Quality Progress - American Society for Quality

ASQ Staff
Sep-22-03
I was interested to note, as I so often do, that when discussing "entitlement" attitudes
John Dew did not similarly examine management compensation expectations ("The
Seven Deadly Sins of Quality Management," September 2003, p. 59). With top executive
pay having shot up to an average of 500 +/- times that of his or her average worker, I am
surprised that so few people appear to have done the math. How is such massive
executive compensation justifiable during stress-induced layoffs, and how does that
disconnect affect remaining employees? performance and spirit? Instead, the pundits
describe a competitive environment for "top talent" that has exponentially raised
executive pay, and awards exit packages regardless of why they leave--often after only a
few years of service. It is such a startling contrast that I marvel at how little discussion it
is receiving. In "The Sin of Wages" William Abernathy goes to great lengths in
describing the ills of a demanding work force. Marshall & Brigg's "Labor Economics (6th
ed.)" seconds the motion. I have heard it echoed among many conversations as well.
Worker compensation is being tied to all sorts of strategies, now the white-collar
outsourcing included; but with those trends, the quality of the new workforce strategy is
still undetermined. What data we have is still mostly anecdotal. My mother-in-law, for
example, has decided, after three maddening hours on the phone with a heavily accented
Dell computer help-desk technician, that the new strategy has earned three frowny faces.
Yet the focus so far remains, as it so often has, on short-term dollars. During my research
project I have found employee surveys, such as one done by Gallup Poll and Information
Week, which suggest the entitlement theory is way off target. Gallup noted that
employees ranked pay as the 4th most important aspect of their work. "Feeling like I am a
part of things" was #1. Information Week ran a survey (not statistically significant, it
must be noted) that showed "base pay" again ranked #4 in employee interest. For these IT
workers, who are being laid off and outsourced based on their perceived outrageous pay
expectations, "Challenge, Responsibility and Stability" were the top three wishes. Those
who have been engaging in layoffs as a market performance strategy should note
Monster.com?s recent survey, which found that about 40% of the remaining U.S.
workforce cites crushing job stress and dissatisfaction. They are planning to job shop
once the labor situation improves. How many of our companies go to the trouble of
collecting, and responding to employee input on what would help them perform better? I
vote the leadership strategy includes emerging from their offices and getting to know
their workers.
Jennifer Kirley, CQE, CQA
Central Maine Solutions
Greene, ME
jkirley@centralmainesolutions.com
17043 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Letter: Thoughts on Lack of Training in Latest Quality
Systems?
Coury Ferguson
Sep-22-03