Cultural Conflict at Yahoo!
I know that Yahoo management isn’t really a China outsourcing issue, but I couldn’t resist commenting on this bit of management wizardry. The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported on some curious tensions (subscription may be required) between their new CEO and the diehard “Yahoos.” Apparently, someone is in for some culture shock:
“…a reported offer made by new CEO Carol Bartz Friday to help pay a $1,000 bounty for information on who in the Sunnyvale company is leaking information to the press.”
That has to really be a motivator to those clinging to the freewheeling Yahoo work-style!
Continuing,
“…Bartz was critical of employees showing up late for meetings and for using the word silo to describe how units of the company operate.”
I know that Ms. Bartz needs to make her mark on the company, but are these really the kinds of issues that she’s going to take on? What kind of message does she imagine the battered “Yahoos” that haven’t managed to abandon the ship, yet, will take from her $1K bounty? Did this kind of stuff really work at Autodesk?
Curious…
It’s a mystery to me why management sometimes thinks it can get away with such gestures. No doubt employees won’t go elsewhere as readily in this economic climate, but I wonder if Bartz has given any thought to what bad morale does to productivity.
Comment by JT — 2009.2.04 @ 14:50