Startup Insights

C 1980 – 1995: The Slim Fast Years

At the beginning of the 1980s, the great American machine finally collapsed. Companies needed to refocus their resources, and managers and workers needed to transform their skills to survive in a new world. Overall, this was an extremely traumatic period for both employees and companies. It was characterized by a number of recessions, which led to widespread and painful restructurings and downsizings. “The economic recessions of 1980-1981 and 1982-1983 left a total of 11.5 million adult workers unemployed because of plant closings and employment cutbacks between January 1979-1984.” “Across industry lines, U.S. companies [were] retrenching, downsizing, or reorganizing to cut costs and become more competitive. White-collar workers and middle managers [were] the main victims of the resulting squeeze…” The same was true for the beginning of the 1990′s. Accordingly, unemployment was relatively high and job security was low. The concepts of a job for life and of company and employee loyalty continued to deteriorate. This began to change in the 1990′s as the U.S. moved away from an industrial economy to one that was based more on human capital.

Managers could afford to be “bad bosses” and felt justified in wringing all they could from their workers, given few could find new jobs. Profits were the chief focus of all firms; therefore, firms rewarded managers based on their ability to generate profits regardless of how well they managed. Successful managers could be characterized by one of this period’s popular business books—”Management Secrets of Attila the Hun.” The following excerpt from the December 31, 1995 Boston Globe Newspaper also provides an accurate description of this period:

“[1995] was the year it became not only rewarding but fashionable for even major companies to treat their workers like a virus in the great American computer: something to get rid of fast, or at least keep contained. Workers, both blue and white collar, have had it tough throughout the 1990s… The tougher the treatment…the more respect a company seems to command among investors and analysts. All of this has been great for America’s bottom line: Profits and productivity are up, as is executive pay, the stock market and investor well being. But millions of American workers have become marginalized.”

Every action provokes a reaction. Marginalized workers began to find ways to cope with the situation. One of the few Fortune Magazine articles from the 1980′s advised employees on how to handle their bosses, including how best to work with three types of problem bosses; the bully or screamer, the incompetent and the unethical. The article, based on “Theory X,” placed the burden on the employee to facilitate a good work environment and to work around their boss, even recommending that employees praise a boss when his work was done well.

Although the early 1990′s were tough on employees, ineffective bosses began to be classified into various descriptive categories, as noted below. Although employees were still at the mercy of their bosses, business literature increasingly recognized the existence of bad bosses. The following classifications are diametrically opposed to those for describing an effective manager:

Types of nasty bosses

The results of research in 1991-1993 demonstrated a significant focus on the types of bad bosses with Fortune Magazine articles entitled as follows: “Dealing with the Problem Boss, ” “Boss Management—Crazy Bosses by Stanley Bing,” “America’s Toughest Bosses,” and “Psycho Bosses From Hell” (national contest for the worst boss).

However, beginning in 1991, in addition to the focus on bad bosses, Fortune Magazine consistently began to more frequently discuss effective management characteristics and techniques. These early articles seeded ideas, which would become more fully developed as time progressed. Topics included the concepts of coaching, 360-degree feedback, and leadership. Calls for coach-like bosses reflected the fact that the manager’s job was changing, requiring a new set of skills, including those of being a teacher. 360-feedback provided managers, who were often found to be out of touch with how employee’s viewed their effectiveness, the information needed to begin to improve. A number of articles focussed on the need for managers to improve their leadership skills, as well as methods for teaching them.

Finally, technological progress continued to accelerate by leaps and bounds, eliminating the need for many jobs and altering the skills needed to manage. In a trend, which accelerated over time, research indicated an increasing concentration on how to manage in a rapidly changing business environment. Technology facilitated and expedited handling information, freeing up managers to do other things. Fast-growing new companies began to emerge along with the need to manage in a fast-paced wired business.