The first sign of decline of an industry is loss of appeal to able people.
In the area of people genuine marketing objectives are required. “What do our jobs have to be to attract and hold the kind of people we need and want?” What is the supply available on the job market? And, what do we have to do to attract it?” It is highly desirable to have specific objectives for manager supply, development, and performance, but also specific objectives for major groups within the nonmanagerial workforce. There is need for objectives for employee attitudes as well as for employee skills.
The first sign of decline of an industry is loss of appeal to qualified, able, and ambitious people. The American railroads, for instance, did not begin their decline after World War II—it only became obvious and irreversible then. The decline actually set in around the time of World War I. Before World War I, able graduates of American engineering schools looked for a railroad career. From the end of World War I on—for whatever reason—the railroads no longer appealed to young engineering graduates, or to any educated young people. As a result, there was nobody in management capable and competent to cope with new problems when the railroads ran into heavy weather twenty years later.
ACTION POINT: Set objectives for attracting and retaining the best people, including goals for performance standards and employee attitudes and skills.
Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices
* Source: The Daily Drucker by Peter F. Drucker