secretary Greg Combet takes stock of the state of the movement.

Unions: Organising Theory
Labor Council�s Chris Christodoulou reports back from this week�s ACTU Organising Conference

Economics: The Failure of the Third Way
In his presentation to this week's ACTU Organising Conference, John Buchanan painted a dark picture of the emerging labour market.

History: Emblems of Unity
The Gregory J. Smith Collection of Trade Union badges was auctioned today in Sydney. Smith compiled a book on 763 of his remarkable collection which was published in 1992.

Legal: Della's Compo Plan
Labour lawyer Richard Brennan places the NSW workers compensation reforms under the microscope.

International: East Timor Goes Union
Workers in the fledgling nation have established their equivalent to the ACTU to build a safety net for workers.

Satire: Management for the Post-Industrial World
A new management fad is sweeping the post-industrial world, which has major social and political implications at the macro and micro level. We have called it "Purge Management Strategy" (PMS).

Review: Surviving The Temptations of TV Island
Cultural analyst Mark Morey rakes over the coals of American TV culture to find very little is there.

» Compo Wars: Round One to the Workers

» Breakthrough on Sweat-Shops

» Beazley to Force Executive Disclosure

» Call Centre Union Busters Get Wake-Up Call

» Victorious Workers Paint the Picket Red

» Grenadier Workers Maintain Vigil

» Kembla Water Rats Face Extinction

» Employers Told: Casual Workers Have Full-Time Rights

» Good On Ya Mum, Buttercup�s Leaving Town

» Forty Seven Years of Service Rewarded

» Telstra Called to Account on Legionella

» Record Low Aussie Dollar Adds to Surging Profits

» No Progress on Stonemasons

» Burrow Lobbies on BHP and US Trade Abroad

» Feed the Shangri-La Workers Fund

» STOP PRESS: Union Numbers Up - ABS

» The Soapbox

» The Locker Room

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Crumby Company

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