It is tough to sustain quality and excellence when resources don’t stay in line with growth. The economic downturn of the past few years became the excuse for “doing more with less.” The new normal now calls for greater productivity with fewer resources.
Organizations and institutions expect their people to do more work, manage more customers, produce more research, teach more students, win more sales, and solve more problems — all with the same resource levels of yesteryear. Last I checked, the “official” work week is still forty hours and it is still not possible to accomplish 70 man hours of labor in that time frame. Oh, yes, one more corporate directive — make sure you find the perfect life-work balance!
So, what gives? Peoples’ health, their morale, and a deep sense of resignation to what’s not possible. Sometimes key decision makers lose sight of the fact that you need to spend money to make money! There are those who believe that too many organizational resources tend to create lazy workers — not if you hire the right people and have the right systems.
Expecting too much from too few stresses the organizational dam. If and when the dam bursts, bad things happen. Watch out for the deluge.
About Hemant Rustogi