Editorial
Unions are obsolete; Companies actually care
Unions are dead. Good companies, right here in America, will look out for us. Good companies like Dell Computer, Apple, Microsoft, maybe even Continental Airlines, they all have a history of protecting workers.
No kidding? ran this front page story on June 7, 2010.
KYE, a Microsoft supplier, recruits hundreds of “work study students,” housing them in corporate dorm rooms like this one at KYE.
After suicides, scrutiny of
China’s grim factories
The factory’s first death this year came on January 23.
The body of a 19-year-old worker named Ma Xiangqian was found in front of his high-rise dormitory at 4:30 a.m. Police investigators concluded that he had leapt from a high floor, and they ruled it a suicide.
His family, including his 22-year-old sister who worked at the same company, Foxconn Technology, said he hated the job he had held only since November — an 11-hour overnight shift, seven nights a week, forging plastic and metal into electronics parts amid fumes and dust. Or at least that was Mr. Ma’s job until, after a run-in with his supervisor, he was demoted in December to cleaning toilets.
Mr. Ma’s pay stub shows that he worked 286 hours in the month before he died, including 112 hours of overtime, about three times the legal limit. For all of that, even with extra pay for overtime, he earned the equivalent of $1 an hour.
Welcome to the global economy. We all embrace it. We welcome the benefits of global economics into our kitchens and living rooms when we buy just about anything. We extend the welcome even further with voting choices that we make in national and state politics. And we go further still with our approval of unions, or our lack of approval.
The reality is that union membership is down and the need for unions is up.
Does anyone really know what we’re jumping into?
The merger makes us bigger — and we may feel better up front — but what does anybody really know about the deal that Tilton hatched with Smisek, or vice versa?
DENVERPOST.COM GUEST COMMENTARY
By J. Timothy McMahon | Your Comment
POSTED: 06/11/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Our merger partner makes us bigger, and after years of Tilton and his corporate pillagers, we want to believe that better times are ahead. But is bigger better? Professor J. Timothy McMahon, author of Leadership Classics, has doubts.
“United-Continental merger is a disgrace”
I am angry and bewildered about the United/Continental merger. If you live in Houston, New York or Cleveland you should be angry too. If you are a Continental employee, One Pass Elite member, President's Club member, supplier, union representative or frequent passenger you should be angry too. I am bewildered because of the apathy – the lack of expression of anger from any of the above. This merger just doesn't make a great deal of sense, regardless of what the executives claim.
What is going on here? Are we supposed to believe that the nation's top legacy carrier and the nation's number-one-rated international carrier with both a positive corporate culture and the youngest fleet is at the precipice of doom and destruction? I don't think so.
Are we supposed to believe that the estimated 5 percent gain from synergy (according to Michael E. Levine, a long-time airline executive and professor at NYU) is a game changer? I don't think so.
Are we supposed to believe that mergers are an effective way to compete when documentation shows that more than 90 percent fail to meet expectations? I don't think so.
Are we supposed to believe that combining a smaller but positive organization culture with a much larger and much poorer organization culture will somehow magically result in something good for the mega-corporation? I don't think so.
The Continental story is a great one that, unfortunately, is headed for a tragic ending. For those unfamiliar with the recent history of the company I suggest you read “Right Away and All at Once: How We Saved Continental” by Greg Brenneman (Harvard Business Review, February, 2000) or “From Worst to First” by Gordon Bethune (Wiley, 1999) Amazon.com. What you will discover is one of the most compelling examples of outstanding leadership and effective organizational change in modern times.
What you will not find are the heroics of legal eagles and finance wizards. No, the Continental story is one of strong leadership at the top and throughout the ranks. It clearly demonstrates how vision, commitment and the development of organization culture are the only sustainable competitive advantage for any company. This is not the stuff of the empty suits and guys in Gucci loafers. This is the stuff of hard work, determination and creativity. Hard work, determination, creativity – does this describe the typical merger to you? I don't think so.
So what’s really going on here? Let me hazard a guess. But first, let me note that the story of Mr. Smisek and Continental seems eerily familiar to that of Mr. Skilling and Enron (gone), Mr. Stanford and Stanford Financial (gone), Mr. Dunlap and Sunbeam (gone) Mr. Lorenzo and Eastern Airlines (gone), Mr. Fuld and Lehman Bros. (gone) and way too many other corporate tales.
These tragic outcomes have one thing in common — an out-of-control Ego at the top.
In conclusion, I would like to ask Continental's CEO of five months to do the following:
Take a walk, a run, a swim and clear your mind.
When you feel centered, step in front of a mirror in a private space.
Look directly at yourself.
Ask and answer the following questions for yourself:
Why am I, really and truly, doing this?
Would Mr. Bethune do this?
Would Mr. Brenneman do this?
Would Mr. Kelleher do this?
I don't think so.
What do you think? Member Comment
J. Timothy McMahon is professor of management at Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, where he teaches leadership development and leading change. He is the author of Leadership Classics (Waveland Press, 2010).
This story originally appeared as a link on the 141 News Bar, under “Continental.”
This Editorial is an opinion that does not necessarily reflect the views of District 141, District 141 Members, or those of the Machinists Union. District 141 Member comments are welcome, and may be used in this or other District 141 publications.