The flexibility of an organization is in its rigidity.

I know what you are thinking, “This is an oxymoron.”

As many of you know, I am a big fan of the Toyota
Production System.  Each year dozens of companies tour the
Toyota Plants trying to unravel the secrets to Toyota’s
productivity and efficiency.  And each year, these
companies walk away from those tours with plenty of great
ideas, but never knowing the real Toyota Secret.

HR CONTRARIAN POINTER: The real secret to what drives the
excessively high productivity and efficiency of Toyota is
how rigid and scripted its processes have become over the
years. 

These finely tuned processes allow Toyota’s managers and
employees to recommend periodic tweaks that squeeze out
more efficiency.  And recommend they do, as Toyota
receives an average of close to 50 suggestions per
employee per year.  Compare this to American auto makers
that receive an average of less than 1 suggestion per
employee per year.

If you would like to build an efficient operation like
Toyota, take a close look at my Employee Process
Evaluation Program.  This Program will allow you to
document duties, critical processes, and standards of
performance.
http://www.hrcontrarian.com/processevaluation/

Yes, the title of this post is correct.  It is very easy
to manage people during a bad economy.

The reason it is so easy is that you can just say, “No,”
to employee requests for salary increases, tools to do
their work, training, etc.  And the best part is that you
never have to justify your answer other than to say,
“We’re concerned about the economy.”

When things are going well, employees have all those pesky
questions that start with “Why…”  But, in tough times,
management gets a trump card that it often overplays.

HR CONTRARIAN POINTER: If you consider your employees
“partners” in your business, then, you will want to give
them the reasons for decisions, regardless of the state of
the economy.

In the July-August 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review,
there is an article titled, “Employee Motivation, A
Powerful New Model.”  This new model talks about 4
employee drivers that when satisfied, create new levels of
employee motivation. 

One of the drivers is comprehend – the need of employees
to understand the rationale for decisions, which helps
them make sense of the world around them.  Help employees
to comprehend decisions of management, even in tough
times, and watch employee commitment and engagement grow.