*WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICAN BUSINESS WORLD?

I know this is not a Christian subject. Nevertheless, I was laid in my heart to do this article.

*Our mission is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ absolutely free. We do not want donation. We only want you to know the truth in Christ Jesus.

Believe it or not, if I tell you the American Top Management (the President, CEO and Chairman) have ignorance of Dr. Harold Koontz’s Advanced Theory of Management, you might not believe it. As a consequence, Management Expertise is looked down while Personal Power is exalted. The question 

is not what Strategy is best to achieve the corporate goal and objective. The question becomes what is the Cultish Leader’s Way of doing things. 

BY WILLIE WONG 

POWER inevitably divides the corporate body into INGROUP and OUTGROUP. The leaders of INGROUP obviously grab more resources (budget) to enlarge their empires. The corporation becomes a battle field, they are the enemies. The corporation becomes a very unhappy place. When people become very unhappy, how can you expect them to achieve anything? I know personally, there are people in the corporation who get high salary and yet they do nothing for the corporation, they work for themselves. There was an employee who was also a travel agent, he used the company copy machines to make a great number of travel commercials for distribution.

Power become the dominating motive and driving force of the corporation. The top management may not be aware, that people working under him (group of vice presidents, directors, and managers) their main concern is about getting power, how to grab a large share of budget (corporate resources). They are in fact a group of running dogs who obey and say only yes to their bossess. From Vice Presidents, Directors, Managers to psychopathic supervisors, everyone is concerned about Power in controlling their subordinates, put their employees on chain so that they cannot perform for the good company, they can only be obedient to their bosses. Consequently, there appears an abnormal phenomenon in many corporations. A certain department can do so well while the corporation is doomed to failure. Psychopathic supervisors appointed by managers are the worse, they act and behave as if they own the company, they are the bosses so their subordinates must carry out their orders or commands be it right or not. There are psychopathic supervisors who really believe what they do not know is wrong. These groups of people are doing most harm to the company while their Vice Presidents, Directors, Managers are thinking they are great because they are yes-men and very loyal and obedient. I notice in defense-related corporations, a great proportion of veterans were hired. A white director hired a white veteran who had no experience or expertise in Policies & Procedures.  The manager stated that in his department, except me no one knew how to develop policies  & procedures. So every morning he performed his cultish behavior by shaking hands with me.

To acquire power, QUALITY expanded itself by destroying and swallowing up other functions. In fact, quality is assured only from the beginning, not a value to be determined in the end. Traditional Quality Assurance is contrary to management. Of all functions I have encountered, Human Resources is the most incompetent and unprofessional. They even had the gall to ask me to teach them how to develop CORPORATE POLICIES & PROCEDURES. I advised them to take some courses at UCLA where they can even earn a Ph.D. in Policy. Corporation is not a place for people coming to get expertise.

I would not hire anyone who does not have expertise. A person hired must have expertise already.  Corporation is not a school, it is a business unit of performance, to achieve CORPORATE GOAL AND OBJECTIVE.

I was commissioned by the President to streamline Corporate Policies & Procedures. It was not a smooth sail. My supervisor who had no expertise and good for nothing, came out to say I was working under him. Some vice presidents and directors were making big waves, accusing and saying things untrue about me: building an empire. They did not want to know the fact that from formulating corporate policies & procedures to their final publication, it was one man operation. It was my impression that members of top management and the general population of employees did not know the nature and importance of Corporate Policies & Procedures. They did not know that Corporate Policies & Procedures are Corporate Standard Practices. If you do not know Corporate Policies & Procedures, how can you do your job?  A vice president honestly called me to say that he did not know the difference between policy and procedure. Another vice president thought it would be condescending to consult me. He had his assistant to call me to inquire if he had delegated authority to do certain thing. Some vice presidents and directors were hostile to the corporate project even commissioned by the President. The general employees did not want to cooperate because they did not want me to succeed. To succeed would mean I would get promoted and get salary increased. You wonder how can American corporations do well when their employees did not want corporations to succeed? If the corporations did not do well, where would they be?

The most unusual was a member of top management called Mr. Jim King. He knew all about this, so when he wanted to do a corporate project, he shocked his team by declaring in his staff meeting, appointing me a staff specialist to lead line executives of VP of Finance, Controller and General Manager. You never heard of such a thing in American corporations. Mr.  King was also considerate to make sure I got a bonus when the project was satisfactorily and successfully completed. Uncle Sam took half of the bonus.

How to solve the American corporate problems? If I were the Top Corporate Man, I would certainly select my team of Vice Presidents, Directors, and Managers working with me to formulate a Corporate Strategy in order to achieve the corporate goal and objective. I am definitely not ignorant about Dr. Koontz’s Advanced Management Theory. In a class of 40 Ph.D and MBA students, I received the highest grade. I would order a copy of Dr. Koontz’s Management Book for every vice president, director, and manager to study.  There would not be any power gridlock in the operations. I would fire 99% of psychopathic supervisors and set employees free to perform their jobs for the good of the Company. Whoever works against the Corporation, would be fired at once. Whoever works to advance Corporate Goal and Objective would be financially rewarded.

The following is a letter of recommendation from my professor and personal friend Dr. Harold Koontz, dated March 13, 1981. Dr. Koontz, although dead, yet he speaks.