Maverick

By: Ricardo Semler

1993

Type: NF

 

75% : effective radical management technique

Review : Very interesting ,with great ideas for management.

meaning : Technology has changed, but we are still stuck in the middle ages with pyramid management. Relax and trust your workers to manage themselves. This Brazilian company has proved it over 10 years. Money isn't the bottom line endurance is and if your workers are happy they will self manage well and your company will survive through crises and recession etc.

synopsis : 2. There are many causes of change

3. Thinking stuck in our Greek ways there are others

History industrialisation meant bosses controlled unskilled so unions introduced restrictive rules. Need to break cycle. Workers commitees began to suggest then manage.

not just consultative but participative

result people started thinking not just being robots workers set own targets ie people mainly manage themselves No Pyramids in other companies people are promoted and middle management positions created to reward people not cos they are necessary.

decided didn't need rules only common sense

Believes economies of scale don't work Tried centralized computer system didn't work. Now if you want a pc you buy one and train yourself . business could be made up of micro industries. broke factories up into smaller businesses ..found much more efficient

No secrecy profits openly known. Easy to distribute profitshare. Each microcompany receives 23% of own profits. Usually give same lump sum to each worker.

Clearout filing cabinets (shut plant twice year for this) Eliminated secretaries, threw away reports after use. Result far less paperwork people just wrote quick notes. "headline memos" all reports now just 1 page

women committees to allow women to assert themselves - now more are managers

Job rotation people move jobs every couple of years and take sabbaticals. Many benefits to co : no empire building, bring in skills, staff get to understand the business etc Paper qualifications not imp

anti paternalism separate work and family - trusted but fired if broke law. Money available for benefits is managed by the workers. truth and info important

Rose tinted surely not as good ? everything rosey e.g. the factory democracy works well yet modern political democracy in countries doesn't especially in countries like Brazil .

regular staff surveys e.g. appraisal of bosses mention Thoreau and Bakunin

Hiring - priority given to internal and ex employees and known people but no family members working together

structure - he talks about 3 concentric circles instead of pyramid surely it's really the same thing 3 level pyramid ? claims it works well.

Set Your Own Salary 193 You use a form to rate your worth to the company negotiate with your boss. Then finally put a value on it which you then negotiate on. in realoty only applied this to white collar staff. introduced risk option when company does well can get upto 50%bonus, but if company does badly risk upto 25% pay cut

200 proved successful

stood up to corruption

innovation unit set up

Complete Flexi time cut absenteeism, useful for workers

Recession proof In bleak time one worker came up with the idea of sacking all the contractors and getting internal employees to clean - deliver etc. Production would be down , but at least expenses would drop

NO CO-MANAGEMENT seems to say workers committees can advise, but management decides...direct contradiction of what he says earlier, but I guess then he was talking about white collar staff not all

Satellite Business In hard times redundant workers were helped to start own businesses to supply Semco - lent Semco machines etc to do this. Farmed out 50% of business this way. Rose tinted ? Employees dropped from 830 to 300 never lost money or borrowed really ? Argues a durable small company is better than a giant that can fall.

Excuses ? says they don't want to grow anymore cos their people want a good environment more than growth.

Semco is not Semler He started the ball rolling, but it elvolved by itself, considers himself a team member not boss. Only works there 30% of time the shares pass to a foundation not to his children.

Proven outside He applied it outside, his friend in the US, many tooks bits like pre-promotion evaluation. But most copy the big companies mistakes. Using same management system as 1500s

Money is not the goal If someone makes a big business then he sells it. Is he happy ? no he starts another. Chasing money is unsustainable. Companies come and go, but those who have happy work systems have endurance.

Rules - make time for 1. urgent things 2. important things allow creative innovation

TIME- keep to your - leaving limit Organise papers review everything first - categorise 1.urgent 2.other 3.stuff others can do 70% as well as you 4. limited background reading -bin it "what is the worst thing that can happen if I bin this" 5. dinners etc don't go - get the product right and the customer will buy even if you didn't socialise Meetings first set time to end. (2 hour max) List subjects in order of importance. quick as poss, no interruptions screen calls - set half day a week of thinking time.

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