Lookin' ..?

Joel Meulenberg joelmeulenberg at yahoo.com
Sat Jul 14 00:19:47 CDT 2001


I'm always interested in hearing people give "the straight scoop" on
what goes on in companies.  (Hey, is anyone aware of a web site/forum
dedicated to this - but not quite so
negative-biased/it's-all-over-'cept-the-liquidation-sale as a site like
fsckedcompany.com (=~ s/s/u/)?)
Of course, it seems you often hear more of the negatives than the
positives, probably because the negatives can make for more interesting
discussion. : )  Regardless, we've all experienced and heard enough to
realize that virtually no organization manages to avoid suboptimal,
sub-par, irrational, dysfunctional, and even Dilbertesque behavior
entirely.

Is anyone aware of any good writings that present sort of an
anthropological analysis of what goes on inside companies?

I guess I'm looking for something that:

- is insightful

- maybe attempts to explain the behavior of an organization in terms of
the incentives given to the individuals within the organization.
(Perhaps undesirable organizational behavior can partly be traced back
to the incentive structure.  Or is it more a function of the
individuals themselves?)

- addresses how & why the company as a whole can be "greater than the
sum of its parts" or "less than the sum of its parts".

- takes a stab at identifying the key traits of intelligent, successful
groups.

I don't think I'm looking for pop, biz-exec type lit, but maybe I am
(haven't really tried it).

Maybe what I'm looking for isn't about businesses in particular, but
about groups of people in general - I dunno.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

+Joel

--- Steve D Poling <sdpoling at home.com> wrote:
> As a former MGH employee, I can concur that the pay and bennies are
> good.
> Other former MGH employees will concur that the New York/New Jersey
> politics
> is a pain. Management can be irrational, driven by fad and hype. From
> what I
> can tell, the worst villains have left MGH.
> 
> When I left MGH for Rapist(an Systems) I likened the transition to
> leaving
> the communists to work for the fascists. i'm now more inclined to
> call
> Rapist a bunch of Nazis, and MGH socialist. I might return to MGH,
> but I'll
> never return to Rapist.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-grand-rapids-pm-list at pm.org
> > [mailto:owner-grand-rapids-pm-list at pm.org]On Behalf Of
> > matthew_heusser at mcgraw-hill.com
> > Sent: Monday, July 09, 2001 10:30 AM
> > To: grand-rapids-pm-list at happyfunball.pm.org
> > Subject: Lookin' ..?
> >
> > >  The pay is pretty good (for entry level), and right now,
> > they're pretty much
> > >
> >
> > BTW:
> >
> > Fortune 500, and the benefits/work environment/pension that that
> > implies as
> >       well.
> >
> > (Except that you'll never have to wear a tie.  Ever.  Jeans on
> Friday, of
> >       course.)
> >
> > Matt H.


=====
Perl mongers do it more than one way. (TMTOWTDI)
http://grand-rapids.pm.org/

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