Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai (Take a hike, and report back to work tmrw)

Here’s a great post by Basab Pradhan that talks about the recent troubles with large Chinese and Indian companies. The companies in China, Foxconn and Honda, both has labor trouble and have recently announced large pay hikes. Which, if you’re following the press, is similar to what the Indian IT services companies are doing too.

IT Services Companies Should Empower Middle Management.

Basab’s argument is that the middle management is not empowered enough, and is therefore not interested in arguing on behalf of the company anymore. This leads to labor unrest. The headline salary hike is, for the most, part, hiding deeper troubles in these companies.

But as the company grows, one degree of separation becomes two, three, four and more. Pretty soon what top management gets to hear is what they hear from their direct reports. What they have to say is said to a select few or to the media. How do you continue to build trust with your employees? You can’t do it yourself. So you must have your middle managers become interlocutors for you.

Very consistent with my earlier posts about Juggernautistic companies, and how they got that way.