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 One
of the most visible cornerstones of the Organisation Man’s existence—lifetime
employment—has already eroded. As we enter the 21st century, professionals
around the world are realising that the concept of lifelong employment
no longer exists. The Organisation Man is dying, if not dead, writes
Mohan Babu
In the previous column, we
looked at William H Whyte’s Organisation Man and how the middle-class,
urbane individual with a steady job, living in the suburbs, became
a model of success for generations of youngsters. Endless movies
idolised men in gray flannel suits, their devotion to the company,
stable life and career. The "American Dream" personified
good education, leading to a good job with a top company, a house
in the suburbs, wife and kids. In India, where the common man had
to struggle for basic infrastructure and necessities of life, PSUs
took on paternalistic responsibilities.
PSUs across the country went
as far as building industrial towns, providing subsidised housing,
medical and schooling for their employees, in the process generating
a cult-like following. Even in the US of the sixties, corporations
were revered and regarded with deference, a topic analysed by Frederick
G Harmon and Garry Jacobs in their book The Vital Difference. The
authors, when talking of companies like AT&T assert, "Ma
Bell became the ultimate symbol of a benevolent corporation working
in and for the public interest." However, towards early nineteen
nineties, chinks started appearing in the Organisation Man’s armour.
The late eighties and early
nineties saw a transformation in corporate America. Cost-cutting,
downsizing and rightsizing became corporate America’s new mantra.
This trend is becoming universal as governments in Europe and Asia
have started divesting most of their PSUs. Crumbling of the East
European communist governments have lead to the downfall of large
corporations. The roaring Asian tigers too have started catching
a cold. In succession, almost all the major economic powerhouses
of the Far East are on a downhill slide. As we move into the 21st
century, corporations across the globe find themselves being transformed
from benevolent entities to Wall Street puppets. The Organisation
Man is dying if not dead.
One of the most visible cornerstones
of the Organisation Man’s existence—lifetime employment—has already
eroded. As we enter the 21st century, professionals around the world
are realising that the concept of lifelong employment no longer
exists. Interestingly, even Japanese companies, until recently harbingers
of the lifetime employment concept, are revisiting their own ideals
in light of the decade-long downturn in their economy. A large number
of them have been announcing unprecedented number of layoffs, shocking
the society. Other traditional Asian management practices such as
seniority-based payment, slow evaluation and promotion, collective
responsibility and cross training are feasible only in conjunction
with lifetime employment. Today, because of the continuing downturn,
Asian companies are starting to borrow a leaf from their American
counterparts and don’t think twice before using layoffs as a regular
cost cutting measure. In India, where layoffs were unheard of (until
recently), the wave of privatisation of PSUs is leading to a large
number of job-cuts and "voluntary retirements."
Globalisation of business and
management practices also means the globalisation of layoffs and
downsizing. If anything, layoffs and downsizing are becoming a way
of life. The September 11 New York City bombings had sent shock
waves through corporate America, prompting companies to tighten
the screws. Within a week of the attack, major airline companies
in the US which were already ailing because of a downturn in the
economy, announced a spate of layoffs totalling over 100,000. The
number is similar to the kind of layoffs we saw in the telecommunication
sector during the beginning of 2002. Meltdown in the dotcom sector
during the middle of 2000 led to a loss of over two hundred thousand
jobs. No industry, company or sector, is a safe harbour when it
comes to downsizing and this trend is not restricted to the US alone.
Large corporations across the globe are mimicking their American
cousins.
Corporate leaders are realising
that they can no longer continue to perpetuate the myth of lifelong
employment. It is becoming apparent that the Organisation Man is
disillusioned with his role in the corporate world. Professionals
are experiencing what Andy Grove (co-founder of Intel) calls a "strategic
inflexion point", with the traditional notions of work and
career giving way to a new model where individuals are expected
to take responsibility for their career moves.
Mohan Babu is a US based software
consultant trying to find the ‘sweet spot’ where ITmeets business.
E-mail: mohan@garamchai.com
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