Sinking Through

In the business world, people get lost between management and entrepreneurship. While they seek to grow in the hierarchy chain of their enterprise the few who manage are those who are actually skilled and set for success. They are sinked into the multi-nationals, under the command of often less qualified superiors and are stuffed with a fair amount of consuming assets, while the real benefits of their hard work are channeled to the shareholders ...and I can only wonder what effects this might have on the economy, when people reap what they did not saw.

However, this is not what really scares me. What challenges all my means of logical understanding is when people are set aside for being too perfectionists and doing their tasks a bit "too well"; as if this term should actually exist! I am devestated at the thought of 2 amazing people leaving Siemens at about the same time as my stay is coming to an end. These employees, that I regarded as genius and would only dream to match their skills, are to step aside. Are multi nationals that strong in structure to handle the shock of losing their best assets and surviving the transition? I can't wait to see the results of Siemens PTD Grenoble the year to come, to conclude just how replaceable humans actually are in an enterprise...
For now, I blame it on a lack of judgement and interest from the HR department in the actual success of the company; and an unforgiveable jealousy and individual concern from the part of the head of the enterprise. To think that success leads to concern and makes you an enemy is not conceivable...

A Feminist Call

I used to think the only thing that stood in my way of climbing the corporate ladder was my age. I often thought I could do things better than many positioned above me. Ego? Maybe.

I was reassured when a teacher who now has her own firm complained that she was never taken seriously at a young age. She said things change when you become in your mid-30s and this comforted me, although I still had a lot to wait.

However, I was destroyed when I found myself in a multinational in France, at Siemens PTD, and saw that the higher positions were not only occupied by older people, but they were also, in their totality, dominated by males. "Dominated" does not even give the distribution justice. It leaves us to assume that there's a minority of feminine presence; which until today, I still have not detected. With less than 1% of its senior level workforce female, Siemens PTD Grenoble is far from believing in gender equality. What's more is that merely 18% of its total workforce is female...

PR in Action!

I must have been at the right place at the wrong time; but I got to live an important instance in a corporate giant's history. Siemens had announced earlier on this summer that they were planning to fire more than 16,000 employees.

While the story ravaged the business news and made top headlines in financial news; it did not move much the people concerned for it was perceived as a far-off fact that was not directly linked tgo them. It was only after the news had cooled down in the media, that the real action took place. The people in Grenoble were notified yesterday. They were only going to be affected by 17 jobs out of 800, given their good financial performance this year.

The communication strategy was to give the news directly from head down the organization structure, before it could move horizontally and create noise. We were called into a meeting and notified in the afternoon. The news was reassuring, they're doing their best to reintegrate the people concerned in other departments. No one was going to be laid off unwillingly. Right. I was surprised to see that the employees actually believed this, but they did! How gullible can they be, with all the fuss that went around... Having less "per employee profit" than their competitor GE was not reason enough; they truly believed in their good intentions.

Internal communication was perfect. One step down the ladder. One step closer to the truth.

The shock will not be NEWS anymore once the real action will take place. Thus it won't be of anyone's interest to talk about it or revolt against it.

Marrvellously done; and I am left to wonder whether this was spontaneous or planned...