Posted on 09/02/2006 by GoodMouse
Viewed: 336 times
We were recently told at work to read the book, "Who Moved My Cheese?" Apparently, it was supposed to be a very "inspirational story of change in the workforce". Yeah, change I'll bet.
The story is simple enough and the moral even simpler: when change happens (translated: when the s%$t hits the fan), change your strategy (translated: pretend that there is no s%$t and if the stench is bad enough, go somewhere else).
What a ridiculous piece of tripe! What is worse is that it has the endorsement of some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies around. That by itself should start to make one wonder. When a bunch of huge multinational corporations all get together and heap praise on an otherwise simple-minded and ludicrously naive and demeaning book, you know someone's up to no good.
If anyone hasn't figured it all out by now, the cheese-phile mice in the book represent two types of people who are faced with a change in their regular routine. Applied more broadly to the human workforce, the two symbolize people who represent the status quo (the "nonmovers") and those who embrace it (the "movers"). In the book, the mouse that changes his strategy ultimately ends up the winner.
It is fair enough to argue that when change happens, one must adapt. But given the near decade-long explosion in the outsourcing craze, it becomes rather insulting to tell highly educated workers that the solution to all their problems is simply a change in their attitude. It isn't the fact that computer programming jobs are all being exported to places like India and China that has caused so many IT professionals to lose their jobs- or so goes upper management's argument. Rather, it is simply the fact that they don't want to adapt like good little mice. Why, if they simply went and got a two-year associate's degree- as our President has advocated- everyting would be all better.
The whole problem with this argument is that it doesn't hold water when there are simply no jobs around, period. Sure, workers can adapt and even learn new skills over time. But they cannot simply shift from a highly specialized, professional career such as computer programming or aerospace engineering and pick up an entirely new profession. Even those with the best attitude and a great willingness to adapt will find that without any available jobs (excluding Mickey Dee's and the like), there are few viable options. Moving from one place to another to find jobs of comparable pay and professional repute was a solution some two decades ago. But even taking into consideration worker mobility, it is simply becoming harder and harder to find good jobs in America when so many have been exported abroad.
No wonder, then, why so many Fortune 500 companies are touting "Who Moved My Cheese?". Had the book actually given an answer to that question (hint: starts with an "o"), no company would have endorsed it. Usually, I find that when a certain group of people that you normally wouldn't expect to praise a certain issue, but do so anyway, they clearly must have something sinister up their sleeves. It is as odd as seeing tobacco companies touting websites that are against smoking and which tell people the "real dangers" of their products (A tobacco company with a heart? Who wouldathunkit?). So when I noticed that so many corporations were praising a book that is purportedly aimed at "helping" workers, I smelled something a bit peculiar (and no, it wasn't cheese, either). Perhaps the book's author should re-write the book with modern take on it. This time, the mice are both skewered over a hot coal-fire while fat-cat big-wigs, who tell them to keep their chins up and simply "be positive". Surely a change in attitude would be in order.
POST A COMMENTDharmadee(09/06/2006)
They asked us to read some similar garbage, to make the workers look like the "problem" (bad attitudes, etc.) ...so I brought in an article called "Are You a Victom of Workplace Bullying?" and asked them to read that. Ooops...another insubordination on my part.
C - -(09/06/2006)
A little needling can't make it any worse at this point and will do you some good.
BPFH(09/06/2006)
Would you believe that there's actually a *movie* for Who Moved My Cheese? I had the misfortune of viewing it for a class that my boss insisted I take. I had my revenge, though--I said, out loud in the class, that the movie had the feeling of the filmstrips and movies that I'd had to watch in elementary school, and the point went flying over the head of the instructor...
just me (09/02/2006)
Yup. Did you read the article on this site about this exact scenario? It's who moved my @#$% cheese or something like that. Linked under Articles and Links on the right hand side. I didn't know this was so common a scenario! Geez! What a bunch of tools executives are. WTF do they think?
just me (09/02/2006)
Oops I just checked and the link is called "Put My Cheese Back".
Jujubees (09/04/2006)
I agree, what a bunch of S#$%!!! Go along w/ big corporate america and keep letting them make all the money while the workerbee gets screwed!!! My ex-boss had us reading that crap 5 years ago!! setting us up for the fall, which did come!! It's a demeaning piece of propaganda!!!
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