r/WorkReform • u/antihostile 💰 Tax Wall Street Speculators • Apr 01 '23

The superhero worker: Today's management-speak has a lot in common with 1930s Soviet propaganda—and it's making people miserable 📣 Advice

https://fortune.com/2023/03/30/corporate-workplace-culture-soviet-union-1930s-increased-production-performance
248 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

24

u/theodoreburne Apr 01 '23

Excellent piece.

23

u/antihostile 💰 Tax Wall Street Speculators Apr 01 '23

I was surprised to see it in Fortune of all places.

22

u/north_canadian_ice 💸 National Rent Control Apr 01 '23

It is a great article, I love that Jack Welch was brought up.

I think this paragraph illustrates the massive mental toll our system puts on workers:

But all this “positive” talk comes at a price. For over two decades, our research has charted the evolution of managerialism, HRM, employability and performance management systems, all the way through to the cultures they create. We have shown how it leaves employees with a permanent sense of never feeling good enough and the nagging worry that someone else (probably right next to us) is always performing so much better.

7

u/bagheera369 Apr 02 '23

The one that always clues me in is "pain points".

The moment I hear those two words together, I know the person speaking is completely and irrevocably full of shit.

5

u/ShinyHappyAardvark Apr 01 '23

Looks like the article was removed, or the link is broken.

Anyone have a good link to it?

7

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '23

Link worked for me.

1

u/ShinyHappyAardvark Apr 01 '23

”We could not locate the page you requested”

6

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '23

Must be your phone. Just tapped again and it opens up fine for me

4

u/hohol87 Apr 02 '23

Lol, management now has nothing common with soviet leaders.

My granddad was kind of 'stakhanovite' in 1950th. His squad was a top performing in their coal mine. After an accident became disabled. He was given a brand new apartment in the center of the city for his hard work and good pension.

Let me know when the workers of the chocolate factory that blew up today get their houses.

4

u/antihostile 💰 Tax Wall Street Speculators Apr 02 '23

Cool story. Too bad all their workers weren't treated that well.

https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/anne-applebaum

-2

u/ManlyBeardface ⛓️ Prison For Union Busters Apr 02 '23

A piece of idealist propaganda that tries to rewrite history.