The Next Next Common Sense
the hourlies double their salaries with overtime, which takes care of them, too. We have hourly employees at GM making $40,000 a year, and they need that income to support the standard of living they have become ac- customed to. In fact, one of the few worker complaints from our venture with Toyota in Fremont, California, is that they really have to live on their straight-time salary. They don't work overtime.
Another factor: When you truly empower employees, and initiate from the bottom up, it takes away the legitimacy of privileges. For one, it reduces the importance of the salaried ranks—and arguably even their numbers. It casts doubts on the appropriateness of a variety of manage- ment's perquisites. Managers have mahogany offices not bullpens." This type of context tends to depress the utilization of whatever build- ing blocks the organization has in stock. Today, we see similar dynamics playing out in organizations resisting remote work, artificial intelligence tools, or platform-based business models precisely because these innova- tions threaten established privileges and power structures. Contrast it with the type of context urged on corporations which embrace Open Book Management:
"People should see themselves as partners in the business, not on opposite sides of some labor-management fence. When the company does well, everyone should do well. And when things are tough, everyone should know it. People should be empowered—not just to ensure qual- ity, not necessarily as part of a team, just as part of their regular daily job. Managers are responsible for setting directions, as in any business. But employees voice ideas, take part in decisions that affect them, and help run their workplace. The idea of specialized work—do your job and nothing but your job—goes out the window. And
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