CONSTRUCTION OF A 15 STOREY HOTEL IN 6 DAYS SHOULD BE A LESSON FOR ALL OF US.
While many of us are figuring out how pizza is made and delivered to our hotel rooms before our room service waiters can deliver ice, the Chinese are breaking new barriers in the construction industry.
What will the Chinese accomplish next? This is a phenomenal development and a credit to their organisational and teamwork skills. No, it is more than a credit. This is miraculous. This is turning industry on its' head. This all but eliminates competition from all comers. This wipes out self-proclaimed Western superior business practices, democratic ideals, union rights, productivity and Western Management practices.
Small wonder they are top of the class. But what next? Can we see the day when there are no queues for anything? No line-ups to check in. No waits for a breakfast table ever. Instant room service delivery. Wars over in a day! Actually we have had that one already.
Perhaps it is a hoax?! Perhaps this is just another example of the government controlled press to scare the rest of us into getting out of the development industry, to refrain from pitching our skills for new developments, to step aside and let them control the global construction industry.
Add to this their ability to finance all these projects and you have a good reason to pack up the old kit bag and head off to the beach.
It took them 15 years to construct the Forbidden City in the early, pre-computer 1400's, but there are 980 buildings and there were 1 million workers. If you do some quick calculations, that is probably about the same pace meaning that about 65 buildings were completed each year, or one a week!!
How is this done?
Does this mean the million workers are all working with their hands or do they, like us, have some highly educated, highly accomplished veteran layers in the mix? They must have the equivalent of presidents, vice-presidents, managers, directors and supervisors.............. or do they?
To get a million workers, do they start with five million applications? Or do they start with 5 million people lined up and ready to work?
To get 300,000 managers, do they start with a million managers. Do they check their references? Do they have to line up? Do they feed them while they are in line? Are there enough toilets? Even if there were 100,000 Vice Presidents and 500,000 applications, I can not imagine my group lining up. Nor can I imagine my group putting up with Luke warm egg rolls or cold rice while they are waiting. This has to be a human resources nightmare, or is it? Maybe they do away with all the paperwork and put them to work with orders barked loudly and clearly and those that can not do it fast enough are replaced........no warnings, no written reports and no union objections. Are they all university graduates or did they just graduate from high-school? Or did they skip school altogether?
What makes it work so efficiently? Is no education an advantage? Is no Social Benefits a plus?
Just clear, concise instructions and a clear mandate. Deliver or else! No moaning, no groaning, no slacking or excuses, just straight hard work.
Makes me think about the huge labour shortage that we are suffering in the West. Actually not really a labour shortage, just a total absence of any native born people who can or are willing to work with their hands. Actually not exactly a shortage but a complete and utter vacuum created by a system that promises everyone a higher education and a flashy career as a director, a VP. No workers graduated with me or my son. No labourers at all. None, ZIP, ZERO!!
Last time I looked, managers and directors represented about 15% of the workforce. That leaves a hole of about 85%. What do educators think? Do they all still believe that their group of students will all graduate into management and that the workers will just come from abroad?
The time has come to re-think our processes, to re-work our models, to build-in some manual skills into the curriculum, to apply those strong young graduates to some of the work that is now done by immigrants.
The time has come to re-think the model that coddles our youth, protects them from the harsh discipline that builds the militias, forms real leaders and trains them in a trade.
The time has come to examine our competitiveness and put in place some solid policies that will see some competition for the Chinese in the decades to come. Some changes that will guide my grandchildren toward a rewarding future, a meaningful job, an opportunity to work as part of a team in whatever he chooses to do.
My advice to my grandson in the meantime?
- Learn Mandarin,
- Do some manual labour and learn a trade,
- See who is winning and then skate out in front.
Someone very kindly once described me as a 'Paradigm Buster'. In looking this up on Google now, it describes this in the following way,
PARADIGM BUSTING
Winning Big By Breaking The Rules
What better way to think of the winners in our industry today who all move forward by selectively breaking the rules................ and hats off to the Chinese for their winning way of building a hotel in less than a week.
For ideas on how to break your rules, contact [email protected]
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