Fair Trade
LEAN – Maybe, MEAN – ??
Late last Friday afternoon I was IMing with one of my teammates at work, trying to solve a VPN-router issue, and he sent me the following URL; http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070504_002027.html, and told me to check it out.
Needless to say, as a current employee of IBM Integrated Technology Delivery (aka Global Services, Strategic Outsourcing), the information in the article, if true (if even partially true), is highly concerning. Unfortunately, I know, since I was contacted by my manager last week to let me know that resource actions were in process, but that I was not affected (once again I survived the spring chopping block), that some of what is in this article is true. If all of it is true, I will not survive the year.
In theory, LEAN could address many of the challenges that ITD faces in trying to be more efficient and competitive, especially on smaller accounts, but in practice, it does not appear that these are the real objectives that IBM is trying to reach with this initiative. If we are truly documenting our processes so that we can hand over ALL of our work more easily to our data centers in India, China, Brazil, or where ever, AND we and our customers are not being advised of this, then this becomes very hard for me to participate in.
I agonized all weekend over this. I want to be a good employee. I want to be a team player. But I do not want to be involved in assisting in the dismantling of my own team without my consent or knowledge. If the intent of LEAN is to dismantle and sell off the remains of what used to be Global Services-Strategic Outsourcing, then so be it. State that that is your intention, and then let folks act accordingly.
I don’t have a problem with corporations doing what they need to do to keep their businesses viable. I do have a problem when this includes lying to and manipulating their employees and customers. I can only hope that this is not what is happening in this case.
Tags: LEAN Discussion
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I can’t remember any time an employee’s (especially in a Corporation) consent was necessary for a business to make changes. Help make it better and focus on the tasks at hand, let the rest fall out as it may be. All employees in this situation are at risk it sounds, but you can’t expect someone to come get your consent for changes this Company has already decided to move on. In addition, it may not have looked attractive to anyone before this LEAN thing, but it sure may look that way afterwards, and so it goes, business landscapes continue to change.
Valid point. I do my job, and do it well. I do not ask questions or make waves.