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The Power of People (an excerpt from Jim Clemmer’s ‘Leader’s Digest’)

A University of Pennsylvania study found that “capital investments may be a strategic necessity to stay even with the competition,” but the investments in workers yielded far greater returns. Says Pat…

A University of Pennsylvania study found that “capital investments may be a strategic necessity to stay even with the competition,” but the investments in workers yielded far greater returns. Says Patrick Harker, one of the study’s authors: “Machines can’t give you a competitive advantage. It’s all about people.”

A survey of the world’s most admired companies echoed this viewpoint in the Fortune magazine article ‘What Makes a Company Great.’ According to the piece: “An MIT global auto industry study found that a major reason Toyota’s productivity is far ahead of Nissan is because Nissan poured money into robots and computers while Toyota focused on people and processes. Toyota then used automation to support its people and processes.”

A major international company studied their worker compensation claims and attitude surveys and found that where supervisors and managers are perceived to be more caring about people, injuries and compensation, claims were much lower.

In the most admired companies, the key priorities were teamwork, customer focus, fair treatment of employees, initiative, and innovation. In average companies the top priorities were minimizing risk, respecting the chain of command, supporting the boss, and making budget.

* 107:9 (2006) * PULP & PAPER CANADA