Re: What is the purpose of a commercial firm?

[Myron Tribus <mtribus@home.com>]

Art Kleiner's thoughtful post, reflecting his deductions about the 
purpose of organizations he has seen, is a valid description of many 
enterprises.  It reflects what happens when there is no over-arching 
purpose which binds the people together.
In 1948 Homer Sarasohn, then on MacArthur's staff in the period of 
occupation, taught the Japanese that it was essential that the 
management develop a statement of purpose for the enterprise so that 
everyone could work together in common purpose.  Deming repeated this 
admonition when he started teaching the Japanese in 1950.
The idea is repeated in many books -- often with a diagram showing 
arrows going in every direction to represent different people with 
different purposes working in such a way as to cancel one another 
out.  Another diagram is usually presented with one large arrow 
pointing the way and all the other arrows lined up (as in a uniform 
magnetic field) in the same direction.
In a video tape (made at MIT in the 1980's) I labored this theme by 
listing the criteria for a good statement of purpose;
It should be noble and serve the public.
It should reach for the hearts and minds of people; be worth doing.
It should reflect customer wants and desires.
It should provide for needs of the people who work for the company.

As Art observed, very few companies develop aims which meet these 
criteria and, by default, have no aim which aligns the purposes of 
the people.  Therefore, very few companies achieve what they could.

Myron Tribus,  350 Britto Terrace,  Fremont, CA 94539
Ph:510 651 3641  Fax: 510 656 9875   e-mail: mtribus@home.com
There is no such thing as an immaculate perception.  What you see 
depends upon what you thought before you looked.
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