Richard Seltzer's
home page Publishing home
Articles
about DEC
mgmt memo
.
Volume 7, #7_________________________________________________________________
October, 1988
Ken Talks About The
Stock Price And Other Matters
Digital Acquires
Risc Technology From MIPS
Enabling People To
Work Together More Effectively
Revitalizing The
Open Door Policy by John Murphy, Corporate Employee
Relations Consultant
Software Engineering
Management Changes
New Information
Services Group Supports Corporate Operations And Strategic
Resources
Digital Cited For
Aids Education And Awareness Program
Donna Blaney And
Michael
Ewing Swap Jobs For 3 Months
Financial Industry
Organization Systems
Dom Lacava Appointed
Vice President
Two Named Senior
Consulting Engineer
Our small business strategy is to support our
current customer base, to ensure that we can get our products and
solutions in front of customers, and to have direct contact with
small companies that are growing rapidly. We’ve found that, if we
can build a loyalty to Digital when a company is small but
growing, it will stay with us. Based on our archiÂtecture, they’ll
see the advantage of growing with our products.
The computer market has matured to the point
that there are identifiable points in a company’s growth when it
re-evaluates its computer strategies. Very small companies tend to
buy personal computers, which they later connect in local area
networks (LANs). But when they grow to the point where they want a
multi-user system, they often find that the software they bought
for their personal computers won’t run on bigger computers. At
that point, when they have reached about $5-10 million in revenue,
they begin to make a commitÂment to a computer vendor.
First they only want one system. But when they
grow to about $25-30 million, they start to resemble much bigger
companies and need separate computers for different departments
and networking to tie those departments together.
It is important for Digital to have a presence
in the $5-10 million companies, but we don’t have to sell directly
there. Rather we can look to our OEMs and distributors to cover
that territory.
About five years ago, Digital started to sell
directly to small businesses through storeÂfront business centers.
That was a new market to us. We had a lot to learn.
Later we continued to try to sell directly to
smaller companies (ranging in size from about $5 million to $25
million) in just three areas of the U.S. - Los Angeles, New York
and Boston — using dedicated sales districts. Since this market
was interested in application solutions to business problems
rather than computer systems, we hired sales people who understood
the problems of particular kinds of small businesses.
We needed experience in selling directly to
that market in order to understand what it takes to be successful.
We used direct mail advertising and telemarketing to prospect for
potential customers, learned what applications customers were
interested in and the supÂport they needed. We learned what it
takes to sell to them, and also how to satisfy them.
Having learned that, we now want to work with
our distributors and OEMs to go after this market space. As we
focus more of our direct sales coverage on our largest accounts,
we will have our distributors and OEMs sell our products to small
businesses. Because of what we have learned, we can work with them
and help them to do that successfully.
In the U.S. Sales organization, there are now
Named Account Districts, whose focus is on the largest accounts in
the country and on smaller accounts that have a strategic
imporÂtance to us. The rest of the end-user accounts in an Area
are the responsibility of the General Business District. The sales
people in General Business Districts work closely with partners to
maximize the sale of Digital products into the small business
market. Their role is to use all available resources to get as
much business as possible from customers who have annual revenues
as small as $2-3 million or as large as $100 million.
Sales people in these districts are responsible
for sales to small businesses in their territory whether a
distributor or an OEM gets the order or they sell it directly.
This system encourages them to use the most effective channel to
help them deliver product to customers.
Today, in the U.S., we already get about half a
billion dollars revenue annually from our distributors. Now, we’re
asking them to help us develop the small business end of the
market. In some accounts, we want to position the distributor as
the customer’s account manager, not just taking the order, but
developing all the potential business there.
As we are increasing our commitment to
distributors, they are increasing their commitment to us. Our
largest distributors are Hamilton/Avnet, Pioneer, Lex, Wiley, GTE
and Arrow. They have about 700-800 sales people and are now
staffing up to go after smaller to midÂsized companies with our
products. For instance, Hamilton/Avnet recently set up a sepaÂrate
division to sell computer products. And Wiley has set up a
computer products sales force in a separate division that sells
Digital and compatible computer product lines.
Over the last year or two, Sales Training and
Educational Services have developed a whole curriculum of courses
for our distributors. Their sales reps get both sales training and
product training on Digital products.
We are very dependent on these distributors and
they are very dependent on us, which makes for a good
relationship. We are sharing a big opportunity with them in the
small business arena, and will work closely together to develop
it.
This strategy is intended for the U.S. Europe
has been doing something similar for years. There each country has
a Country Merchandising Organization that performs like a General
Business District, focusing on the smaller companies and actively
using telemarketing, OEMs and distributors.
With General Business Districts focusing on
small and mid-sized businesses, the rest of the sales force is
free to focus on the top 2000 accounts. Using this combination,
the U.S. covers its entire customer base.
At a recent officers’ luncheon, Ken Olsen,
president, addressed several rumors and misÂconceptions regarding
Digital. He emphasized the importance of making sure that
employees know how the company is really doing. The following is a
summary of his remarks:
Early retirement rumor
"Someone in the press speculated that we are
planning an early retirement program. This is wrong. We hired
engineers, software people, and a large number of sales
specialists to develop our position in the high-end commercial
market. We also have had major projects to secure a major segment
for us in the desktop computer business. In both of these areas,
we’ve been a major player, but we plan to be much more
significant. These investÂments are working out very well. We are
very enthusiastic about them, and the idea of cutting the staff
because somebody suggested it is absolutely ridiculous.
"This misunderstanding is compounded by reports
that we have canceled two fairly large projects. Yes, we canceled
several projects these last few months. That’s part of doing
business in the computer industry. We start parallel projects and
finish only the best. We cancel all those that aren’t absolutely
necessary. We don’t make these cancellations public because they
are just a normal part of the engineering process. We don’t tell
people about the projects we start, and we don’t tell the public
about the projects we cancel.
"Cancellation of one of those projects related
to our decision to buy a CPU chip from the outside. On the one
hand, that decision was like many others -- a simple question of
mathematics. An outside firm, specializing in that area, could
provide us with what we needed sooner and for less cost than we
could do it ourselves. We don’t build what we can buy. On the
other hand, this decision attracted attention because this was the
first time we had decided to buy a CPU chip. From my point of
view, that’s just one more change in our history.
"We’re in the business of making changes. We
tell customers they’re going to change, and we’ve got to change.
That’s the way it has been; and, I’m sure, that’s the way it will
be. This means that some plants and some groups have to make
changes, and there will always be certain parts of the company
that aren’t used with full efficiency. We take that into account
in our planning.
"The change we’re going through now is
specializing more and more on bigger and bigger things, rather
than the easy things that thousands of people could do. This is
part of our long-term vision.
"I think we have reason to be proud of the fact
that we are an absolutely different comÂpany every few years than
we were a few years earlier. Our customers are different. Our
products are different. Our technology is different.
"Many of the things we believed in three years
ago have changed. But that’s the nature of the business we’re in -
a business that changes all the time. It’s also the business
that’s the most fun of any business around.
"We used to be in a position to do good for
society by putting manufacturing plants in places that needed help
with employment. We don’t have that option any more. With all our
growth in revenue, the number of people in manufacturing has not
been growing as fast as the rest of the company. That was a
difficult change we had to go through a few years back.
"Now, it is likely that hardware engineering
will not grow very much, compared to the overall growth of the
company. That’s partly due to advances in technology, in design
tools. It’s also because our business is becoming more and more
systems integration and software. So our hardware engineers are
doing more and more software.
"But we foresee no layoffs, no early
retirements."
JEC
"Someone in the press also made a connection
between our Job Evaluation and Classification Project in the U.S.
and the rumor about early retirement. That’s dead wrong. Rather
than
being a way to get rid of people, as that
person suggested, JEC is part of our effort to make sure we
properly value our people and their work -- so we can keep them
and attract more good people, as we need them.
"JEC is a huge effort, something we’ve needed
to do for a long time. And once it’s done, it should last us for a
good while. It’s an effort to overhaul our system for defining and
describing jobs. We want to deal consistently and fairly with all
our employees. JEC is intended to help us make sure we continue to
do that, and to make sure we stay competÂitive in the marketplace
for people — so we can hire and keep the good people we need for
us to be successful."
Stock price
"People ask why the price of our stock has
fallen so low. Although our profit and our growth continue to
outpace the industry, our profit margin is down from what it was a
year ago. And, unfortunately, investors tend to focus on the short
term and downward trends, rather than see the underlying goodness
and value of what we’re doing.
"There are many reasons why the profit margin
is down. First, we set out to sell a lot of high-end products last
year, and customers didn’t buy as many of them as we had
anticipaÂted. Fortunately, they bought our workstations and other
low-end systems instead. Also, we’ve been making major investments
at both the high end and the low end. These investÂments
temporarily reduce profits, but are important for the future
strength and growth of the company.
"So our profit margin is down. But when you
consider the investments we’re making, we’re doing very well.
"Today, the stock market seems interested only
in short-term results and shows little enthusiasm for companies
making investments for the future.
"We believe that investing for the future will
ensure the long-term good of the company and its stockholders,
customers and employees. We shouldn’t be overly concerned with a
short-term dip in the stock price. At the same time, we need to
control our day-to-day costs and expenses more effectively.
"Over the years, other companies have made bold
and exciting claims about themselves, have grown dramatically, and
then have disappeared. In contrast, we’re dull - we have just
grown in revenue and profit year after year. And that record of
ours substantiates our faith that the future comes about by making
investments, doing a better and better job, worrying more, and
just being better in quality and service and product -- both
hardware and software.
"So we probably will suffer with the ups and
downs of Wall Street. Perhaps we didn’t deserve the high price our
stock had a year ago, and perhaps we don’t deserve the low price
it has today.
"But this is the way we decided to play the
game. And we have to live with it.
"I have mixed feelings at a time like this.
Right now we are really working hard on a number of things. And I
fear if we feel too positive, we won’t get that done. It’s awfully
hard to straighten things out when the stock is going for $200 a
share. You just can’t get anybody’s attention. That’s why I tell
people, let’s get it straightened out now when it’s low, because
that may not last too long.
"But we should have a positive attitude. We’re
doing well. And even though I’m always finding fault - I’m paid to
find fault - you should always be positive and enthusiastic.
"We have so many good things going for us, so
many exciting products, so much fun coming this fall."
Digital and MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., have
announced a comprehensive technology exÂchange agreement for
Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) technology and designs
develÂoped by MIPS.
RISC computers have a very simple instruction
set, oriented toward fast execution. They have recently become
practical because of the availability of very sophisticated
optimizÂing compilers to take advantage of the simple instruction
set. RISC computers have their greatest market acceptance in high
performance workstations.
Digital expects to use the RISC technology and
designs covered by the agreement in prodÂucts to be developed in
the future. Digital will purchase a minority interest in MIPS, and
may appoint a member to the MIPS board of directors.
MIPS is the leading supplier of RISC-based
computer systems, software and components. Founded in 1984, it is
a privately-held company based in Sunnyvale, California.
"With the addition of RISC technology Digital
will offer customers even more versatility in compute performance
to match specific application demands," said Bill Strecker, vice
president, Product Strategy and Architecture.
He emphasized the continuity of Digital’s
system architecture and how this new technology adds to it. "To
implement our vision and our products, we established a single
system architecture which was the framework into which all our
products would fit. To architect a system is to break it into a
number of carefully specified components with carefully specified
relationships or interfaces between the components. If the
architecture is well done, it will provide the necessary
capabilities for solving customer problems at any given point in
time. And it will evolve gracefully over time to respond to
changing technology and customer needs.
"When we talk about a system architecture, we
are talking about substantially more than just hardware or an
operating system. When we designed the VAX family, we had an
overall system architecture in mind that not only included the
hardware and operating system, but networking, data management,
application integration and core applications as well. Only when
each of these architecture components is designed together and
properly layered do you truly have a system architecture.
"The key words here are ’components’ and
’layered.’ The hardware component is not a system architecture nor
is the operating system component. In an architecture with
layÂered components, we change or evolve one component of the
architecture without changing the overall system architecture; and
we can introduce new, parallel components while still providing
continuity with the other components where customers may have made
major investÂments.
"Digital’s system architecture has been
designed from the beginning in a layered fashion such that
individual layers can be changed or augmented to respond to
changing technology or user need," observed Bill. "Adding RISC
technology at the hardware layer -- like adding UNIX/OSF
technology in our ULTRIX product at the operating system layer —
exploits and builds on that system architecture.
"In other words, Digital’s system architecture
provides the framework for responding to changing technology and
changing customer needs in an evolutionary way that preserves
customer investment. With this announcement, we are anticipating
an evolution of the hardware component of our system architecture
to include both VAX and RISC-based hardware.
"Looking to the future, Digital will be
offering systems with both VMS and ULTRIX operaÂting system
components," Bill noted. "Both are strategic to Digital. VMS
software will be offered on VAX-based hardware and ULTRIX will be
offered on VAX and eventually RISCÂbased hardware. I would
anticipate that the earliest RISC-based products will be in the
workstation area where the enhanced microprocessor performance of
RISC technology offers the most immediate advantage.
"Digital will continue to heavily invest in,
and, in fact, increase its investment in VAX hardware. One
implication of our securing RISC technology from MIPS is that many
internal resources can remain focused on the VAX family. An
interesting result of Digital’s inÂvolvement in RISC technology,
is that VAX designers have substantially revamped their plans to
increase the performance of future VAX processors."
A geologist looking at a globe representing
world trading activity would see it in terms of platetectonics —
as three primary geologic plates and a number of lesser plates.
This geologist would know that the forces at play were causing all
of these plates to be conÂstantly in motion, generating great
amounts of heat and friction. Over time the process is eroding
some plates, while adding to others.
One primary plate centered in Europe is the
European Economic Community; the second, located in North America,
is the U.S.; and the third, located in the Far East, is Japan.
Without the benefit of being able to hold such a globe in your
hand, events look very different when viewed from the perspective
of standing on one plate as opposed to another. Yet prospering as
a global enterprise demands a global perspective.
Each of today’s dominant trading partners is
working to further its own self-interest, while attempting to
ensure that the basic trading apparatus on which they all depend
is not jeopardized. The emphasis given the global enterprise is
well deserved. Rather than being advertising cliches, "global
trade" and "managing the global enterprise" reflect complex and
compelling international interdependencies. To be competitive, we
need to be able to integrate wisdom in a number of dimensions.
Let’s look briefly at the three major trading powers.
The 12 countries making up the European
Economic Community (ECC) have concluded that they cannot compete
with the U.S. and Japan without removing a number of barriers that
exist among the 12 sovereign member states. The result will be a
unified market, and the target date is 1992. From a European
perspective, the consequences of economically falling behind the
U.S. and Japan are of much greater concern than are the cultural
and national consequences that might be set in motion by a unified
market. The specter of stiff inÂternational competition has been a
powerful agent for change. As it should, Europe is watching out
for its own self-interest, and the unified market is a bold but
measured response to both the U.S. and Japan.
Digital has become a major force in the
European market. Digital is also a U.S.-based global enterprise.
Our continued success will depend not only on understanding each
major market, but increasingly on also understanding the dynamics
between the two.
Long a champion of free trade, the U.S. is
struggling to understand and address the root causes of relative
global economic decline. Technology, the comparative international
advantage of the U.S., is under siege, especially from Japan; and
the response is yet to be defined. As in Europe, cultural norms
and institutions are being challenged. On the one hand, the nature
of global trade demands that governments play a vital role in
repreÂsenting their nation’s interests. U.S. culture, however,
reflects a strong bias against a strong central government and
central planning. Unlike other modem nations, the U.S. does not
have an industrial policy; such matters are traditionally the
domain of the private sector. Further, U.S. foreign policy is
developed quite apart from commercial considerations. The nature
of capital markets, trade and budget deficits, emphasis on
consumption versus savings, and the independent nature of
entrepreneurial behavior are all being re-examined. But long-term
structural changes will most likely not originate in Washington,
D.C.
The importance of understanding the perspective
of the major trading partners is apparent in the case of the
Omnibus Trade Bill recently enacted in the U.S. Broadly hailed
domesÂtically as a major step forward in responding to
international competition, Europe and Japan have reacted sternly
to what they see as protectionist legislation. Just as one man’s
superstition may be another man’s religion; one nation’s trade
policy may be proÂtectionism to another. As a U.S.-based
enterprise, Digital is in the thick of these issues, and it is
imperative that we understand all points of view in a number of
dimenÂsions in order to make intelligent and workable decisions.
Because of its visible success in so many
industry sectors, Japan is viewed in Europe and the U.S. as an
international trading juggernaut. By embracing technology,
foregoing consumption to amass wealth for long-term investment,
pushing manufacturing to new limits and managing international
trade as an end in itself, Japan has been able to capture world
markets in automobiles, consumer electronics, optics, and
information technology.
While many nations have tried, only Japan has
been able to challenge U.S. leadership in technology. Yet in spite
of stunning success, the Japanese view themselves as poor in
comparison to their Western trading partners. They attribute their
accomplishments to sacrifice and valuing the collective good as a
higher priority than the pursuit of indiÂvidualism.
They cannot account for the resentment that
their success has engendered among their trading partners. Because
of culture, it is often difficult to separate Japan the nation
from Japanese companies in respect to international trade.
Japan represents the most sophisticated
challenge to managing Digital internationally. Japan is at once a
source of critical technology, a vendor, a competitor, a customer
and a subsidiary. Therefore, it is especially critical that
Digital’s perceptions be balanced in addressing the many
dimensions of dealing with and managing in Japan,
Managing in an information- or knowledge-based
enterprise is the current popular topic of business schools and
the business press. A question not being addressed, however, is
what point of view governs managing in a knowledge-based, global
enterprise? Perhaps the answer lies in a comment made by Charles
De Gaulle to a reporter. When asked if he saw himself sitting to
the political right or the political left, De Gaulle responded,
"NeiÂther. I see myself sitting above." While De Gaulle may have
intended his reply to be provocative, the analogy is pertinent to
our need to think globally. To manage in a global enterprise
today, we cannot afford to have a narrow or partisan point of
view. We need to develop a global perspective, based on knowledge
of the perspectives and interests of all three of the major
trading partners. Future articles in MGMT MEMO will deal with each
of those trading partners and discuss international trade issues
that are important to Digital.
Over the past five years, in response to
increasing numbers of requests from manufacturing customers,
Digital’s Manufacturing organization has set up a variety of
programs to share technology and experiences with these customers.
Such exchanges, managed by Don Hunt’s Manufacturing Customer
Integration group, help build long-term relationships with key
customers, while contributing to Digital’s efforts to achieve
excellence in manufacturing.
One of these programs, Organization Technology,
consists of a three-person team led by Bruce Dillingham. They
provide consulting services that focus on the human side of
manÂufacturing. Bruce was plant manager at the Enfield,
Connecticut, plant when it started up in 1981. He has built on his
experience there to develop a method to help companies find ways
to create organizations that enable their people to work together
more effectively.
"Industry in the past tended to focus on
technology to solve all of its problems," exÂplains Bruce.
"Managers typically talked in terms of replacing people with
automated machinery. By buying technology, they would save direct
labor cost. Now they are starÂting to see that isn’t the answer.
We need technology, but it must serve people. We need to integrate
people and technology. The traditional work style uses less than
half of a person’s capabilities. We want to use the whole person.
"People represent an important asset to a
company — one of the very few assets that go up in value. It’s
time for companies to consider how to use this precious asset, how
to empower their people."
Last year, Bruce’s group designed a new plant
for the Carrier Division of United TechnolÂogies. They designed
both the factory and the way people would work there. This small
plant (about 70 people) in rural Georgia, with a "self-managed"
work force, based on concepts from Enfield, is now the most
productive plant in United Technologies and is being publicized as
a model for other plants in that company to follow. Carrier is now
asking Bruce’s group to help make changes at their other older
plants and to design anÂother new one. Other consulting clients
include Kodak, Pitney-Bowes, and even non-manufacturing companies,
such as Hartford Insurance.
Explaining how Digital’s Enfield plant differs
from typical manufacturing operations, Bruce observes, "The people
have multiple skills and have learned a variety of ways to solve
problems. They can talk about what’s important to the company and
the importance of what they do. It’s a very flexible and
responsive work community, without the usual emphasis on
hierarchy. People know what has to get done, so they do it. People
are involved in the decisions that affect them."
Bruce refers to his service as an
"architectural service for organizations." "We help customers to
envision and plan their business goals, design an organization to
attain them, and make the transition to the new organization. This
helps Digital build close relationships with them.
"We help them move away from trying to manage
with rules to managing more with values and principles — the
things they believe in. People will do the right thing if they’ve
got those pictures in their mind and understand and believe them.
They’ll strive for the end results you need.
"Sometimes companies get confused about the
application of technology and the availability of it. Just because
it’s there, they think they have to use it. We try to help
companies analyze what their business is about, and what
technology they really need. Simplicity and the basics often get
forgotten.
"For example, a company might decide to invest
in automated equipment to solve its matÂerial handling problems.
They’d want some robotics and conveyor systems to move material
around, computers to control that machinery, including laser
scanners to keep track of where all the parts are.
"We help them focus on wheter they should have
inventory in the first place. If the inventory is reduced, the
automation is simplified with a higher probability of success.
"We've developed a framework for looking at an
organization as a system and a design process for implementing
it," says Bruce. "We describe the organization in terms of seven
interrelated elements. If one or more elements change, that puts
stress on the other elements of the system, which then have to
change for the organization to continue to be effective. For
instance, if technology changes, you have to consider the impact
on peoÂple, decision-making, work systems, etc. and make
appropriate adjustments. We stress the importance of viewing the
system as a whole, not just striving to optimize individual
pieces.
"In our consulting role, we prefer to start
with the first element - the ’Purposing System.’ The vision,
values, charter and purpose of the organization should come first
- why you exist in the first place and where you are heading from
here. The goals, strateÂgies, critical success factors and
leadership of the organization then follow."
The other elements are:
o "Work/Technology System" -- what you are
building or servicing, the steps involved, and the technology you
use to do this work. This includes the work flow and how the work
is divided and accomplished, along with the methods used to
control problems that might arise.
o "Structural System" - the hierarchy of
reporting relationships, the span of control, the various
functions and their linkages with other organizations. The
physical layout is also a structural element.
o "Human System" - the number of people needed,
along with their skill sets and career paths, the norms of
behavior expected of people and the kinds of interactions
necessary between people.
o "Decision/Information System" - the process
for making and communicating decisions, and the information needed
to support them - the source, the destination and the timeliness
of the information.
o "Reward System" - the behaviors the company
wants to reward people for, and the reÂwards people actually
value. This includes dealing with such questions as "What does
this job mean to me? What’s it like to work here? What do I get
out of this?"
o "Essential Processes" - information
gathering, internal communications, problem solÂving, resource
utilization, how the organization learns and how it renews itself.
"When all the elements are in harmony, the
results from a human point of view can be innovation, reduced
turnover, high levels of commitment, and people who embrace or
pull technology," notes Bruce. "From a business point of view, the
outcomes can be high levels of productivity, high levels of
quality, fewer layers of management, and a highly flexible
organization."
The organizations that result from this process
might differ considerably from one anÂother. The Carrier plant is
quite different from the Enfield plant, and both are very
different from a service company. But the basic question in each
case is — how do you empower people, how do you get people
throughout the organization to make their own deciÂsions and to
take responsibility for their work.
Corporate Employee Relations has been working
hard over the past few months to refine the company’s Open Door
policy. There are several important reasons why refinements are
needed. One is our rapid growth. Digital’s commitment to
maintaining an environment in which all employees can engage in
open, two-way constructive communication, even when conflicts
arise, has not changed. However, our work force has changed. It is
much larger and much more diverse than it was just a few years
ago. The changing demographics, alone, make the job of managing
and resolving conflicts more complex.
Intensified competition is another key factor,
and the pressure to "get the work done" is much greater than it
used to be. Nearly half of our employees have been with Digital
less than five years, so there inevitably will be disagreements
over the "right way" to get the work done.
We have found through a variety of formal and
informal sensing activities that many empÂloyees — at all levels —
have become hesitant to use our Open Door policy. Some feared
reprisal. Some others - the number is not alarming but growing —
have sought resolution outside the company through private
attorneys or public agencies. Still others feel that, given the
company’s size, the Open Door policy has to have more structure to
be effective.
We are confident that most issues that arise
between an employee and his or her supervisor can be resolved at
that level. When that is not the case, however, there needs to be
a clearly defined escalation process. With the revised Open Door
policy both parties will have a more useful tool to help resolve
conflicts that cannot be worked out through the normal give and
take between supervisor and employee.
The specific aims of revising the policy are
to:
o safeguard employees, who raise issues, from
reprisal;
o establish core standards;
o develop a written practice with a clear
escalation process;
o define the responsibilities of the employee,
manager or supervisor, higher level manÂager, and Personnel;
o set expectations for amount of time
resolution should require;
o provide closure process;
o separate the advice and counsel role, of both
Personnel and the manager, from the appeal and review role;
o identify a responsible individual in each
organization who will safeguard the process; and
o encourage line organizations to recognize
multiple opportunities to resolve issues locally.
Our objective is to create a framework and an
environment that enable all employees to raise issues without fear
of retaliation. That framework must also help managers to adÂdress
employee issues and resolve conflicts without creating a host of
new and unnecessary bureaucratic tangles. We can achieve that
balance with some minor adjustments to the Open Door policy.
An Open Door Task Force is completing revisions
of an Open Door draft policy that will be presented to
organizations in Q2 for comment. The Task Force members are: Ted
Campbell, Corporate EEO/Affirmative Action Operations manager;
Laurie Margolies, Employee Relations Program manager; Maurice
Vanderpol, MEM Personnel Business and Information Systems
manÂager; John Doherty, Personnel Policy manager; Cyndi Bloom,
U.S. Field Employee Relations manager; Ron Glover, senior
attorney, Specialist Resource Law Group; Erline Belton, CorÂporate
Employee Relations manager, and myself.
An article on the Open Door revisions recently
appeared in "PERSONNEL perspectives," seeking input from the
Personnel community. Line managers conversations with their
PerÂsonnel counterparts will help insure that the feedback we
receive from Personnel reflects the entire company. If you have
comments you would like to share directly, we invite you to do so.
Your views are important to us as we make adjustments to policy
that supports our employees and the company.
Digital has restructured the leadership of its
software development activities to provide clear focus on its VMS
and OSF/ULTRIX operating systems, as well as the extended software
environment that includes the Applications Integration
Architecture (AlA), computer-aided software engineering (CASE)
tools and core applications.
Bill Heffner, vice president, Systems Software,
who led Digital to a position of industry leadership in VAX/VMS
software, has moved from that area to assume responsibility for
development of OSF/ULTRIX systems. This move underlines Digital’s
commitment to OSF/ULÂTRIX development. Bill retains responsibility
for coordinating the company’s total softÂware engineering
business.
"This announcement reinforces our strategy,"
added Bill Heffner. "We will use AIA as the basis of our
enterprise-wide integrated computing environment, VMS as the best
software system architected by Digital, and OSF/ULTRIX as the best
100% OSF-compliant system in the industry. We will strive for
maximum compatibility and interoperability between VMS and
OSF/ULTRIX largely through AIA and the use of industry standards.
And we will apply the highest level of engineering discipline to
all that we do."
In addition, two senior engineering managers,
Kurt Friedrich and Bill Keating, now report directly to Jack
Smith, senior vice president, Engineering, Manufacturing and
Product Marketing.
Kurt is now responsible for VMS systems as well
as for distribution of software products. He also serves as the
site manager for the Spit Brook Road facility in Nashua, N.H.
Bill Keating is responsible for AIA, CASE tools
and core applications for both VMS and OSF/ULTRIX systems. He is
also responsible for the Corporate User Publications Group and
retains functional management responsibility of Applications
Engineering in Product MarÂketing.
"We have long offered two operating systems on
VAX computers and long supported software standards," explained
Jack Smith. "One of the most significant factors in our success
over the years has been our disciplined approach to VMS software
and our languages, program development tools, and more recently,
the Applications Integration Architecture.
"The ULTRIX operating system has offered our
customers a UNIX* alternative that is a strategic component of our
enterprise-wide strategy. Lately, there has been considerable
interest in ’open operating systems,* and UNIX is the focus of
this attention. As a founÂder of the Open Software Foundation
(OSF), Digital is enthusiastically participating in the
development of the OSF standards. The same level of commitment and
discipline must be institutionalized in our development approach
to OSF/ULTRIX, just as it is being applied to continued VMS
development," Smith continued.
*UNIX is a trademark of AT&T, Bell Labs.
Responding to the changing needs of its
maturing marketplace, the Engineering Systems Group (ESG) has
shifted the focus of its marketing organization to improve
efficiency and increase market share.
"We feel that at the stage of maturity we’ve
reached in applications, a functional apÂproach will now allow us
to get more done with fewer people, so we can move some of our
people into new areas, such as Strategic Programs," explains Don
McInnis, vice president, ESG.
Up until now, ESG had been organized by
application: electrical engineering, mechanical engineering,
architectural and civil engineering, earth resources, geophysical
exploraÂtion, mapping, and computer-aided software engineering
(CASE). "That approach was needed to build up a base of expertise
and applications in each targeted area," says Don. "We now have a
good base of applications and of knowledge in each of those areas.
That gives us the opportunity to make the group much more
productive and efficient.
"So we are organizing around the functions that
previously were done separately for difÂferent applications. For
instance, we now have one group, Applications, under Joe
LawÂrence, that can put together consistent programs for all of
our Cooperative Marketing Partners. We also have a new Marketing
Programs organization, with Joe Lawrence as acting manager; and a
Strategy Development group, under George Novoson, to develop the
systems and application strategies. Basically, we’ll be able to
develop one program for all of ESG and put the application pieces
in as necessary.
"By putting people doing similar work together
in single organizations, like Marketing Programs, we’ll be in a
better position to deal with Digital’s worldwide marketing and
sales organizations, such as the Application Centers for
Technology (ACTs), the Digital Competency Centers in Europe, Field
resource groups, the Sales Support Organization, Industry
Marketing, and Channels Marketing.
"One application group - CASE - still remains
separate because that area is growing extremely fast. Also, that
group, managed by Al Olsen, focuses across many different Product
Application groups, not just ESG. It tries to represent a broad
set of requireÂments and marketing approaches to CASE, as opposed
to just engineering.
"Our Product Marketing and Development Group,
under Rich Lewan, also didn’t change, beÂcause it already was a
functional group representing all of ESG," says Don. "They focus
on the product requirements of our marketplace and bring that
information to Central Engineering, for consideration when
designing Digital’s base products. They also train the rest of ESG
and key people in the Field organizations about Digital’s base
products and new products and their impact on the engineering
marketplace. In addition, some people in this organization develop
engineering support tools - software needed by our customers for
managing engineering designs."
All these marketing groups report to Rakesh
Kumar, who reports to Don. The other major piece of ESG, Systems
Engineering, is managed by Prakash Bhalerao, who also reports to
Don.
The Information Systems (IS) groups in
Corporate Operations and Strategic Resources have been
consolidated into a new organization. Called Corporate Information
Services, the group is managed by Mike Connor, who reports to Bel
Cross, manager, Digital Information Systems (DIS). Corporate
Information Services supports Legal, Corporate Marketing
CommuÂnications, and Corporate Security, which report to Win
Hindle, senior vice president, and supports Corporate Personnel,
Administration, Purchasing, Environmental Health and Safety, and
DIS, all of which report to John Sims, vice president.
"By taking advantage of a single focus and
having more coordination in corporate activiÂties, we will have
more efficient and responsive Information Systems support,"
explained Win. "We are particularly looking for improved
productivity in operations and systems development."
Mike will support Corporate Operations and
Strategic Resources, including his current responsibility of
Information Security. He will work with Bel and others to identify
operational activities that will become part of Corporate
Information Services.
"Our goal is coordination and collaboration,
not centralization," says Bel. "This shift is a first step toward
meeting the changing information needs of Digital. We want to make
sure that day-to-day operations are the primary focus of this
group in support of corporÂate activities. We also want to make
sure that the people who are dealing with long-term strategic
projects don’t get pulled off of those to deal with day-to-day
activities."
Bel continued, "I also want to provide a much
higher emphasis on the tools portfolio. In today’s environment, we
build duplicate tools everywhere. If someone needs a new way to
communicate, to send files, or whatever, they develop it. We need
to coordinate those efforts, including CASE (computer-aided
software engineering) tools.
"Manufacturing applications will still be built
by Manufacturing IS people. But the tools could be the same ones
we use to build Sales, Service, and Personnel applications. Our
approach to tools has not been focused enough. I want to assemble
a critical mass of
activity so we can provide more leadership in
the tools area. So in addition to taking care of the operational
needs of Win’s and John’s organizations, this new group will
develop and manage the tools portfolio process. I look to the
Corporate Information SerÂvices to provide leadership and
coordination for such an effort."
Mike Connor, the manager for the new group,
joined Digital in July 1981. Until 1984, he served as manager,
Corporate Finance and Administration Information Services. Between
1984 and 1988, he was manager, U.S. DIS. Mike most recently was
responsible for Information Security. Prior to joining Digital,
Mike was general manager of Commercial Systems DiviÂsion, Softech
Inc. and had a variety of software engineering responsibilities
supporting commercial applications for Fortune 100 customers.
The U. S. Department of Health and Human
Services has cited Digital for its work in promoting AIDS
education and awareness. Dr. Robert Windom, Undersecretary of
Health and Human Services, made the presentation September 16, in
Chicago, at the Private Sector Leadership Conference on AIDS.
Digital was recognized for its leadership and
effective employee and community service through building an AIDS
education and awareness program based on both factual information
and compassion. The citation said the program served "as a model
for corporate America in the battle against AIDS." Erline Belton,
Corporate Employee Relations manager, accepted the award for
Digital.
The conference was sponsored by the National
Leadership Coalition on AIDS, and attended by about 180 business
and labor leaders. Paul Ross, AIDS Program Office manager, and Ron
Eisenhauer, vice president, Central Area Sales, were speakers at
the conference. They explained the work Digital is doing as a
company and as a member of the New England CorpÂorate Consortium
for AIDS Education. Digital and eight other major Boston-area
employers belong to the Consortium.
Donna Blaney, U.S. Field Personnel manager, and
Michael Ewing, European Personnel manager, will exchange positions
for a three-month period beginning November 1, 1988.
"As part of our overall strategy to develop the
Personnel function to meet the current and emerging human resource
needs of the company, we need to ensure that our senior Personnel
managers have the broad-based skills, knowledge and experience to
meet these challenges," explains Dick Walsh, SSMI Personnel vice
president. "This job rotation will provide both Donna and Michael
with developmental experiences beyond the content of their current
positions. Each will gain exposure to a different management team,
a different business environment and another method of addressing
major human resource issues. Both the EuroÂpean and U.S. Field
Management Teams will also benefit by having a senior Personnel
manÂager with another geographical perspective working with their
team."
Norman Goldberg has been named group manager of
Financial Industry Organization Systems, reporting to Bill Steul,
vice president, Corporate Systems Group. In this position, he is
responsible for developing and implementing Digital’s architecture
and products for the financial services industry. Industries
within the financial services group include banking, investment,
and insurance.
Norman will work with Claude Thomas, vice
president, Financial Services Industry Marketing Group. Claude is
responsible for developing the company’s strategy for the
financial services market and ensuring that Digital products,
programs and services are directed toward this industry.
Norman will be advancing Digital’s current
product offerings for the financial services industry through
internal product development efforts, and joint marketing and
development agreements with target financial application software
vendors.
He will also manage four major financial
services industry product development efforts for Digital. He and
his staff will work directly with Digital’s base engineering
groups and software services to ensure that overall corporate
product development efforts align with the identified needs of the
financial services industry.
Prior to joining Digital, Norman held various
application development and marketing manÂagement positions with
IBM for twenty years.
In recognition of his fine contributions and
the significance of his position to Digital, Dom LaCava has been
appointed Low End Systems Vice President, effective August 23,
1988.
Dom has managed the Low End Systems group for
over a year. He has made significant proÂgress in strengthening
the Low End Systems strategy, organization design and budget, and
has implemented important changes to his own staff.
After he joined Digital in 1977, Dom held
several senior-level hardware and software engineering positions.
From 1984, he managed the creation of the successful MicroVAX
family and led the dramatic turnaround in the PDP-11 business.
Prior to joining Digital, Dom was at IBM for
nine years, where he held several seniorÂlevel management
positions in the development of VM and VS/2.
Bill Hawe has been named senior consulting
engineer, reporting to Tony Lauck, corporate consulting engineer,
in the Distributed Systems Group. Bill will continue in his role
as manager and technical leader of the Distributed Systems LAN
Architecture Group. He joined Digital in 1980 and was instrumental
in the design of the 10 Mbps Ethernet. He contribuÂted to the
design of numerous implementations of the Ethernet across Digital
and was a major influence on the IEEE standardization of the
Ethernet. He was also the leader of the DECnet Architecture Group,
and, while in the Corporate Research Group, was a key member of
the design team which originated, developed, and created a
prototype of the concept of extended LANs.
Scott McGregor has been named senior consulting
engineer in the Systems Software Group (SSG) at Spit Brook Road in
Nashua, N.H. As DECwindows program architect, Scott is
reÂsponsible for the technical integrity of DECwindows and all
components of the program, which embraces nine different
contributing software and hardware groups. Prior to joining
Digital three years ago, Scott held positions at Microsoft, where
he was responsible for Microsoft Windows, and at Xerox, where he
worked on the Xerox Star, which was a model for most of the
windowing systems used today.
Dave Buckingham has been appointed Sales
manager for the Far East Region. Based in Hong Kong, Dave reports
to Bobby Choonavala, vice president, Far East Region. Dave has
worked in the computer industry both in Europe and the U.S. for
over 30 years — the last 20 with Digital. During this time, he has
held sales and marketing positions in the U.K., incluÂding
responsibility for Digital’s Middle East operations. More
recently, based in Geneva, he held the positions of Educational
Services manager and International Sales manager.
Giorgio Corsi has been named Country
Group manager of Human Resources & Organization (HRO),
reporting to Michael Ewing, European HRO manager. He now has
functional management for: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland,
Greece, Holland, Ireland (Field), Israel, Norway, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. The following countries/locations
continue to report to Michael: European Headquarters (EHQ),
France, Germany, Ireland (Geography), Italy, Valbonne, and the
United Kingdom. Giorgio joined Digital Italy in 1975 to work as
Field Service branch manager in Milan. He moved to EHQ Geneva in
1979, and joined the European Personnel Team as manager of Area
Personnel Services in September 1986.
Jim Doyle has been appointed U.S./Field
Headquarters Purchasing manager, reporting to Ron Payne, vice
president, Purchasing, and Mike Kalagher, manager, U.S.
Administration. Jim joined Digital in 1977 as Purchasing manager
for Maynard Manufacturing, and most recently served as Corporate
Field Service Purchasing manager.
Jane Hamel has been named Corporate
Contributions manager, reporting to Nancy Dube, manÂager,
Corporate Community Relations. She joined Digital in 1980, and
since 1982 was the Corporate Contributions Programs manager
responsible for the evaluation and execution of corporate grants
in cultural, handicapped, health care and civic affairs. In FY88,
CorpÂorate Contributions donated over $26 million in cash and
equipment to non-profit organiÂzations worldwide.
Dennis Roberson has joined Digital as
manager of the TP Systems Group, reporting Bob Glorioso, vice
president, High Performance Systems (HPS). Dennis will assume this
responÂsibility from John Manzo and Rich Whitman. John will
continue to manage HPS Systems Software Engineering, and Rich will
continue to manage HPS Marketing and Product ManageÂment and the
HPS Systems Components PBU. Both John and Rich continue to report
to Bob. Dennis has spent 17 years with IBM, most recently as Lab
Director of the Endicott Lab.
Bill Segal has joined the LDP/Science
Product Marketing Group as the group manager of Product and
Systems Engineering, reporting to Gary Eichhorn, group marketing
manager, LDP/Science. He will also continue to serve as Digital’s
liaison to the DECUS SIG CounÂcil. Bill joined Digital in 1964 as
a software engineer and subsequently held positions in Software
Services and Biomedical Marketing. Most recently, he was manager
of Product Management, Base Product Marketing and Business
Management in the Software Systems Group.