Is history nothing more than a chain of accidents?

I wonder how many people have stumbled across the article from the BBC entitled:
Briefcase 'that changed the world'

What a fascinating review of history. A series of accidents, accidents of discovery, accidents with actions and what seems like pure good luck.

• For anyone who wants to believe in predestination this is worth reading
• For those who believe that things happen in SPITE of the best intentions of mere human beings
• For those who believe that truth is often stranger that fiction

this article is a MUST read.

Communal Living

I wonder how many people have sat down and explored the notion of communal living in Australia. Probably thousands if not millions over the years.

I wonder how many people think of living in an apartment that is part of a Strata Plan as communal living?

What's involved, what are the interactions like, how does governance work? Are the rules know and internalised?

These and other fascinating questions have been exercising my mind recently and I would of course very much like to hear from others who are wondering about the same things!

Write and let me know

Face Lift

Yes folks it had to happen. All of my bogs have had a face lift and are now using the new 'interface' provided by Google. On the one hand I was pleased to integrate my various services, sad to lose the "look" that I cultivated for some time and have mixed feelings about the new management interface that I think is designed for people who can't even try and master HTML or Java.

On the other hand it is FAST!

So if you are pleased, horrified or have some other points of view about not only the content but the look and feel - do let me know.

"Bosses keen to CULL low performing staff"

That's the headline in an article from Management Issues.com

It turns out, when you read the article that the word "CULL" is actually something that was 'borrowed' from a comment by Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO) that he culls one in every fifteen of his company's employees.

A former head of General Electric is reputed to have said that "if you've got 16 employees, at least two are turkeys."

I was little disturbed that the views of at least two of the most senior and highly paid executives in the world is associated with thinking of their staff as some form of animal or poultry.

What is being referred to is not to "cull" people in the same way that a herd or a flock may be culled, but to simply fire them if they are under performing.

I have to admit to having some mixed views about this idea.

On the one hand I accept fully that getting rid of under performing employees is in everyone's interests.

A long association with industrial relations would suggest that unless this is underpinned by due process and a fair and equitable system by means of which people are identified as under performers and given at least one chance to improve their performance it should not happen.

Without implying any possible malicious motive to any manager, let's just say that the power imbalance between employers and employees is such that abuse can and probably does happen.

With all that aside I wonder whether those who teach organisational practice could consider adding into their text books some reference to the fact that employees are fellow human beings and NOT lower forms of life.

While the comments may well have been made as a colloquial reference it does make you wonder whether the changes to industrial laws in this country recently emanate from a view that workers are like animals.

If that attitude by senior executives is not changed it could spell some troubled times ahead for the world.