A Class with Drucker - Headway | Work on yourself

HOW TO MOTIVATE THE KNOWLEDGE WORKER ■ 217
always be necessary for an individual to be in charge,” Peter said.
“Without someone in charge you have a completely permissive organization
<strong>with</strong>out anyone at the helm. This will invariably lead to chaos.”
When Peter made his statement rejecting Theory Y as most explained it,
he was bucking a trend which was much in tune <strong>with</strong> the ideas of “real freedom”
and “gentle treatment” advocated by the permissive culture of the
previous decade. As <strong>with</strong> many of his predictions, he lived to see this one
come true. Peter was not against TQM when it came on the scene a few
years later. Total quality, empowerment, ownership, continuous improvement
. . . who in his right mind would object to these objectives of a concept
of motivational management? Still, the lengths that some organizations
went in applying TQM concepts to reach unquestionably worthwhile
ends could result in serious problems.
Shortly after the peak of TQM activities, Fortune magazine revealed the
results from a two-part survey in which 750,000 middle managers from
one thousand large companies were asked questions over two three-year
periods which roughly corresponded to the introduction and implementation
versus the continuance of TQM in their companies. These middle
managers were asked to rank how their organizations were doing on several
issues that a total quality program could be expected to improve.
Fortune was surprised to discover the overall results between the first
survey and the second, that is, the time period that corresponded roughly
to the introduction of TQM and to its firm establishment <strong>with</strong>in an organization.
The number of managers that said their companies’ executives
communicated well <strong>with</strong> employees, listened to employee problems, or
treated managers <strong>with</strong> respect as individuals, all declined. In addition,
fewer managers said that their companies were a good place to work. 1
But there was even more evidence that TQM could be dangerous as
many practiced it. Florida Power & Light, winner of Japan’s Deming Prize
for quality management, gutted its quality program because of universal
complaints by an important segment of company employees. Not the managers
or executives, but the very segment of the company that was supposed
to benefit most <strong>with</strong>in a company: the workers. Another corporation, The
Wallace Company, a Houston oil supply company, won the prestigious
United States Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which was based
completely on the implementation of TQM. Shortly after receiving the
award, Wallace filed for protection under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy law. 2