Excerpt from The Total Package, Chapter 3

For many years a radical change has been underway in the world of business. The hierarchical and bureaucratic organizational models left over from the Industrial Age have become obsolete relics, even though some companies, unwilling to change, have not completely accepted this fact as truth. Corporations that hold onto this outdated model will have trouble competing with the new “technology-based” organizational structure designed for rapid response to changing consumer demand.

Information technology, particularly Internet-related technologies, are still in their infancy in terms of their effect on how the world does business. Information technology has caused major productivity gains in most large corporations, particularly those that have moved away from a hierarchical business structure and embraced the new consumer-oriented “network” model. This new model focuses on utilizing technology in all phases of business, in order to better serve the fast-changing needs of consumers. Unfortunately, these giant leaps in productivity mean that, in many cases, fewer employees are required because technology has made each employee substantially more productive, eliminating the need for certain types of employees. In addition, the new Internet-based organization is substantially more efficient in its operation, requiring fewer employees to produce the same amount of goods or services than in an industrial-age-style corporation.

The economic downturn of the early 2000s merely accelerated the trend towards corporate hiring of fewer, more technologically savvy employees in an effort to further trim costs. In an economic recession, most companies are unable to increase sales, so the only recourse they have to improve profits is to cut costs, often by reducing the workforce. We must always remember one indisputable fact about corporations: their ultimate goal is to satisfy their stockholders, the owners of the corporation. Unfortunately, when forced to choose between the stockholders and the employees, corporations will first seek to gratify the shareholders’ desire for greater profits, which many times results in lost jobs.

As evidence of the trend towards rapid job cutting by corporations eager to reduce costs, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that in December of 2001, 22,000 jobs were eliminated in the U.S. in a little over 24 hours. Not only is this an incredibly large number in a short period of time, but it also confirms a disturbing precedent that firing workers between the Thanksgiving and New Year Holiday season is no longer taboo but perfectly acceptable. This is further solid evidence of rapidly declining employer-employee trust and relationships.

In this new, technologically advanced business environment, major corporations are banking on the premise that the new “techno-employee” will embrace these changes and view them as ultimately positive. Furthermore, they believe that these employees will then recognize the changes as a means of increasing the company’s competitive position, thereby creating an enriched work environment. The reality is that the employees who remain are being asked to carry a greater workload to compensate for a smaller number of employees overall. This in turn causes increased stress and a less desirable lifestyle for many employees.

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