How to bring capitalism back socially to the US?

Posted by XenokRoy 9 years, 4 months ago to Ask the Gulch
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This subject came to me as something useful to have discussion about based on the thread in the link.

I have some ideas and some things I do within my teams I am a director over, but would love to hear what others are doing to overcome an entitlement social conditioning in the US.

My teams in India (and in past companies China) are very committed to getting the task done. It is not so much the same way here in the US.

I have some entry level technical jobs here in the US. I hire out of college, and often a year or two before they finish college. The kids I hire, many of them for their first Job are generally good workers. In the 22-25 range they often do not even care about making more money, they want to work 40 hours and leave work behind. Getting the job done has far less meaning to them than the time away from work.

In contrast my India team will get the job done but lack the creative minds to tackle problems on there own. If I give them a great procedure they get it done, but they seem to lack the creative capability of US staff.

How do you get the US staff to work like the India staff, and the India staff to be creative like the US staff?
SOURCE URL: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/414cdba1/venezuelan-money-worth-less-than-a-napkin~spwf4nwu2za7pp7gbvfi6u5niy


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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
    Hello XenokRoy,
    It would help if we stopped handing out participation awards to the youth just for showing up... I have turned to paying commissions/bonuses as apposed to only hourly pay to some that are motivated as an option. It also spurs others when they see the example. For too long in this nation we have been fostering the idea of entitlement without effort. This is no way to inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit and proper motivation to excel.
    Respectfully,
    O.A.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
      I too have done bonus structures based on performance.

      I am finding that the latest generation no longer are motivated by the ability to earn more, They are satisfied with less money and shorter work hours more so than more money, doing a better job and taking more time to get it done.

      I have always done salary positions with a bonus program based on achievement. It has provided for a good work and life balance. You take care of the work and you take care of your family and do it each as it needs to be done. I may move things back to an hourly position because of some of the attitudes I see in the new work force. Its a bit frustrating.
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      • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
        Sad. In my shop, I have reduced my workforce and gone on strike as much as is possible. I have only the best most motivated workers left. They are all older now. Aren't we all? So that may be why it still works for me. If the government wasn't robbing me blind, I would love to expand again and leave someone else in charge, but nobody wants to be in charge. What is wrong with young people? It seems they have been given too much and have it too easy... no fear of tomorrow... no planning for the future...
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        • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
          Using the Words of my nephew to my father. "Grampa, this isn't the great depression. If things go wrong there are safety nets in place to make sure everyone is OK."

          This particular nephew is a controller for a state college with about 40k students. He is a very capable person who surprised me when making this statement. He is in his late thirties now so a little older than the others I have brought up.

          I some times think the only way it will change is for those safety nets to fail. To get to where that happens is very ugly. I likely do not have work in my profession any longer and am farming to produce food and enough to sale to cover the lousy property taxes. in order to reach that point.

          There has to be another way. I just can not see it.
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          • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
            XenokRoy,
            I know what you mean. :( It would be nice to believe... to have faith in government maintaining safety nets... But you and I know too much history. Going back to the fall of Rome, many a nation's people's hubris let them think things could go on indefinitely. Unfortunately a government is only as durable as it is solvent and the productive can bear the weight placed upon them. It seems the more generations from a catastrophe like the great depression the more complacent and reliant people become. I too wish I could see another way. I fear not for myself or for you who at least will have the skills to feed ourselves if the time should come in our lives, but for the generations to follow like your grandson who will not have the chances we had and likely will not be prepared. When the time comes it would be better for them if we were still around to help and to pass along our skills.
            Best wishes,
            O.A.
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          • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago
            are we not watching the slow failure of the safety net structure,
            as the u.s. goes further and further into insolvency?

            when the dollar is subject to the inevitable rampant inflation
            associated with this huge and horrible overspending,
            we will face Rand's nightmare where the dollar will be
            handed back to us, with the remark, "Overdrawn." -- j
            .
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
    I have read through the remarks currently on the list, and I find that XenokRoy's comments: "I am finding that the latest generation no longer are motivated by the ability to earn more, They are satisfied with less money and shorter work hours more so than more money..." and "Using the Words of my nephew to my father. "Grampa, this isn't the great depression. If things go wrong there are safety nets in place to make sure everyone is OK."" are in keeping with what I have seen/experienced with my employees.

    And the nephew is at least partly correct. While I do not blindly trust the 'safety nets' he relies on, we are a far cry from the type of subsistence society where a single dry spell or unusual rainfall can mean your family will starve. It is not all that uncomfortable, after all, to live in your parents' basement and make only a little money...and have all the free time you want to have fun. (In a sense, 'time' and 'fun' are the commodities we are buying with our money. If they are in your grasp already, why should you work so hard?)

    I think that this will persist as long as we have an affluent society. There will be fewer people who are sufficiently fascinated by the world to want to work in it.

    Jan
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    • Posted by term2 9 years, 4 months ago
      This is the unintended consequence of the safety nets. Pretty soon few people work cause work can be hard and they tax it to pay for the safety net. Why not just rely on the safety net period?
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    • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
      Hello Jan,
      And that is why we will see our prosperity stagnate or decline while hungrier more ambitious nations become the creators of products and progress, while we mere consumers borrow until we can no longer get credit to fund our existence. Then what? I think we know...
      Regards,
      O.A.
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      • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
        Or the implementation in robotics will relieve us of the weight of the non-producing consumers, and the rest of us will be free to create whatever we want. (Hope.)

        Jan
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        • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
          Indeed,
          As long as we aren't just sitting in our parents basement playing with someones else's creativity (Video games etc.) while absorbing our parents retirement, but are being creative. I see too many doing just that. this is how we end up having an 18 trillion dollar national debt and an even larger amount of unfunded liabilities. Believe me, I am all for working for our leisure time. That is what we that are all working are striving for. The problem is that too many are not working or striving in the first place, but still riding in the cart while others pull. I have worked hard to increase productivity in my shop and I do employ robotics to do so. The problem is that too many others are not being creative; they are simply free-riders.
          The economic facts don't lie. The worker participation rate and median household income reflect this premise.The government has made it easy to sit back and avoid creativity or labor.
          Respectfully,
          O.A.
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          • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
            With all due respect, OA, I think that is exactly where we are headed - and we had best not shy away right now from thought-problems that can illuminate that type of society.

            While actual machine intelligence is debatable, like the old joke about the mathematician, the engineer, and the blond, we will get 'close enough' to change our game. For example: robot driven delivery vehicles and farm equipment are probably doable today, certainly within a decade or so.

            I envision a society wherein the baseline of non-working subsistence includes a house or apartment with utilities, HVAC, tv, computer, all food and clothes. And all this is provided by the robot workforce. I think that 20% of society will have no job at all (passive TV and gaming), 30% will have hobbies that do not exchange value, 30% will have hobbies that do provide value, and the remaining 20% will work for a living.

            This image plays havoc with my personal philosophy...I am trying to come to terms with it.

            Jan
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            • Posted by VetteGuy 9 years, 4 months ago
              This sounds a lot like the "heritage" from "For Us, The Living" by Heinlein. Everyone gets a check, once a month, which is adequate for their needs, plus a little. Some choose to work, and make a little more, some don't.

              It's an interesting book (if you enjoy such things as I do), written in 1939, but set in 2086. He foresaw a system that works much like our internet, but thought that travel to the moon would not have happened by 2086.
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            • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
              Indeed. I want more leisure time, but would I value it as much if I did not earn it? That which we acquire too easily we value too little. How many of us will even still be willing to be the (albeit fewer) providers and not resent the freeloaders? Yes my personal philosophy clashes with the prospects as well.
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              • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
                One of the things that I see about myself is that I do better with an external structure in my life: 'Getting up and going to work' is good for me.

                Jan
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                • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
                  Yes, me too. I swear that when I retire, after a brief, deserved respite, I will stay active and work at my interests and hobbies daily. I enjoy a routine and too many I have witnessed sit in front of the TV and wait to die... Soon enough (too soon) their wait is ended. :(
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                  • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
                    I was out of work for about a year and a half and part of that time only half looked for work. I was living basically retired, doing things I was interested in. After about a year of that I wanted something more. It was not enough to do things I enjoyed, I needed some stuff that was frustrating, infuriating and caused some struggle. Without it I was becoming something less than my former self. Eye opening but also provided a view point for myself that even when you stay productive, you need to do some things that just are not fun to appropriate the fun stuff.

                    perhaps that makes sense, perhaps not, but it is definitely true for myself.
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                    • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 9 years, 4 months ago
                      Makes sense to me. I like to wrench on cars... and make custom parts on my machines. Sometimes things don't cooperate...figuring how to design and machine a custom part and occasionally busting knuckles can be frustrating. Does that count? :) Also learning a new song on my guitar can be trying... I have had enough of preposterous deadlines, ungrateful slow paying clients, piles of paperwork from the IRS and other government agencies though. That crud I will not miss.
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                      • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
                        I hear you. I quit doing my own business and went to corporate America due to that IRS (and state) mounds of paperwork thing. I have no patience for it as I see it as a completely unnecessary function that could be gone, or simplified. Still drives me nuts.
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            • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
              I too struggle with this image as well.

              I also can see people cycling through those groups you describe within there life span. I also think you will have a group that is constantly educating themselves but have no plans for the use of the knowledge other than to get more of it. This I guess would fall into your 30% with hobbies that do not provide any value for exchange. I have a sister and her husband that do this today. It rubs me really wrong.
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              • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
                I can understand knowledge addiction. But I would inevitably reach the point where I had some new insight or discovery that I would want to publish on - and hence provide value.

                Jan
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                • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
                  In my sister and her husbands case it has a different motive. They have a good little scam going. He works at University of Phoenix teaching. This gives them both half tuition.

                  They apply for grants (having no other income than a part time psych professor - i mean swindler) which they easily qualify for. The grants pay the tuition costs (full tuition costs) and they pay half. University of Phoenix is rather pricey to attend at about 3k a month for post graduate work.

                  They make their welfare check and about 36k a year of grants to attend school forever.

                  I love knowledge, some of it just for knowing. I am a history bug and read quit a bit around history, but even that is largely to identify what they did right or what they did right or what they did wrong so that I can use it to do right more often myself. I would love to take classes of all kinds in my retired years. I would appreciate it as I would have earned it. It is my dream retirement and it really chaffs me to have someone do it who has not earned it on all of our dimes.
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                  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
                    Actually, many educational institution allow people >60 or 65 (or some other age threshold) to audit classes free. I believe MIT is one of those. You might see if you can legitimately qualify to do this.

                    Jan
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                    • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
                      Not even 50 yet, only 48 so coming up on it.

                      Good to know though. I would love to do that once I reach that age.

                      Thanks as I was not aware of it.
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                      • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
                        I am old enough to qualify at some places (62) but too busy to take advantage of it right now, though I keep the thought in the back of my mind...

                        In the meantime, I am not too busy to keep on reading about interesting things: current historical topics are Egyptian hieroglyphics (learning to read) and European paleogenetics. Also SF...just for the fun of it.

                        Jan
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            • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 9 years, 4 months ago
              I suggest that with all the obfuscation of unemployment numbers there is probably no job for 20% of the population now. Most farming is low labor, (there are still specialty items). Manufacturing is highly automated. The internet is cutting into a lot of middle man jobs as we buy from Amazon and the brick and mortar stores sit closed and empty.
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        • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
          I think the robotics and technological advancement will not do well that attempts to replace man. It never really has.

          The robotics and technology that attempts to assist man will see great success.

          To give an example of what I mean. For several years the government attempted to create a fully automated system to track down repeat bank fraud in small quantities. They tried to do it so that the computer did it all, it failed.

          Paypal in its early days faced the same problem, only they created a system where the computer flagged likely problem candidates based on behavior patters and gave that data to a human, then the human would verify it was a likely problem and do some investigation. This system worked well, and the government licensed it from paypal.

          I think that many of the jobs were no thought is needed will be replaced. Computers and robots can sift through data, or do a repeated task well, but they cannot replace the mind.
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          • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 4 months ago
            That is how we perform autoverification of results in our Laboratory Information System. The lab has some options for defining normal results, and the computer is allowed to accept those results automatically. The outliers have to be viewed and accepted by a tech.

            I think you are correct insofar as where we are; I am less certain that you are correct with respect to where we will be in a decade.

            Jan
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            • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
              A good book that has a chapter on this is 0 to 1. I too thought, and still think I may be wrong in the future, but this book has me seeing a likelihood that it will still be the case a decade from now.

              I do think we will constantly see a shift to the computer doing more of a job. For instance looking at code, the old Fortran had a person doing everything. C++ less as there were more built in function calls. C# much less, as getting a registry key went from about 23 lines of code to 1 in C#. Java even less.

              I think it will always take a person to come up with the idea, but much of the code work needed to create that idea will be in a library, and will even reach the point where you provide a few perimeters and a system rights the code.

              The game changer that could alter all of this is true AI being developed. If that ever happens I think we are much further from it than Ray Kurzah (spelling likely off) from Google thinks it will be.
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  • Posted by ewv 9 years, 4 months ago
    Find the best people you can from what is available. You can't change a culture overnight.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
      I can work to change it within the people in my team. Each person can with those they associate with. Indeed each person attempting to do so that has a position to, is all that will change the culture. If I can make 20 people understand individualism a bit better for their time working with me, I have made a difference. Its not overnight and its not easy but its probably, with the exception of my family, the most important thing I will do.
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  • Posted by $ Snezzy 9 years, 4 months ago
    At the bottom of this is the concept of the zero-sum game. If every gain by one person results from a loss to someone else, then it's pointless, overall, to engage in any economic activity. We have spent about 150 years believing that the rich get rich on the backs of the poor. "If you have money, you stole it from that poor guy over there. If you're poor, your money was stolen by the rich."

    With that as the background, why bother trying? You're immoral if you win, and only moral if you lose. And you're also immoral if you suggest things could be otherwise.
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  • Posted by BrettRocketSci 9 years, 4 months ago
    Hi XenokRoy. You've got quite a lot of advice and opinions here so far! Please watch this 10 minute video from Dan Pink that summarizes his book "Drive." There are proven ways to motivate employees effectively and honestly, but they aren't what or how most people think. http://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc
    On creativity, it can be taught but it needs a supportive infrastructure and work culture built around it to happen. A person's upbringing is also a huge factor. Everything and everyone has a context! And yet, part of that context is that we are all human beings, so there are some things that we can all do and strive to do, in our core person.
    BTW, I used the ideas in this book (plus a few others I could mention If you are interested) to create an innovative culture and ecosystem in my employer's company site of 5,000 people. And I helped it spread to sites in other states and countries.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
      Should have put this in my first reply, but I think it has more to do with pay level than the type of work being done.

      When a person has pay that is not yet comfortable money is the major motivator. When a person is comfortable money looses some of its motivation power and autonomy becomes better. My team members have a great deal of autonomy in there work. Its something I really work to make sure exists, it is the secret to my success as a manager. Creating processes that provide autonomy for the individual what getting the group to move in the same direction.

      It use to be that in that environment money would become a motivator again. That seems to be gone with the mid twenty workforce today so its time to look at different options for them.

      This video refreshed some of those in my mind so thanks.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 4 months ago
      Thanks for the video. I have been preaching that to co workers for 15 years. Once the money reaches a point of comfort its not as important as the purpose, even more the independence of mind that is needed for creative thinking.
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  • Posted by $ splumb 9 years, 4 months ago
    This is something I've been screaming about for years. Pardon the long missive.
    Speaking as an aunt (by way of my hubby's sisters – I'm an only child), kids today have no ambition (other than wanting things they cannot afford, and they want it NOW! - we have a nation of Veruca Salts), no work ethic and no ability to plan for their futures.
    Hubby and I have lots of nieces and nephews, ranging in age from 5 to 30. But I'll just use a few for examples.

    Case in point: One niece is 25. She's absolutely wonderful with children. A natural. In high school, she expressed an interest in child psychology, and asked me if higher education was required. When I told her it required a master's degree minimum, she quickly lost interest. She then looked into other fields, all requiring at least a bachelor's degree. Again, no interest. She wanted a high-salary job that had minimum work hours and only required 2 years in a community college, the most time she was willing to “waste” in higher education. She wanted lots of free time to party with her girlfriends and buy Coach bags and diamond necklaces (where do working class kids get the idea that they can afford designer bags and diamonds when they aren't willing to work for them????).
    She's married now, and her husband is just the same. High school graduate, wants big things, not willing to work for them. With him, it's performance cars with lots of after-market items. He goes from job to job, every 1-2 years. He's worked at hardware stores, grocery stores and currently does installations for a big cable company. Within 6 months of every new job, he's seen kvetching on his Facebook page about how much he (bleeping) hates his job and how much of a (bleeping) jerk his boss is. And when he's asked to do a little overtime, he goes ballistic.
    When they became engaged to be married, they decided that they wanted a house. Never mind that they didn't have a down payment, they needed a house. I don't know who gave them the down payment, but I know my sister- and brother-in-law co-signed the mortgage (this is the second kid they've done that for – God help them if anyone defaults) and paid for the wedding and honeymoon.
    They are now parents of a wonderful little girl, but live in a house of cards. They live from paycheck to paycheck, no savings for their future, no plans beyond a few days. Her hubby is about due for another job change, which of course means no private health insurance for a while, but “it's okay, we can use Obamacare”. And undoubtedly mooch off their relatives.

    A nephew has his act together (partially). He went to a trade school and is an underwater welder. So far, so good. But the human body can only do that for 5-6 years. He has no clue what to do when his 6 years are up, and he's halfway there now. In 3 years he has to find another career, and has made no plans.

    Another nephew just graduated from high school. When asked what he intends to do next, he just shrugs. He has no clue, and really doesn't care.

    One of my younger nephews (age 12) aims high. He wants a mansion on the water, a yacht and a high-priced car (Aha, thought I, could this at last be the fires of ambition?). Nope. When I asked how he was going to get wealthy enough to pay for this, I got a blank stare. He is of the opinion that by just wanting it, somehow it will magically appear. No mention of hard work, education, or starting a business. I was crushed.

    This is the pattern. Kids want something, they ask for or demand it, somebody scrambles to get it for them. Like I said, Veruca Salt.
    And it's hardly any wonder they have no ambition. When they've not been allowed to fail while growing up, they believe that they cannot fail as adults. That there will always be someone or something to bail them out.
    They are all immature. Children in adult bodies. The only solution I can think of is to allow them to fail, and see if they can manage to find their own way.

    As for future generations, it's up to today's parents and schools to cut the mollycoddling and let them get their bumps and scratches young, so they can prepare for a self-reliant future. No one is teaching capitalism anymore; it's a dirty word. Get the commies out of the education system; home school your kids if you like, but teach them capitalism and objectivism.

    Have we already gone over the abyss? I fear so. Didn't Lenin once say that he could create collectivists with one generation of schoolchildren? It seems he was right.
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  • Posted by wiggys 9 years, 4 months ago
    CAPITALISM: is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.
    AR "what is capitalism?" CUI, 19 LP discuses in Capitalism as the only moral social system, " OPAR, 380.
    I do not believe it will come back anytime soon based upon the above definition.
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  • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 4 months ago
    This used to be called the work ethic or the protestant work ethic. The influence begins at home as a child and is reinforced, or not, by the educational system. The Jesuit maxim applies "Give me the child for seven years,
    and I will give you the man." https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...
    My experience in having done business in Asia is that they teach in concepts, not factoids, and there is much more devotion to family among young people. Largely the opposite of what is occurring in America.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 4 months ago
    One way is to treat and define everything with truthful facts. Ergo. Money = any method of storing wealth against future need. Wealth = Anything in Excess of current need. The phrase money is the root of all evil is a false statement the phrase is 'The LOVE of money is the root of all evil." Money is power is a good one too along with TANSTAAFL There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Someone somewhere always has to pay for it.

    Taxes = money loaned to the government (voluntarily or forcibly) in expectation of some return on investment - unless government is involved.

    Taxes are a way of punishing success and Fines are a way of punishing failure.

    Self Esteem is an unearned reward for continued failure AKA social promotions. Self Respect is something one awards to one self for achieving anything at the highest standard possible..

    You can add more if you wish...
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 4 months ago
    What you are really facing is the conundrum of culture. India is dominated by cultural norms such as the class/caste system (found ever-present in government) and top-down authority. The US usually runs the other way, with almost extremist individuality and (especially in the younger generations) a borderline disdain for authority. Can you change them? Only to a degree. And the problem is that you aren't going to be able to change them using the same approach.

    You can't teach creativity. You can emphasize problem-solving, however. So start rewarding your Indian workers who solve specific problems. What I might caution against is equating creativity with the unorthodox solution. Don't get so hung up on how the problem gets solved that you ignore the fact that the problem got solved. On the other hand, however, don't equate all solutions to the problem, as that is where you lose the "creative" aspect you are looking for. It might be difficult, but you are going to have to quantify how well the problem got solved in each case so that you have a baseline to use to demonstrate to your Indian workers about how creative approaches differ financially. It's clear they have the drive to produce, they simply need to be prodded to extend themselves. So give them the opportunity to lead projects so they trust in themselves. Let them make mistakes and then coach them that mistakes happen, but can be learned from (to a point). The common problem with the authoritative culture is that of fearing to offend or let down the authority figure. The only way to overcome that is to emphasize to them that you will be let down only if they do not try.

    For your American workers, the questions are polar opposites of their Indian counterparts. The Americans have the creativity which comes from wanting to do their own thing, but not the discipline necessary to stay with things when the going gets tough. That is the ultimate challenge you face, and I don't know if a solution to this exists because what you would actually have to overcome is the inertia already present in their value system. The only way to overcome this inertia is by their own choice: they have to decide that either their premises are incorrect and that the safety net isn't as safe as they think or they have to see themselves as possible of more than mere bottom-feeding. One is informational, the other motivational, both highly subjective.

    Good luck.
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 4 months ago
    India::: focus on tradition, traditional barriers ... identify them,
    list them ........ then Leave Them Behind. . start talking about
    inches and yards, for example, and degrees F. . compel them
    to go Outside Their Comfort Zone!!! . then give them a task like
    inventing a new way to do their job, regardless of how silly --
    turning a wrench with their left (or opposite) hand;;; starting
    phone calls with Thank You instead of Hello. . things like that.
    invent new traditions, at work.

    u.s.::: give them goals which, when they reach them, result
    in an on-the-clock party. . company buys the goodies.
    group awards for work successes. . bring some of the fun
    of after-work successes into the work environment.

    just suggestions from 2 graduate degrees in management
    and experience as a dept. head. . Good Luck!!! -- j
    .
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 4 months ago
    Stop paying by the hour and equal pay for a position. Pay for performance. Performance based on a metric that the employee can identify and effect and can readily see the results of. And that metric also needs to be tied in some direct way to the profitability of the division or company. But also pay attention to 'span of control' and 'attention span' per position.

    One of the largest failings of the industrial age has been the change to an hourly wage based on the employee servicing the machine, the production line, the system. Prior to that, a man was paid per unit and quality. Hourly pay has done more to drive the average worker towards unionism and socialism than anything else in our world. We've removed individual pride in accomplishment and competition from the workplace and it needs to be restored.

    But the key to it all is the development of the proper metric for each individual. And that includes supervision's metric based on the work of the team.

    Creativity requires recognition, confidence in supervision that will recognize, and confidence in self built up by the supervisor's recognition and award of incentives, and incentives based on motivations of the culture of the individual.
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 4 months ago
    Its the leader who sets the tone and gets people interested in excelling- just for the feeling of accomplishing something. Steve Jobs knew how to do it, and NO ONE wanted to feel their design was shit as he used to say.
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    • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 9 years, 4 months ago
      Calling someone's design 'shit' has to be a 'microaggression' at the very least.
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      • Posted by term2 9 years, 4 months ago
        Sometimes the design IS shit, bandits best to get it out there than dance around it. If you call someone's design "shit", you should be able to intelligently discuss why you think that way. Otherwise, its just an opinion, and everyone is entitled to their opinions.
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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years, 4 months ago
    If they are motivated to limit the intrusion into their time (their time is more important than $), incentivize them that way. Give time off to teams for completing work on/ahead of schedule. This can be a +/- incentive as well by not allowing them to leave if they are not done (assuming they are not non-exempt).
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 4 months ago
    Like anything else, creativity needs to be taught. Much of it is thinking out of the box. A trite phrase but in this case true. I would find a person who could teach a course in creativity and make it a bonus situation for those who take it and pass. Not everyone will. If they do, you've got the wrong teacher. In the USA, the work ethic has diminished to the point where it is as hard to find as a diamond bracelet on the beach with a metal detector. You might create a job application that tests work ethic, but be careful, you might get sued.
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  • Posted by blackswan 9 years, 4 months ago
    In the US, it's no longer chic to be outstandingly successful. It's not longer the age of the nerds. Steve Jobs is no longer "in." What's "in" now is Occupy Wall Street, and the "right" to have a living without effort. You need to create an environment where the 1% is the ideal, and the 99% is the also ran. BTW, cronies don't qualify for the 1%, even if they have the money. The Asians (and other foreigners) come from a society where the nail that sticks up gets hammered. They are outstanding when they work in groups (a la the Japanese), but they get blown out of the water alone, which is why they aren't as creative as Americans. If you're going to hire an American, hire as many as possible who've traveled overseas, especially if they've been to third world countries. That exposure should have given them some insight into what's great about America, and probably have given them a bit more ambition than your typical youth. Being multilingual also helps. With both groups, it helps to start as early as possible (in diapers) to head off the cultural imprinting that negatively affects one's innovation and work ethic.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 4 months ago
    Not everyone can be creative. Most cannot. And we are all affected by our surroundings. Indian culture is very much family based and tightly packed, so the youngsters grow up just like their parents and siblings - as a family, not as individuals. Creativity is hard to incubate in that environment. Another feature of the Indian culture is to take maximum advantage of others. That may help them survive, or just get ahead in a queue, but, again, it does not build self-reliance and individualism that are needed to be creative.

    As to the US staff, hire children of recent immigrants (not anchor babies) who still have a work ethic.
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    • Posted by term2 9 years, 4 months ago
      I say creativity is built into everyone. Its a matter of just "having to pursue things until you get them". One can be very creative with a lion chasing you for example. There is no other option.
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      • Posted by $ WilliamShipley 9 years, 4 months ago
        You can say it, but does that make it true? One of the big flaws of the golden rule is to assume that other people are like you.

        I would have agreed with you twenty years ago and happily empowered employees to "be all that they could be", sadly in many cases that wasn't very much.
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      • Posted by strugatsky 9 years, 4 months ago
        Well, unless you can arrange for a lion to chase the "non creative," I'm afraid that the unmotivated ones will remain non creative. But really, if a person had never exercised that part of their brain, at a certain point they are too far behind to catch up. Stocking super market shelves is not only their only option, but many actually enjoy doing it. I once had a middle aged man working for me trying to learn computer skills. The government was paying for his re-training. He lost his job of many years restocking shelves. He was suffering; he would dream of stocking shelves. And it's understandable - stocking shelves gave him the satisfaction of being needed and productive and, at the same time, did not tax his brain.
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        • Posted by term2 9 years, 4 months ago
          Hard for me to be like that. I would go nuts stacking shelves unless I was in charge of maybe stocking them somehow to maximize profit with least work. The lion analogy was to indicate that I think everyone has the ability to be creative at times- when necessary
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