[Opinion] Lifetime Employment?

It has been almost 100 years since companies began innovating management by adopting scientific methods. In 1911, Frederick W. Taylor developed “The Principles of Scientific Management” after surprising the world with his study of standard working conditions at a steel company. In 1913, Henry Ford got an idea from a slaughterhouse and came up with the conveyor belt-based assembly line. Thanks to him, the time required to assemble automobiles was shortened by 90 percent, allowing for mass production.

In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, Japanese companies developed Total Quality Management (TQM) as a nationwide movement and boosted productivity, making Japan an economic power. In the 1980s, those same Japanese firms overtook their American competitors.

An NBC documentary on quality management, which shocked the U.S. business establishment, was even titled “If Japan can do it, why can’t we?” Concluding that quality was the reason for lost competitiveness of the U.S. businesses, the government, industry and academia began to support companies’ management innovation efforts. As part of that endeavor, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, named after then Secretary of Commerce, was made in 1987. This award has been sought after by many companies ever since.

Companies pursue endless innovations to survive. In the early 1990s, American businesses embraced Business Process Reengineering (BPR) to maximize their outcome by getting rid of unnecessary business processes. It has been 10 years since Six Sigma began spreading around the world after GE was known to have benefited from it. Six Sigma is a company-wide innovation scheme aimed at measuring and analyzing all business processes to reduce defect rates.

Innovation has become crucial for the government as well. The government has designated special task force and officials to focus on innovation. It is to be welcomed if the government is thinking, “If companies can do it, why can’t the government?” President Roh said at the Ministry of Information and Communication’s innovation forum held on Wednesday that able public servants with innovative minds must be guaranteed permanent jobs. Does he mean the government has already achieved some great innovations? Shouldn’t he be talking about breaking the concept of guaranteed jobs among public servants? It goes against the global trend for government workers to think that they deserve a lifetime job and to insist on higher tax and increased manpower when they have little understanding of cost and efficiency.

Hong Kwon-hee, Editorial Writer, konihong@donga.com