🚀 go-pugleaf

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Have been following the discussion on driving out fear.  I always found
this one of Demings 14 points odd because it is a slogan -- "Drive Out
Fear" -- and is followed closely (at least in some versions) by the
point: "No Slogans."  I wish it was true, but the evidence suggests it
is not.

Worker participation programs generally and quality programs in particular
became popular at precisely the time when virtually everything in the
economy began to threaten workers.  For example, around 1 million workers
per year lost their jobs to plant closings
during the recession of the early 1980's, and
the number REMAINS at that level today and did throughout the 1980's
and into the 1990's (Henry Farber, Brookings Papers in Microeconomics,
1993).  For example, Kochan, Katz and Mower's 1984 book out of the
Upjohn institute documents a series of programs at unionized workplaces,
the most successful being one at Packard Electric where management
threatened job loss in 1973, and again in the early 1980's, in each
case generating high levels of cooperation and quality.  For example,
Lawler, Mohrman and Ledford's 1992 book reporting on the Fortune 1000
finds that in 1987, only 17% of managers believed job security was
"an important facilitator" of their employee involvement program, a figure
that DROPPED to 9% by 1990.  For example, evidence presented in Freeman
and Medoff (_What Do Unions Do_, 1984) showed that 1 out of 4 workers
supporting a union organizing drive will be fired for that support.
For example, Drago (1988, Industrial Relations) reports that layoffs
increased the lifespan of Quality Circles groups, and Eaton (1994,
Industrial and Labor Relations Review) finds supporting evidence
for this claim.

The problem with the views most people present on the fear issue is
that they assume managers are "responsible for 85% of the problems".
Well, the economy counts too!  In an economy where most workers
are terrorized, and many managers are as well, fear of job loss
can provide a terribly effective motivator for BOTH parties.  Living
here in Milwaukee, we have seen plant closing after plant closing and,
as recently as last week, Briggs and Stratton announced they were
moving 2,000 jobs out of state.  If you think that sort of threat
will not lead workers, supervisors and middle managers to support
quality improvement and cost reduction programs, think again.

Cheers,
Bob Drago
Econ. Dept.
Univ. Wisc.-Milwaukee
drago@convex.csd.uwm.edu