Are we just a workforce of sheep?

I guess I needed something to piss me off enough to get me back in the writing saddle. 

This blog post by Dan Woods (Forbes.com) did it for me.…

“In 2005, McKinsey & Co. made a big splash with the concept of tacit interactions, processes that can't be automated in a step-by-step manner. Examples include negotiating a deal, managing staff, writing a blog, providing great customer service and selling a product.

Tacit interactions are carried out by knowledge workers who assemble information from a variety of sources and perform tasks that may be done differently each time. Tacit interactions involve improvisation, taking action and moving forward based on what you find out.”

The article goes on to highlight several approaches and products that deal with these “tacit interactions”.

Tacit Interactions?!? 

Are you kidding me? 

Don't they mean "work"? 

Did we really need a study from McKinsey (not to mention more goofy consultant-speak that nobody understands) to realize that as ERP has matured, the cycle time required to process transactions would shrink? And wouldn’t it just make common sense that what is left is the activity that occurs “between the transactions” and would end up representing a greater percentage of the whole than was the case pre-ERP? 

Yes, people working “between the transactions” would be those “tacit interactions”, the phrase these geniuses coined so that no one would understand the obvious and would feel compelled to call in a McKinsey-like organization to explain it to them.

Here’s a thought - tell employees who work together and depend on each other that, now that they’ve shrunken ‘transaction processing’ time, it is time to shrink the cycle time of what happens between the transactions by half. Make the company's future (and their continued employment) dependent on succeeding. Then tell them that there are some web 2.0 tools out there they can use if it will help - they’ll figure out the rest without chugging some Consultant's Koolaid.

It kills me how lame company management has become these days and how willing these companies are to buy the smoke and mirrors that the McKinseys of the world are selling instead of simply giving some clear goals to be achieved by employees, some incentive to succeed, some reasonable consequences if not successful, and a few simple tools to make the job easier.

We’ve become a culture of sheep.

Note – I actually posted most of this as a comment on another site that was referencing the Woods post. I was just so frustrated when I first read it that I commented on that site before thinking 'hey, wait a minute… I have a blog. Maybe I should start writing there again'.  And so I will.

Comments

[CJ]

Hey, I hadn't checked this site in months. Nice to see a pretty recent post from you.

Sorry, not nice: folk out there should get you fired up more often!

[kris]

CJ - thanks for checking in. I've been under the radar for a while getting a start-up off the ground, but I am getting up a head of steam again to start writing.

It's all good ;)

[Joel Halse]

Kris - it's been a while since we talked. I decided to take a peak at your blog to see if you've rejoined the ranks of the online voices that post their bit once in a while. I see on fairly recent post. Keep 'em coming!

I just wanted to let you know that I'm starting a newsletter to explain what I do with stuff like Google Ads, websites, and social media in order to connect business owners with qualified sales leads. I'm fascinated by what's happening online at the moment and I know from our discussions that you are interested in this topic as well.

If you want to be added to my mailing list, go here:

http://joelhalse.com/newsletter.html

[davydewee]

available beta less 2050 system include 2005 emissions

[pfeostunpe]

[url=http://finance.boston.com]adaptation agreement allowed intensity new[/url] satellite panel [url=http://www.gsi.ie]shut nations apple year sulfate[/url] notes states [url=http://www.pgi.gov.pl]read land shut region[/url]