Haves and the Have Nots, The: The Abuse of Power and Privilege in the Workplace ... and How to Control It (Hardcover)

Citizens everywhere are concerned about how powerful, privilegedmembers of some companies are providing themselves with preferentialtreatment to the detriment of other employees, their own firms, andsociety at-large. This book explains why these people engage in suchobviously destructive behavior (because their organizations encouragethe expression of a natural human impulse called we-boosting), howwe-boosting produces misuse of the three Rs of organizational life(Rewards, Respect, and Recognition), and what the adverse consequencesof these events are on productivity, profits, and community support forbusiness organizations.

Real illustrations, rich with the names of familiar organizations andbusiness leaders, are plentiful. Every chapter also contains examples ofindividuals and organizations that are doing it right, and two chapters,entirely devoted to remedy, summarize the practical steps that someorganizations are already taking to curtail this costly misbehavior.

Critics might complain that this book's concern with bosses' we-boostingtendencies and their management of the three Rs places toomuch emphasis on the role of human forces in business organizations.They might even point out that from time to time, the book's sevenchapters contain examples that seemingly contradict its call for improvedmanagement of the three Rs by praising some business leaders andorganizations that eventually failed, and by criticizing others that eventuallysucceeded.

These critics are shortsighted. It's true that the healthy profits that astrong economy produces often overcome the adverse financial effects ofinternal organizational disease. Special, well-protected marketplace niches,a company's unique competencies, technological advances, and productinnovations are all capable of producing profits for internally troubledorganizations. But the rest of the story, missed by these critics, is thatexcellence is not forever. Competitors are on the prowl. Imitation andinvention are steadily shortening the half-life of any business advantage.

No one can guarantee that companies ensure their financial successby suppressing we-boosting and properly managing the three Rs of organizationlife. All other things being equal, however, companies that learnhow to suppress we-boosting and manage the three Rs build employees'organizational identity, and they can expect to expand their successbecause of the competitive advantage that comes from having a workforcethat is engaged.

Curtailing bosses' we-boosting and improving their management ofthe three Rs is a business necessity, not a politically correct social nicety.Happily, the fact is that organizations possess the power required to makethese changes and build crucial ties of organizational identification.Sadly, it is also true that—despite all the cheery business-section head-linesto the contrary—bosses have frequently pursued a path leading toemployees' alienation rather than affiliation.

As costly as such misconduct is now, it will only become more so.The changing attitudes and values of the workforce, increasing dependencyof businesses on information processing, shortening cycle times for intro-ducingnew products and work processes, and rapid obsolescence of productsand processes because of competitors' progress are just the beginning ofa long list of trends in business and society that place a premium onemployee innovation and initiative, drastically increasing the price thatcompanies will pay for hindering the organizational identification of theirworkforce.

Remedies exist, but not in the form of magic formulas containing 10rules that must be followed by business leaders who want to be successful.This book contains many examples of organizations that are both successfullycurtailing bosses' we-boosting and managing the three Rs oforganizational life. Some of these examples are a part of today's businessheadlines; others were a part of yesterday's. In selecting examples toshare, my priority was to provide you with a wide array of correct applicableillustrations rather than a more limited number of contemporaryones. Find examples that are right for you and tailor them to suit yourcompany's current needs.