Dear Reader:18,000 jobs have gone missing in America. That should be 18,000 MORE jobs gone. Already reeling from the last disaster curtesy of the financial industry, more jobs gone and the finger-pointing begins between management and labor.
Predictably, here come the scavengers. Selling off the brands I grew up with Ding-Dongs, Ho-Hos, Twinkies and Cupcakes. Now a financial transaction for Flowers or some other organization to carry on the pieces.
The CEO, Gregory F. Rayburn has convinced the board that the parts are worth more than the whole. One can only assume he will be paid off handsomely. The workers enduring years of poor leadership (six CEOs in ten years and multiple bankruptcies) will get next to nothing.
This doesn't exonerate completely the workers, but no group is more guilty than management. The same types that can recite balance sheets and income statements, but have zero knowledge of the business. This leads to every one fighting over the pieces. Workers to save pensions and wages and mis-guided management to line their pockets with what is left.
Seems we have left the moral high-ground.
Management and labor strife will not get us back on track. W. Edwards Deming cited that cooperation and not competition is what Americans need to focus in on. A never-ending journey/purpose to find new products and services to expand the economy and make life better for all people. Winners and losers in sports are OK, but not in business and government.
Seems a better path for America rather than all the financial focus where outsourcing or eliminating jobs to achieve profit targets is deemed good management. The stock goes up for a moment, but the cancer spreads and zaps our organizations of all their strength - that being the people and innovative thinking that comes with them.
Management's focus should be the same as labors, building economic juggernauts "to provide jobs and more jobs" (W. Edwards Deming).
I found some a balanced article in Forbes by Helaine Olen, Who Killed Hostess Brands and Twinkies? Surprised that a popular business magazine focused on the management problems and not the unions.
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