Are American firms stuck in the rut of old ways of thinking?
Written by Anonymous 3 months ago
It's tough. Even tougher, though, is the feeling that maybe too many firms in my nation (the U.S.) are going the same way and that they're losing their edge to those "upstart" firms in Asia, Europe and elsewhere.
What brings this thought to mind is a recent survey conducted by Watson Wyatt showing that U.S. companies are considerably less likely than those in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America to have contingency plans in place in case the economy continues to falter. Whereas 84% of those in Asia-Pacific and 80% of those in Europe have such plans, the same can be said for only about two-thirds of U.S. employers.
How could that be? Maybe U.S. firms are just more optimistic about the future, or maybe they believe they're so quick on their feet that they don't need to plan. But Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, suggests in Workforce Management that U.S. firms are simply stuck in old ways of thinking. And that means, among other things, a dearth of long-term thinking. The focus is always on the next quarter – it's an old mental habit many just can't seem to break.
"Given the ongoing economic uncertainty, we were surprised by the finding that so many companies do not have any contingency plans," said Laura Sejen, global director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt. "We know from previous recessions and economic slowdowns that those companies that have contingency plans in place will be in a much better position to weather the storm and bounce back when the economy improves."
But planning is what you do when you're not stuck in a rut. It's something that happens when you open your mind to the possibility that the future might not look the same as the past. Sure, it sounds kind of stodgy, like 401(k) investment allocations, but it's something that fresh-thinking people and companies do. It's not really about age at all (those upstart companies are, after all, set in cultures much older than the United States') but about imagination and vision. So, more U.S. companies should plan ahead – for the stormy times, sure, but also for that post-storm "bounce back" moment when we are all rising again, green again, as hopeful as tendrils in springtime.
