The Semco system
"The Semco System" is the title of a tangible book and management system of the Brazilian entrepreneur Ricardo Semler , CEO and majority owner of the Brazilian engineering -Unternehmens Semco S / A 's. The book is counted as management literature, the complete German title is: The Semco System - Management without Managers - The new revolutionary leadership model .
The German version was translated "from the American" by Michael Schmidt and was published as a paperback with 428 pages by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag Munich. The original edition "Virando a Própria Mesa" (German about "Transform your workplace" ), first published in 1993, became the best- selling non-fiction book in the history of Brazil and has been translated into 23 languages. The title of the American edition is: "Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace" .
In 1990 the author Ricardo Semler was named "Latin American Businessman of the Year" by the Wall Street Journal , and in 1990 and 1992 he was also named "Brazilian Businessman of the Year" . His company Semco, which now has around 3,000 employees, produces machines, but in no defined business area “so as not to limit the number of employees”. The production range included 2,003 industrial machinery : pumps, baking machines, large air conditioners, the company is also with facility management , environmental consulting, outsourcing of HR departments and inventory - Controlling work for large department stores.
Since Semler changed its corporate structure, sales have increased rapidly, and the fluctuation rate at Semco is now less than one percent. Between 1990 and 1996, the company's sales increased from $ 35 million to $ 100 million. With hyperinflation and recession in Brazil at the same time , productivity under Semler's management - after he had taken over the company from his father - increased seven times, sales increased six times and profits increased five times. The working conditions meant that the company soon had a backlog of 2,000 applications and was the first in the list of graduate jobs in Brazil.
In 36 chapters, the book explains the management system at Semco, from the radical democratization of company processes and the redefinition of company structures from management tasks to production. The development process, which has lasted over years, is described in detail in a flowing biographical writing style. Empowerment of employees and teams, job rotation , job enlargement and job enrichment , a kind of trainee program, as well as de-bureaucratisation and flat hierarchies characterize the company (without these technical terms being mentioned in the book). According to the blurb, the buzzwords are " Participation instead of hierarchies, trust instead of control, codetermination instead of authoritarian leadership."
content
The company's development process, described in detail, led to the “revolutionary leadership model” rules of conduct , which are finally summarized in the book. In a “Semco dictionary” , similar to a glossary, the outstanding components of the management system are presented, and in a “survival manual” the individual rules that exist at Semco.
The appendix to the book contains a questionnaire with 36 points, with which employees at Semco rate their superiors (the results are posted publicly) and a guidebook “The Semco cure against time sickness” on organizing work at the desk, when telephoning and at Meetings.
This list describes the details given in the book (1995 edition), which have been constantly changing / changing in Semco's management process and which have been continuously developed and adapted. The original wording (for example "Bosses") has been used for the headings.
"The Semco Dictionary"
education
Semco calls on employees to think about what they want to work in five years' time and motivates them to pursue a leading education.
Paternalism
Semco makes a strict distinction between work and private life. That is why there is no swimming pool or gym in the company, for example. Health insurance is offered, but the employee has to take care of it himself. The employees are not kept on a leash , but viewed as adults who must be able to make decisions about their work and life independently.
Evaluation from below
Before a management position is filled, the candidate must introduce himself to everyone he is supposed to lead in an interview. They will then evaluate, accept or reject it. All Semco managers are evaluated anonymously every six months by the colleagues they lead, and the resulting grades are publicly displayed in the companies. It is not officially regulated, but sooner or later Semco will part with those who score less than 80 of the possible 100 points.
Bosses
With the increasing democratization of work, the need for necessary “overseers” fell and their number was reduced. This not only in production, but also in administration, respectively. in legal advice, accounting and marketing. Among other things, the data processing, training and quality control departments have been completely abolished, as have dining rooms for executives or reserved parking spaces.
democracy
Representative democracy in the company is firmly anchored in the works committees and manager reviews. All employees have a say in important decisions, such as relocating plants.
Family silver
In the case of job advertisements, Semco employees are automatically shortlisted if they meet 70% of the requirements.
Manufacturing cells
Jobs on the assembly line were abolished or not even introduced when the company expanded. The employees produce the devices completely in group work, for example a whole scale, dishwasher, mixer or another machine on the production range. That leads to more independence and responsibility, that "makes you happier and our products better" . The factory workers have mastered several specialist areas (for example electricians and locksmiths ) and are allowed to buy raw materials and individual parts from suppliers themselves. The production quotas are often determined by the employees themselves and develop improvements without Bonifikationssystem .
Salary level
Comparative values for wages and salaries are collected from affected Semco employees (factory workers and office workers) even at companies with similar branches.
Profit sharing
A quarter of the company's profits are paid out to the “workers” , who themselves democratically determine who receives how many shares.
flexible working hours
Not only office workers, but also factory workers can determine their working hours themselves with flexitime. Even if this can lead to disruptions within the group work, each group regulates such problems internally.
size
At Semco, all employees should know each other so that they can best develop their potential. In order to prevent alienation from occurring, corporate divisions whose number of employees exceeds a critical size of around 150 are in principle divided up.
Cleaning up
Twice a year the company is mucked out, the company closes “for an afternoon” and superfluous files are thrown away in the offices, factory workers remove scrap and accumulated rubbish, “nobody is exempted from it and nothing is safe from it” .
Hepatitis Vacation
This is what Semco calls flexible educational leave, which every employee can take for weeks or months every one to two years in order to acquire new knowledge or skills, to redesign the workplace or just to gather new strength. Named for the compulsive state when someone got hepatitis and had to recover from it for two months.
Auxiliary staff
Unpopular jobs with no opportunities for advancement were eliminated at Semco, such as all receptionists, secretaries and personal assistants. If you want a coffee or fresh fruit juice, you prepare and collect it yourself and wash the dishes afterwards. Letters and reports are typed, copies are made and visitors are picked up.
Core force for technical innovation
Above all creative people, tinkerers and hobbyists work in this group; they are released from daily production or administrative tasks. You can and should devote yourself exclusively to the task of improving or developing new products, marketing strategies or lines of business, or of doing this with methods for increasing performance and reducing costs.
corruption
People, including official inspectors, who want to blackmail Semco are reported. This led to a lot of trouble with their colleagues, but Semco doesn't want to signal to employees or customers that dishonesty will be tolerated.
Circular organization
The previously pyramidal management system with twelve hierarchical levels has been trimmed back to an organizational structure made up of three flowing concentric circles (there is no organizational chart in the company), there are functions that are manifested in four different titles:
- Members of the Board of Directors coordinate the general guidelines and strategies,
- Partners manage the company divisions,
- Coordinators and foremen , with the former usually leading the first management level in departments such as marketing , sales and production and foremen in the areas of assembly and technology ,
- and the rest of the colleagues .
Semler compares the form of organization with the situation when early humans were still hunting: a leader gave the way , whoever discovered the game was considered a scout , and whoever was most likely to kill it was a shooter .
Management by wandering around
Semco prefers offices without walls, nothing should separate employees from one another, sometimes individual departments are deliberately mixed up. Workplaces are separated from one another by “a forest made up of nothing but plants” . There are no dress codes, and if a colleague is immersed in a newspaper, it doesn't matter, as long as he is otherwise doing his agreed job satisfactorily.
Natural company
With this term, Semler describes the reduction of the company organization to the essentials "to produce, sell, issue invoices and collect the money" . What chic office furniture, a company kitchen, dining rooms for executives and other superfluous perks and privileges "that tickle the ego but burden the balance sheet" excludes. The employees are seen as partners of the company, they can decide for themselves in which class they fly on the plane or how many stars their hotel should have.
Risk content
About a third of Semco staff can choose this voluntary program. In a bad year the employees involved receive only 75% of their salary, in a good year 150% of normal income. In this way, the personnel costs can be adapted to the profits and losses within a certain framework.
Satellite program
A method of outsourcing manufacturing processes. Instead of doing business with external companies, start-ups are supported by company employees with advice, orders and also with the inexpensive provision of production machines. Employees are turned into business partners.
Headline memo
The length of all memos is limited to one page without exception, and a headline-like heading is expected that brings the matter to the point.
Self-determined income
Almost 25% of the employees or most of the coordinators set their own salary (which, like any salary or wage, is then published on the notice board). An increase of more than ten percent is rarely desired.
Job security
In contrast to other large companies, Semco never made a promise of a secure job and therefore never had to break such a promise.
Job rotation
Around a quarter of the managers swap their "jobs" with each other, and this is encouraged by the company, as no one is supposed to do a certain "job" for more than five years. This job rotation
- forces people to learn something new
- prevents the development of areas of power,
- employees get a more comprehensive picture of the company and the problems of their colleagues,
- There is usually more than one person involved in a job
- and it offers additional opportunities for development that are sometimes not given in a strict hierarchy.
Strikes
Strikes are common in Brazil,
- but everyone involved is treated like an adult,
- Nobody will be punished by either side who interrupts a strike.
- The names of the strikers are not recorded,
- the police are never called
- and no strike chain violently broken,
- all perks remain
- no one is locked out of the factory,
- there are no layoffs during or after strikes.
transparency
Virtually all information about the company is published: salaries, strategies, production statistics and profit margins. Courses are held for workers to help them understand financial documents (balance sheets, profit and loss account). The managers answer all inquiries and employees have no problems giving data to the press.
Lost in space
Some of the trainees are selected and put on a long leash . They are allowed to work in at least twelve departments in the first twelve months before deciding on a particular department.
Regulations
The main rule is use your common sense . Other rules such as dress codes or for travel activities and also the internal quality test center have been abolished. There is a set of rules that is reproduced below.
Works committees
In direct democracy certain groups select employees below the manager level, for example, office staff, engineers , warehouse workers, maintenance staff , draftsmen and other employees, representatives for committees . The top managers discuss all workplace problems and corporate policy issues with the committees at regular intervals. The committees can examine the books of accounts, question management orders or call strikes.
Work from home
Employees are encouraged to work at home, "This can increase concentration and productivity, and it makes people more flexible." .
"The Survival Handbook"
The only rules that exist at Semco.
organization chart
One becomes a leader only on the basis of respect for those who are led. There is intentionally no organizational chart for the company.
attitude
The employees of a department have the right to question and evaluate new recruits or people who are promoted.
working time
Each employee is responsible for determining and adhering to flexible working hours. Not all people work during the day and otherwise equally quickly and Semco accommodates that.
Workplace
In consideration of the group, each employee can design his or her workplace as he or she wants, with plants, wall paint, furnishings, machines or decorations.
Clothing and appearance
How someone is dressed or looks has no influence at Semco on whether the person is hired or promoted. Clothing and appearance do not matter.
authority
There is hierarchical authority at Semco, too, but abuse of power of any kind, any attempt to oppress subordinates or to use their insecurity or fear at work as a means of pressure will not be tolerated.
Unions
Workers can join a union and they will not be persecuted for doing so. Despite occasional contradictions and problems, there is mutual respect and we always stay in conversation.
Strikes
Strikes are seen as a legitimate democratic tool and at Semco as something completely normal . No one will be prosecuted for strikes as long as they remain transparent. Anyone who stays away from work because of a strike is considered excused, the absence does not result in any consequences.
change
Semco believes change is healthy and positive, even if major changes occur occasionally.
Active participation
The opinion of all employees is interesting, even if nobody asked them. Employees should not lean back, but express their opinions freely and participate in all elections and votes and try to get ahead. Don't be just any employee .
Works committee
The employees are represented by the works committees vis-à-vis the management and have a right and guarantee to do so and should also follow their work. Conflicts with the works committees are healthy and necessary for the management .
Evaluation by subordinates
Twice a year "the bosses" are judged by the subordinates, this should be done openly and honestly.
Job security and age
Everyone who has passed the age of 50 and has been with Semco for more than three years enjoys better protection against dismissal and thus more security. A dismissal, which also occurs at Semco, can only be issued after a number of hearings.
proposals
Everyone should and may submit opinions, suggestions and suggestions, but there is no reward system for this.
The Semco woman
At Semco there are various programs to improve the lower employment, advancement and financial opportunities for women that exist in Brazil.
vacation
Nobody is irreplaceable. 30 days of vacation a year for everyone is just as important for your health as it is for the well-being of the company . Vacation days cannot be accumulated for later.
Quote
Ricardo Semler: The Semco System '- Management without Managers - The new revolutionary leadership model. Heyne Business, 1993, p. 20: "We have eliminated nothing other than the blind, irrational, authoritarian behavior that has a negative effect on productivity"
Web links
- Semco website , accessed November 15, 2011
- Web TV interview with Ricardo Semler , accessed on November 15, 2011
- Report on Youtube about Semco (English), accessed on November 15, 2011
Individual evidence
- ^ The Liberation of Labor , accessed November 15, 2011
- ↑ Wolfgang Drescher: The most successful entrepreneurs. Google Book Search facsimile , accessed November 15, 2011
- ↑ Treat your employees like adults. Retrieved November 15, 2011
- ^ The anarchist company Semco , accessed November 15, 2011
- ↑ Quote Ricardo Semler (translated by Michael Schmidt): The Semco system - management without managers - the new revolutionary leadership model. Munich 1993, Heyne Verlag, p. 405.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 406.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 406.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. ibid
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 17.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 408.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 17.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 410.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 410.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 419.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 421.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 422.
- ^ Quote from Ricardo Semler: The Semco system. P. 427.