Before you begin to second guess me, this post is not about Top Gun! It's about a book called Maverick by 'Ricardo Semler'. A good friend of mine loaned it to me recently. I am yet to complete it.I am somewhere halfway through it and find it to be an engrossing read.
The book is about Ricardo Semler and the complete revamp he gave his company Semco. Not just physical, in terms of furnishing,employee count etc., but in terms of management structure,style, principles..... actually, more or less everything!Started by his father, Semco was a not very profitable company which manufactured pumps for ships. Rick who joined it at the age of 18, not one bit slowly, diversified the company's operations to include dishwashers, mixers,pumps for tankers among many others! The unusual and unique aspect of Semco is not its products but the style in which it is run. Workers decide on their own wages, set their own targes, decide the work hours, decide the profit sharing strategy and are given the right to vote on a large number of things! Things like deciding whether to buy a company or the choice of a plot for a new factory are all made by the employees through voting! Wow! Isn't that really unusual? Just imagine.. you actually get to hire you project manager? You get to decide! That most certainly eliminates all sorts of employee dissatisfacton!! And the best part of it all is that Semco makes enormous profits!!!
I was commenting to the friend who loaned me the book that i found the book extremely fascinating and was quite astounded that the 'Semco Stragey' was actually feasible and succesful. I was telling him that though I found the methods used by Semler quite revolutionary and interesting, I wasn't sure if it was quite down my line. That I was probably too forceful and domineering a person to ever implement it!! And you know what he actually had the gall to reply?? No " Why not? You're not really so forceful! You are a very sweet and lovable person!! " ..but actually a " Yeah, you would never be able to do it!!!" Baah!!!!!
13 comments:
hahahahahahahaha....Guess it wouldnt do the "person" any harm if u mentioned the name! :)
Haven't you heard? The age of chivalry and being nice to women is dead !
i got to read this book. i dont kno if letting the workers make big decisions work in big companies bcos everyone is going to hav diff opinions .
sounds interesting....
@vik - i don't mention the name of morons!!!
@prashant - *sigh*, equality-ism sure does have its disadvantages!!
@jagan- Yeah..a vote out can always leave one faction dissatisfied.. but i guess the key to their thinking is having everyone participate in the managing and thereby boost employee morale
@monk - it seems to be
Nice book to read. One of my favourites, I read it long back while in b-school.
A couple of interesting snippets about Ricardo Semler and Semco.
1) Ricardo was rejected by Harvard business school for their MBA program which is when he decided to join his father's business. Many years later, he lectured about his management technique Technique in harvard. Harvard had invited him back..
2) Semco is one of the few companies in the world where there is a waiting list for people to join this company. Its got more to do with the honour and sense of ownership working in semco provides for the worker than about the money or the name itself.
3) In other companies around the world, a boss intreviews his subbordinate and he also does a periodical apprisal. In Semco subbordinates interview the guy who is joining new as their boss. Along with the apprisal system, there is a reverse apprisal system also.
4) Of course, we have heard about setting your own salary. We may think, that people would be extravagant about their salaries. But one aspect remains, your salary would be published in the notice board of the company open to everyone's knowledge. This is quiet unlike the tremendous secrecy in executive compensation.
If you are interested in reading management book, you should read "The Goal" - By Eliyahu Goldrat. He is the father of a concept called "theory of constraints". Revolutionises the way we think.
vasu
hey.. din't know about the 4th point.. makes the idea of setting your own salary a lot more realistic!! Yeah.. will definitely hit 'The Goal' in the next 2-3 months.. got a couple of books waiting in the queue right now ;)
hii Deepti....you have been "tagged" for more details visit my blog at "http://tarni.blogspot.com/"...regards Tarni
A good post and an equallly valuable comment by Vasu. The concept is too utopian to be true!
Hi Deepti ,
Maverick is a must read .. real good book :)
HEY ALL YOU PEOPLE OUT THERE!..IT WAS I WHO WAS THE 'MORON' WHO RECOMMENDED THAT BOOK TO DEEPTI!(this line was purely intended to irritate deepti) :)
@pradeep -yup! but utopia , just a dream should always be aimed for..which is what Semco has done with success it appears
@ viewer -:)
@viks - a sweet and adorable person like me could never get irritated viksie!! :P
If you liked this book, you might also like Lee Iococca, and Who says elephants cant dance. Or even McDonalds behind the arches...
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