Somebody wrote an article saying there was a "silver lining" to the recent tsunami in Japan. Another person criticized that on Facebook. I wrote this in response:
One of the downsides of industrialization and technology is that those who specialize in doing work that gets taken over by machines can become underemployed. Then the profits for physical production increasingly go to those who invent the technology and those already in possession of the capital to own and manage the technology. The technology does not eliminate, but reduces, the demand for manual labor causing those who make their living thereby to face stiff competition, lower their compensation, and their status at the bargaining table.
A disaster does temporarily increase the demand for labor and so the question really is if we're handling things correctly in the good times. Would we really have realized the gains that the opportunity cost says we would have, or would those people have been underemployed?
I think that through just management practices, we can fully employ laborers. The misconception is that a good business manager is one who ruthlessly cuts costs without consideration for the effect on workers. The problem with this that, ultimately, quality is in the hands of the one actually doing the work, not the manager.
Right now the world economy is in a crisis of quality, because everyone is in a race to the bottom to sell the cheapest goods.
For their own long-term self interest as well as the corporate good, business management needs to focus on quality by fully employing, empowering, and compensating their laborers.
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