Dow indoctrination, "perception is reality"
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Dow vs. Parody
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When I graduated from college in 1991, I took a job as a programmer at Dow Chemical. At that time, they sent all new hires to a week-long indoctrination course, consisting mostly of how to carefully word memos and email so that The Company could not be harmed if the memos were brought up in court. This was during the time when their silicone breast implants were failing and customers were suing (and winning).
At first it all sounded like good business sense but gradually I realized what they were saying. One session drilled home the idea that "perception equals reality" - and therefore, if can make the public to PERCEIVE them as being safe and clean, and all will be good.
In other words, don't fix the problem, just word things so that The Company looks like it's doing the right thing, and so that they cannot be held liable for damages that it caused.
I started at MCI right when they got taken over by WorldCom, and worked there for about two years after that in two different groups, and I saw how things worked in several Colorado locations (Denver and Colorado Springs).
It really appeared to me that WorldCom took over MCI and then basically cut off funding for any new projects. Budgets were incredibly tight for those two years, and we could barely afford to keep existing projects going. I think they somehow expected to continue making money off of MCI without any expectation of keeping abreast of the market or competition.
Not only did they trim staff, they also went to great lengths to cut trivial costs associated with office atmosphere. For example they stopped stocking hot chocolate and coffee in the break rooms. At one point we didn't have toilet paper for a couple days and people seriously considered the possibility that WorldCom had stopped funding even for that!
Both years I was there, there were huge layoffs around Christmas time to make the books look good for the end of the fiscal year. Then they would hire on huge amounts again in the spring, mostly people previously laid off. Because of this, a lot of people felt really insecure about their jobs. I saw many many many cases where employees were spending more time gossiping about layoffs than working, because it was such a crazy situation.
MCI/WorldCom was also layered with way too many layers of management. There were bosses whose only job was to communicate information between a VP and five or six managers. It was really crazy.
MCI/WorldCom was also somewhat formal, they had "casual Friday" when it was okay to wear jeans, etc. Very uptight compared to a left-coast startup but not as bad as a big consulting company or bank.
Good luck!
Yahoo has been a closed system for years, anyone who has tried to add entries lately will know that. I've tried for about three years to delete or modify the link to my own personal web page (long long long obsolete) and they've never once even replied. The request has gone into space about 20 or 30 times now. If you want openness, use dmoz.org.
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When I graduated from college in 1991, I took a job as a programmer at Dow Chemical. At that time, they sent all new hires to a week-long indoctrination course, consisting mostly of how to carefully word memos and email so that The Company could not be harmed if the memos were brought up in court. This was during the time when their silicone breast implants were failing and customers were suing (and winning).
At first it all sounded like good business sense but gradually I realized what they were saying. One session drilled home the idea that "perception equals reality" - and therefore, if can make the public to PERCEIVE them as being safe and clean, and all will be good.
In other words, don't fix the problem, just word things so that The Company looks like it's doing the right thing, and so that they cannot be held liable for damages that it caused.
It really appeared to me that WorldCom took over MCI and then basically cut off funding for any new projects. Budgets were incredibly tight for those two years, and we could barely afford to keep existing projects going. I think they somehow expected to continue making money off of MCI without any expectation of keeping abreast of the market or competition.
Not only did they trim staff, they also went to great lengths to cut trivial costs associated with office atmosphere. For example they stopped stocking hot chocolate and coffee in the break rooms. At one point we didn't have toilet paper for a couple days and people seriously considered the possibility that WorldCom had stopped funding even for that!
Both years I was there, there were huge layoffs around Christmas time to make the books look good for the end of the fiscal year. Then they would hire on huge amounts again in the spring, mostly people previously laid off. Because of this, a lot of people felt really insecure about their jobs. I saw many many many cases where employees were spending more time gossiping about layoffs than working, because it was such a crazy situation.
MCI/WorldCom was also layered with way too many layers of management. There were bosses whose only job was to communicate information between a VP and five or six managers. It was really crazy.
MCI/WorldCom was also somewhat formal, they had "casual Friday" when it was okay to wear jeans, etc. Very uptight compared to a left-coast startup but not as bad as a big consulting company or bank. Good luck!
Yahoo has been a closed system for years, anyone who has tried to add entries lately will know that. I've tried for about three years to delete or modify the link to my own personal web page (long long long obsolete) and they've never once even replied. The request has gone into space about 20 or 30 times now. If you want openness, use dmoz.org.