Better Factories Through Role Playing

pacopico writes "A former Ford executive has taken his unique brand of factory training to the public. According to Businessweek, Hossein Nivi has set up a new company called Pendaran that forces people to endure a week-long, manic training simulation that's meant to produce safer, better workers. The participants — lots of people from the tech and military fields — get yelled at by actors while they try to assemble things like golf carts and airplanes in a simulation that mixes virtual tasks on computers with real world tasks. After their spirits get broken, the workers actually start functioning as a well-oiled team. It sounds both awesome and bizarre."

Comments

That does not sound awesome

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting yelled at until your spirit is broken? You think that sounds awesome?

This isn't new or unique, we've been whipping slaves as long as we've had them. Dehumanize people, then work them like animals. Woo hoo sign me up.

Re:That does not sound awesome

[CODiNE]

That's what the summary makes it sound like, but that's not actually what they're doing.

The workers have access to help, safety information, proper procedures, etc...

Instead of using their resources to work correctly and efficiently they do what people tend to do which is ignore all the rules and safety training as much as possible until disaster strikes.

The course simulates disaster striking when procedures aren't followed. By forcing an instantaneous cause/effect environment they're making the workers see the effects of their actions. They fight and they fight until after a few days they stop running around cleaning up their messes and start to check the rules and do things the right way in the first place.

Yeah it's a bit pavlovian, but it's not crushing anyone's spirit, it's teaching them personal responsibility.

Re:That does not sound awesome

[black3d]

>If you RTFA

Heresy!

Re:That does not sound awesome

[rtb61]

Of course if you read reality into the lie, those people with and independent resistive streak, fail the course and are excluded from employment. Basically testing to ensure those people employed are meek, obedient and will accept abuse. That is all one week provides, the opportunity to exclude those not born to be slaves.

The Marine Corps Called...

[bughunter]

After their spirits get broken, the workers actually start functioning as a well-oiled team. It sounds both awesome and bizarre.

This has otherwise been known as "Boot Camp" or "Basic Training" for generations of soldiers.

...military crap... there's better methods

[Mirar]

I believe I did this in the military, in the basic training (you know, the part where a drill sergeant shouts at you a lot).

It was called "team building exercises".

It did wonders to make us see all officers as idiots.

Sure, it also made us help each other along the exercises and get to see the worst sides of each other. But I don't think it made us a more lean team. Really not worth the cost of how much we learned to hate the military and it's idiots.

Doing that kind of crap to team up factory workers? Eh.

Send them out on a week long survival course (one where you actually learn something and get to enjoy the nature) or even better, have them team up in paintball teams for a week. Or build fighting robots together, why not, without the shouting.
Don't even have to involve actors. That would be enough to have them work together as a team, and they wouldn't actually hate the bosses' guts for the rest of their life.

Only idiots deserve to get shouted at. Ever.

From the Desk of Linus Torvalds

[Flere Imsaho]

" After their spirits get broken, the workers actually start functioning as a well-oiled team"

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

L Torvalds