Bigger Might Seem Better

A large software company (4,000 employees, $1 billion in annual sales) seems to have all its ducks in a row when it comes to Best Practice.

- The company has well publicized vision, mission and values statements with all the right buzzwords - things like "committed to innovation", "great teams build great companies", "honest and fair in all our dealings".

- The HR department is up-to-date with industry-standard best practices - with extensive employee surveys, performance management processes, bonus systems, and benefits packages.

- The product development teams use best-practice methodologies, like Agile Programming, ISO standards, bug tracking, multi-tier technical support, offshore development and call centers.

From the outside looking in, everything is in place. But consider this...

A group of software developers is told that mandatory overtime will be required for the summer to meet slipping deadlines. They'll be paid time-and-a-half for this extra work, but it's not optional. The developers put in the time, and still don't meet the deadlines. The underlying technology is unstable and unpredictable, but the unit manager is fired for failing to get results.

After months of continuing overtime, with no extra pay forthcoming, employees are told that the company can't pay any overtime due to the economic slump. The employees plead their case, and eventually, the company does pay for some overtime, at straight pay. When it comes to annual performance review and raise time, there are no performance appraisals (since the manager was fired) and the company gives zero raises to the group, again citing the global economic crisis.

A short while later, the company posts its financial results and has turned in the most profitable year in its history. Needless to say, the disgruntled employees are now preparing their resumes.

I used to be quite intimidated and impressed by larger organizations and the sophistication they seemed to bring to everything. They had systems and policies for everything, they documented their methods, they used best-practices, and really seemed to know what they were doing. Yet how often is this just a veneer, a facade that's put forward to give a good impression when really, their practices and processes are decayed and ineffective?

Bigger might seem better, but talk is cheap, and size definitely doesn't matter.