The Business World

Andrew Layman:  PCB CEO

In her book “The March of Folly”, Barbara W Tuchman wrote of the phenomena, occurring throughout history, when governments and other organisations pursued policies that proved to be counter to their own interests.     In many cases, she suggested, this consequence was not hidden at the time that decisions were taken, but ignored in the desire to pander to other agendas.   The exaggerated union wage demands – far in excess of inflation and way beyond the country’s affordability at the present time - fall into this category for the reason that the more costly it is to employ, the fewer people will be given jobs. 

In the corporate world, whose powerful influence has led to the corporatisation of other organisations and institutions, such as government, for example, the value of teams is generally recognised, it seems.    The promotion of teamwork and the stimulation of worker input into production processes have yielded significant results in many companies.    The Jack Welch style of management is a thing of the past.    Yet for all the commitment to flatter organisational structures, less hierarchy and team effort, financial recognition is usually given to individuals.   

We have all read that Bafana Bafana has been offered a million rand for each goal that the team scores during the World Cup.  Imagine if that incentive bonus were given to the individual player who scores the goal!   What kind of team performance could we possibly expect?    In Business, and in government, where performance management is now a legislated requirement, it is the executive that gets the reward no matter the extent to which his or her performance has been determined by the people to whom tasks and responsibilities have been delegated.   

In a television interview last week, a Transnet executive was trying hard to evade the discomfort of having to admit to the generosity of the company in respect of its executive bonuses.   All employees received bonuses, he said.    Sure – but not in the discretionary realm of senior managers to whom achievements are attributed.     How often, one wonders, is a senior executive denied a bonus because of poor execution of responsibility.   The trend is in favour of bonuses being paid regardless of an holistic assessment of performance.    It is rather like an actor earning a bonus for his flawless ability to remember all his lines even though his performance might have ruined the play.   It is a matter of measurement, of course.   Measurement of quality, if possible at all, is very difficult.   Thus, we find quantifiable indices which may or may not be weighted so as to address priorities.    The notion of senior managers ticking off the various tasks, one by one as they are done (very probably by someone else), has become a standing joke.    It is worth considering in passing that the more generous the executive bonuses, the more justification there is for workers to make unreasonably high demands.   

At the risk of alienating chamber members, I confess to a degree of cynicism about the business world.   As a teacher, far removed from the world of commerce and industry, I thought that business leaders were on an elevated plane of wisdom and functional efficiency.    That I have now lost this blind admiration is because I have found there to be many business people who are neither very wise, nor functionally efficient.     At the same time, I have encountered many others who are both outstandingly good at what they do and, at the same time, worthy of the highest admiration in respect of their ethical standards, their legislative compliance, their careful consideration for their people and their broader social responsibility.    They are not part of the business constituency that invites criticism for its capitalist greed, its environmental recklessness and its apathy towards socio-economic inequities.    Business people in this latter category are engaged in a march of folly, for it seems to me that Business needs to earn far more universal respect if it is to resist the forces of unionism.  

I am not a fan of The Apprentice.  I think it presents Business in a poor light because the values that relate to success are often questionable.   I am offended by the arrogance of the upstart apprentices who are so confident in their ambitious pretence at superiority.    Last week, I happened to watch the programme.    Perhaps I should not take this seriously and recognise it simply as orchestrated entertainment of the reality variety, but the undignified attempts of those eligible for the chop to evade this final blow to their aspiration were insufferable.    They lied; they did all they could to shift the blame on to another member of the team and they fruitlessly attempted to convince the boss (not my favourite role model) of their fundamental worth.    They were, in short, abject examples of business leadership in the future.

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