The Working Week 85

The classical Greek legends of Cadmus and Jason have given rise to the phrase "to sow dragon's teeth", a metaphor that has come to refer to doing something that has the effect of fomenting disputes.

While stationed in Germany in the early post-World War II years, Hal Bolton was profoundly affected by devastation left in the wake of war. Subsequently he forged a successful business career and travelled to many parts of the world advocating nonviolent solutions to conflicts.

In his book The Dragon's Teeth, Hal examines the pervading influence of war myths in the business world. He argues that many companies like to portray themselves as embattled communities, caught in an endless war of cutthroat competition to bolster their bottom line.

As Hal tells Wayne, this "business-as-war-game" myth which views competitors as the enemy means that any strategy that helps "our" team win is acceptable. Then there's the "entitlement myth", in which maximizing self-interest is the whole game. There's the "corporate ladder" myth, in which getting ahead is what counts. And there's the "management myth" which fosters the idea that management's duty is to maximize self- interest.

All of these lead to the big one – the "corporate myth" - in which corporate interests take priority over human- scale considerations. This manifests itself in the violence evidenced in outsourcing, layoffs, loss of health benefits and family leave, frozen wages, cutthroat competition among managers and CEOs, buyouts, closures, megamergers - even child sweatshop labor – all of which has plummeted society to a nadir of confidence.

But changing these myths that have allowed war to ride roughshod over society for too long by changing awareness in the workplace will ripple out to society at large as workers and management seek ways to build profit and peace, individuals and corporations intent upon serving society rather than exploiting it.

Hal Bolton was manufacturing supervisor and CEO of Dahlstrom Manufacturing Company, a multinational corporation, for fifteen years, Later, as a consultant in organizational transformation and process improvement, he guided transformative processes in companies and multinationals, communities, educational institutions, and not-for-profit organizations.

He also spent fourteen years as management cochairman of the Jamestown Area Labor Management Committee, creator of the prototype for community labor-management organizations in the United States and abroad.

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