Letters

Readers react to articles from the February 1999 issue of Inc., including the cover package, "I Was Seduced by the New Economy" and David H. Freedman's "Intensive Care."

Responses to our February issue were all over the map. Readers saw our cover package, "I Was Seduced by the New Economy," as everything from a dose of business-world reality to a tired anachronism. And some were outraged that we investigated the need for a human-resources department.

The last seduction

Our cover story used real-life anecdotes to poke holes in seven myths about managing a company in these prosperous times (including "Go global," "You must be virtual," and "Grow or die").

Admittedly a skeptic about some of your "Get rich quick, business is really a doddle" articles, I was delighted at the approach you took in your February issue. As an instructor in the FastTrac entrepreneurial business-development programs and author of the new book Before You Go into Business, Read This, I heartily subscribe to an exposé of the " Seven Myths of the New Economy." These are real examples of business-marketplace seduction. Give your readers more of these real-life stories.

Ira N. Nottonson
Business/Legal Consultant
Boulder, Colo.

This reader found the story--and the myths it bashed--far too conservative.

Phew! I'm sure your article was a tremendous relief and comfort to dogmatic managers who still use archaic business tools and methods. Newer concepts of employee empowerment and the use of technology and the Web are hard to understand--and harder to implement--but they are here to stay. I'm sure similar articles were written at the advent of the steam engine. Please don't support nonentrepreneurial thinking. It's hard enough as it is for entrepreneurs to battle archaic models.

Jon Caime
County Engineer
Oconee County
Seneca, S.C.

Inc., heal thyself

In " Worker, Rule Thyself," Christopher Caggiano addressed the question "Do you really need a human-resources department?" by looking at two companies that had incorporated employees into their human-resources efforts. HR advocates nationwide roared back.

I feel that you did a great disservice to all business owners when you published "Worker, Rule Thyself." Would you write a column called "Worker, Account Thyself" and propose that employees with no accounting background do the firm's accounting? How about "Worker, Legal Thyself," where the employees could do all the firm's legal work? "Preposterous," you'd say. "Those areas need people who are trained in an accounting or a legal discipline." Well, believe me, there are more laws dealing with employment than most small companies realize.

As a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, I am constantly amazed at the number of HR personnel who ask for clarification of an exempt versus a nonexempt employee. Knowing how difficult these matters are for the people who deal with them every day, why would you want to put the task of determining how employees are paid into the hands of those who have never studied--or even heard of--the Fair Labor Standards Act, for example?

I beg that you not print articles of this type in the future. Entrepreneurs can get into enough trouble as it is when it comes to the employment laws. They certainly don't need any more encouragement.

Mark Baty
Operations Manager
Controls Unlimited
Perry, Ohio

How could you? After recently having featured that terrific human-resources cover story on recruiting (" Recruiting Secrets of the Smartest Companies Around," October 1998), you plunged to the depths of irresponsible journalism by publishing the article "Worker, Rule Thyself."

Look at the instances you provide to make your case: one company with $10 million in sales (wow!) and another that hasn't really done without HR staff (one which is, in fact, seeking an HR specialist, as you disclose). Can we now look forward to future issues advocating the end of the accounting and sales functions as well?

Matt Deluca
Senior Vice-President of Human Resources
Titan Sports
Stamford, Conn.

Senior staff writer Christopher Caggiano replies:

When the companies in question make decisions based on HR law, they do consult or bring in professionals. And yes, Inc. does run articles about entrepreneurs doing their own marketing, design, or accounting, or doing without expensive legal services. That's what entrepreneurs do: they find ways of doing things themselves that work just as well as (if not better than) bringing in outside help--and for a heck of a lot less money.

Smooth operators

Many lauded David H. Freedman's article " Intensive Care" on the culture turnaround at Griffin Hospital, in Derby, Conn., where patient satisfaction has soared to 96%. This former Griffin employee almost had to be treated for shock.

From 1976 to 1984 I was employed by Griffin as a radiologic technologist. While customer satisfaction was pretty high on the list of priorities at the time, employee satisfaction was somewhere near the bottom. As a matter of fact, most of my fellow technologists and a large number of other hospital employees were very unhappy, and I'm sure it was obvious by the way the patients (customers) were treated. I applaud the current CEO, Patrick Charmel, for his efforts and the amazing transformation that has occurred. Employee morale must have skyrocketed for turnover to have dropped.