FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Human Edge Leverage" -- Tool for Better Business & World
MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ, September 18 - A method for maximizing the
positive output of groups -- from companies to society at large -- was
announced today by EraNova Institute, a New Jersey think tank. Elements of the
method have been applied sporadically by companies, non-profit groups,
communities and nations; but all of the elements have never before been
brought together into a single, unified system, according to EraNova's
director, Richard W. Samson.
also shift the economy into high gear and eliminate the motivation for
crime and terrorism."
The method helps a company or group transition to "highly human" ways of operating. "This is the opposite of what's happening now-- squeezing out human costs regardless of consequences," says Samson. He asserts that today's productivity improvements are mostly anti-human, with cost savings achieved through "off-peopling" or the transfer of human tasks into all-automatic solutions. Offshoring, he says, is merely a transitional cost saver on the way to a world that practically runs on automatic. "No one from any country can work as cheaply as a chip," he says, quoted in the September issue of Readers Digest.
is consistent with cost savings, rapid productivity improvement, and the
adoption of advanced people-replacing technology. With apparent contradiction,
the method eliminates human tasks while simultaneously making people more
necessary and relevant. The key is to distinguish -- for the first time in a
practical, operational way -- between human skills better performed by
automation, and other human skills that lie beyond the reach of electronic
ability. "The future belongs to organizations that can gracefully
concede the right things to technology, while quickly powering up their
employees' unique, highly-human qualities," he says.
methods enabled us to shift from a manual economy to industrialism. Social
chaos -- including riots, the Depression, and two world wars -- accompanied the
earlier transition. Similar chaos -- including increasing levels of terrorism,
environmental decay, and economic implosions -- are likely to accompany the
present transition unless we plan intelligently, Samson says.
For a company, the process starts with a re-examination of the corporate
mission, values, and thrust. Aggressive new goals are set, such as increasing
productivity by 5% or more per year without resorting to layoffs. Then, with
the cooperation of all employees, tasks are analyzed to determine which could
better be done by automatic systems. Simultaneously "highly human" skills
are inventoried -- those that only humans can supply. An aggressive skill
development program is then implemented; and jobs are re-defined appropriately.
"Everyone pitches in to make the organization really fly," Samson
says, "because no one is threatened and everyone benefits."
Samson, an expert on the mind and technology, has published 10 books and served
as consultant to AT&T, Cisco and IBM. His associates include specialists in
management, organizational development and training, thinking skills,
marketing, and technology.
Trade paper; 268 pages; ISBN 1-59457-234-8; from Global Book Publisher, a
partner of R.R. Bowker. It may be ordered from Amazon.com, Borders.com,
Alibris.com, BookSurge.com, bookstores, and by dialing 866-308-6235. An excerpt
is available at www.eranova.com.
# # #
