As a former Dilbertina in corporate America, it seems to me that something
important is missing in the current efforts to diagnose and treat a very bad case
of corruption. The malady is not limited to "a few bad apples," nor will it yield
to new regulations, important as they are.
The infection is systemic, reflecting a 20-year change in corporate culture
that converted full-time employees to temporary workers, all but eliminated corporate
investment in communities and gutted strong companies to "maximize shareholder
value." The resulting, and temporary, increases in stock prices and reductions
in operating costs (at the expense of employees) fueled an obscene rise in executive
salaries.
Employees and communities were the immediate losers in the new corporations.
Now we see that shareholders can also lose. Employees once were valued members
of a corporate family. They worked an eight-hour day and were paid a fair salary
that included a company-paid pension plan and decent medical-dental insurance.
They may also have had a 401(k), or one of its predecessors, but this was not
a replacement for a traditional pension. In return, most employees willingly gave
their best efforts and loyalty. Shareholders received a regular return on investment
in the form of dividends. They didn't have to sell their stock for immediate return
and could endure the normal ups and downs of the business cycle, knowing that
good companies invested for the future. Both employees and investors were usually
in for the long term.
Somewhere in the mid-1980s, "paternalism" gave way to "entrepreneurship." Of
course, corporate managers bear no relationship to true entrepreneurs. But the
illusion led many to believe they deserved to live like robber barons and kings.
Companies that once referred to employees as "part of the family" became "lean
and mean" places of temporary employment, with employees hired and fired as needed.
This was sold to employees as "taking charge of one's career." Divisions were
sold off, producing instant revenue and juicing up executive compensation.
It is no wonder that today's corporations do not value "older" workers. They
know too much. Attention, young people: In the 1930s, people died to establish
the eight-hour workday, and until recent years it was the norm. There is something
wrong when today's children are fed packaged dinners by a nanny and parents eat
remnants while standing over the sink at 10 p.m. Employers know this.
It was possible to overlook the loss of personal time and such hard-won benefits
as company-paid pensions and medical care when it seemed we were all going to
be rich. Now that that's over, perhaps we can rebuild our work environment into
something fair.
Dethroning the CEO is a beginning. Prior to the 1990s, extraordinary wealth
was the realm of the true entrepreneur--Edison, Ford, Gates, Disney and others
who, warts and all, created something of value. Many of today's CEOs created nothing;
at best they managed well what they inherited.
Businesses should start again to reinvest in employees and the community. This
was once touted as being good for business and for shareholders. It still is.
Accountants and economists can start speaking in plain language. Congress can
establish independent governing boards and enact effective regulations. But without
a change of values, greed and fraud will simply take a different form.
Carolyn Ziegler-Davenport, who now works at Southwestern University School
of Law, was a corporate employee for 17 years.
Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times
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