The Law of the Hog By Praxis

"The Law of the Hog."

By Praxis

Some business researchers were trying to find the ultimate management techniques and so they looked to the most successful businesses across the land to see what they could learn to improve business management techniques.

In the process of their research they kept hearing rumors of a small lumber mill in Oregon that had the highest employee moral, the best employer-employee relationships, the least amount of time lost on the job and the highest rating in every other area of their business including profit and so they had to find out what their secret was.

When they got to the lumber mill they were greeted by the general manager who was as big as an ape and looked like he could rip body parts off of anyone by accident while shaking their hand. As soon as they entered into the mill they realized that all of the managers looked the same - big muscle, thick necked gorillas. One of the researchers asked one of the employees why all the managers were so big and the employee said, "They have to be big so that if the employees need discipline they can make you work."

The researcher thought this was funny and said, "What if the employees didn't need discipline and the manager was just in a bad mood." The employee said, "Oh, no, that would never happen." The researchers were puzzled.

They noticed as they were walking through the plant that large trees were brought in and put on conveyors and big knives would strip off the outer bark. Then big knives would come in and strip off a thin layer of the outer wood and they were told that this wood was the finest grain and it was used for all of their high priced paneling and veneer wood. Then the logs would continue down and go through a series of saws cutting them up into beams of wood and they were fascinated by all the things going on in this lumber mill and they were still puzzled by this whole manager thing.

And so they started asking questions, "Was there a union to protect the employees?" And the employees would answer, "That's a stupid question, there is no need for a union. You researchers sure aren't very intelligent asking such dumb questions." This got the researchers even more confused and so they kept asking questions. With each question they asked they became more and more confused.

While they were walking through the mill they noticed a commotion at the end of the mill and asked what had happened. One of the employees said, "Well, one of the employees just mouthed off to the manager and so he had to be disciplined." The researchers ran over to where the disciplining was taking place. They saw the man lying on the floor just beaten to a bloody pulp. The other employees were just working as if everything was normal. No one was watching or upset. Everything seemed just fine. The researchers said to one of the employees near by, "What happened?" The employee said, "He did something wrong and so he got disciplined by the manager." The researchers were shocked and said, "Aren't you going to do something like call an ambulance?" The employee said, "The ambulance will be here in a minute, don't worry."

The researchers were incensed and said, "I can't believe that this man is lying here half dead and you act as if nothing were wrong. You should do something. This is abuse! “The employee said, "He deserved to be punished and so the manager punished him." "Well, I think the manager overstepped his bounds this time!" said one of the researchers. The employee standing near by said, "Oh, no, they wouldn't do that." "How do you know this? The researcher protested. "Because we own the hog." said the workers. "The hog!" said the researchers. "Yes, the hog so they would never do anything wrong." was their answer as they shook their heads in disbelief of such stupid questions.

Now the researchers were really confused. And so they decided to just walk around and try to figure out this madhouse called a lumber mill. Just then the owner walked up to one of the researchers and said how do you like my company? They said to him, "We're really confused about your company. You have gorillas for managers who put people in the hospital and all of your employees act like nothing is wrong. This doesn't make sense. And what in the heck is the hog?"

The owner chuckled and said, "Let's back up a little and I will tell you about our mill. Now first of all we get these big logs that come in on these big tracks. And the big blades come down and take off all the bark and all the high spots and then the logs move down and the blades shave off all the expensive veneer wood to be made into paneling, etc. Then the logs move down to the next area where the big beams are cut off the logs. The left-over's are cut into smaller lumber such as two by fours, two by twelve's, etc. You see, how it works, is the employees here make an hourly rate no matter how much or how little lumber we produce they make the same hourly rate. The managers on the other hand have a quota to meet up to each day. As you know lumber is measured in board feet. The more board feet we make the more money and the higher the quota for the managers. And the managers are required to make their quota each day. If the managers don't make their quota two consecutive days they are put on probation. If they get a low quota for a week they are fired. So you see they would never dare mistreat their employees because they have the hog. Well, I've got to go now and so I hope this has answered your question. So Bye." And the owner walked off.

Now the researchers were really confused. What was this hog that kept the managers in line and the employees satisfied? They just had to find out. And so they started asking employees where the hog was so that they could discover what it was all about. They pointed down to the far end of the mill where there was this massive machine. As they walked down towards this massive machine they saw two huge men with long chains attached to the wall picking up scraps of lumber and throwing them into this large machine. When they got there they asked the operator how it ran. And he said, "Gladly. Well you see, when the logs get cut up into lumber there are pieces that are too small or too bent to use and we put them in the hog. You see the hog has all of these big swinging knives that cut up all of the lumber into a fine dust and shoots it out the other end and then we burn it. "I see," said the researchers, "But how does "hog" give you so much power over the managers?" "Well, at the end of the day they see how much board feet of lumber there is and then they also weigh how much saw dust there is in the hog. If the hog goes up and it is too high in comparison with how much board feet the managers get in trouble and after one week of high weights in the hog the managers get fired." "I understand this," said one of the researchers, "But how does this give the employees so much power?" "You researchers really are stupid. The hog will eat up good lumber too. Anything you put into it, even big expensive beams, or whole trees come out as fine dust and so that's what gives us our power." And so the Law of the Hog was invented. © Praxis

When it comes to quality control, employee productivity, or the bottom line of financial profitability your employees are not the problem, they are the solution when you understand the Law of the Hog.

IBM found one hundred dollar computer chips in their toilets from disgruntled employees, Ford Motor Company lost millions of dollars thinking that employees were the problem of quality and so they put in robots where they could since they wanted to reduce the mistakes the employees made in manufacturing cars since robots don't make mistakes. After doing this their quality went way down but only in the area where the robots were put in place and so they looked into it and they found out that the robots did everything the way they were supposed to but the cars didn't. You see if the cars shifted on track a little the robot couldn't adapt but the people could. They realized that the people were not the problem but the solution when they understood the Law of the Hog.

The biggest area where the Law of the Hog is used today is in industry where they expect their employees to just do their job without using their mind or when the employee takes a risk on an idea and it is successful and the supervisor takes credit so the employee feels taking advantage of and stops trying to do a better job.

Even worse when the employee tries something new and it doesn't work or makes someone look bad he is punished and told, "You are not paid to think. Check in your mind at the door. When I want your opinion, I will tell you." You see most employees want to do a good job but when they are treated like machines they turn off their mind and act like machines, not adapting, just performing their required quota without the motivation to do a really good job like they really want to.

Creativity is the biggest Law of the Hog law in the United States today. If you are punishing mistakes and not rewarding risks taken by employees you are promoting the destruction of your business and will ultimately see its failure.

Copy Right By Praxis, with permission from Ron McMillan a good Friend a Great Man and Gifted Teacher