What can't one believe easily in this modern society?

In this new era of information age, we are constantly receiving information via many media from time to time whether we like it or not.  It becomes more and more difficult to fully duplicate, evaluate and judge every piece of information for its validity, credibility and workability to many of us especially they could be mixed with a lot of false or contradictory data; while honestly many people do not know how to study (even with good grades) to make it more complicated in effective learning and sound judgement.  It could explain the reason why some people may have established automatic blocking system to stop receiving any more information especially those requiring one’s own observation and evaluation so to prevent from falling into further confusion.

There’re a lot of chance for all walks of life of Hong Kong, especially students to be exposed to a lot of new knowledge, information and technology,  as witnessed from our high attendance of the recent Hong Kong Book Fair, Hong Kong Computer and Communication Festival, etc,  in the summer time.

I have also visited the recent book fair with over 900,000 visitors this year.  Many book distributors utilized this as a channel to unload their inventory to appeal those looking for bargain sales, and there’re many books sold as cheap as $10 or $20.  Indeed, there’re many book buyers. Yet,  I also observed that many simply walked around without really checking or buying any books as the book fair event could serve as a “cool holiday spot” while one can sweat a lot with the high temperature outside. One major book distributor told me that the real book buyers will not come to the book fair as they prefer to check and buy books directly from the book store.   In other words, it could refer to the fact that we don’t have a lot of people really “thinking”, or “looking” as the statistics of visitors indicated otherwise.

While it could be “study bug” to stop us from acquiring real knowledge, I noticed that it could be explained by a strange phenomenon in our modern society, that is “people simply don’t believe anything easily” to the extent that “they stop looking”.   If we want to trace it down further,  it could be possibly due to some kind of “failed help” or “having been betrayed” experience on oneself or and on others in the past to make one not believe in any possibility of “genuine help”.

Yet if one is really looking, one can still find some “genuine help” though not always from everyone to everyone in our society.  Finding some genuine help in our society will raise your confidence and belief in the possibility of help, though may not happen on oneself directly.

If one sees that help is possible, it will definitely help to open the door of real knowledge as one seeks the knowledge which can help!  If the knowledge is not for the use of help, what’s for?

What could we miss in management when applying mechanical automation alone in our work place?

While we witness leaps of technological breakthrough to help automate many job processes, we also somehow build in a lot of automatic circuit or response that many psychologists today are trying to study and establish the organizational behavior to develop certain type of management skills. Yet, no further exploration and research are made towards the direction on what or who is exactly behind the establishment of such automation.

When we look into the history of the definitions of "psychology", one will know what exactly the subject of 'psychology" is actually dealing with.

Webster's international dictionary of the English language -1829 defines "Psychology: A discourse or treatise on the human soul; the doctrine of the nature and properties of the soul."

Webster's High School Dictionary -1892 "Psychology: The powers and function of the soul."

Merriam Webster's 3rd International Dictionary- 1962, " Psychology: The science of mind or phenomena or activiites; the study of the biological organism (as man) and the physical and social environment."

Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary- 2001, "Psychology: 1. Study of mind, the scientific study of the human mind and mental states, and of human and animal behavior; 2. Characteristic mental makeup; the characteristic temperament and associated behavior of an individual or group, or that exhibited by those engaged in a particular activity; 3. Subtle manipulative behavior, subtle clever actions and words used to influence a person or a group."

Somewhere along the line, man lost his soul!

Let’s look who really build the computer machine; and who really invent the spaceship so man can land on the moon. It should be something more than what we see with our eyes only. You know you have not lost your soul!

And that’s exactly what’s missing for many studies on organizational behavior by simply using the pattern of automation (as somehow we don’t have perfect automation with correct predictability at all times) to find out how to control the pattern better by adding more control circuits for mind control or alteration purposes; without realizing or ignoring the fact the one behind the automation is the soul who likes to have his own self-determinism, likes to create, likes to fix or unfix his attention units, like to cause something good to happen, etc; but not a machine or a piece of mud itself.

If we are who we are really that we have not lost our soul, is it stupid for us who have created the pattern of automation but to make it to have full control back on us that we finally have lost our soul?

The rebellion does not simply come from any possible defect of the automation system to cause any breakdown itself, but from the resistance of the reduction of the self-determinism of the soul himself against any other counter-effort in making him to be fully automated, like by absorbing all his attention units in the same direction and distance for a real long time. The automation machine could eventually breakdown to the point when the soul himself gives up and simply succumb.


If we really understand who we are, how our mind works, and have some concept of the ideal state of our beingness with decent method to attain so by utilizing our own rights of self-determinism, then we won’t easily miss the picture of understanding and managing people properly for the greatest good of the greatest number of people concerned.  Fortunately, there are some sensible management solutions you can learn to really improve morale and productivity by keeping our "spirits" up!

What has Foxconn missed in its management to cause unusual suicidal rate recently?

Between Jan 2010 to May 2010, thirteen Foxconn employees attempted suicide with ten deaths and three serious injuries. The rapid rate of suicides is unusual to draw a lot of attention and criticism around the world; and therefore causes headaches to the management how to fix the problems right away as the situation has been out of their control for many months.

What could the management do to put the situation under its control? If one could find the “right why” of the situation being “out of control” or “bad control”, then one could find the door to open for the workable solution to reverse the condition and put it under “good control”.

The recent response to stop the suicidal rate was to ask each worker to sign a letter, requested by the management on May 22 , 2010 that the workers needed to promise not to kill themselves and even agreed to be institutionalized if they appeared to be abnormal mental or physical state, for the protection of myself and others. The letter also stated that workers who killed themselves would not gain “any compensation beyond the provisions of law and administrative regulations.” However, the management needed to withdraw such a bizarre letter right after the plunge of another worker. In other words, the letter was a “bad control” solution. To prevent further suicides, a 1.5 million-square-meter safety net will be put up around Foxconn dormitories, and it’s equivalent to 1,200 standard swimming pools. It could be again a “bad control” solution.

What is “good control”? “Good control” is an ability for the management and workers who are willing to start, change and stop in one’s own field of responsibility and activity. But why today some companies still need to use “bad control”, which is enforced or inhibited force to get compliance at the expense of the willingness of the workers to start, change and stop on his own self-determinism. Probably some companies believe that it’s the only way the management can get the production but they have missed the most important element of management tool, which is the knowledge of human emotion and reaction.

One can employ many management tools to analyze the success or failure for any company. While they may be all true or valid, knowledge of management tools can be viewed as a pyramid with a common denominator at the top which evaluates all other data below it. If one is able to know and master the top level of the pyramid, one can easily understand how to apply the remaining management tools by correctly using the data.

At the top of the pyramid of the management tools, we can have a common denominator that is knowledge of human emotion and reaction. Regardless of the type, size and industry of any company, the only thing that can motivate or inhibit any productivity or performance within or outside the company is human emotion and reaction.

It’s too simple to classify people with positive or negative emotions. In fact, there is an emotional tone scale that one can be as high as enthusiastic or as low as apathy. There’re also various emotional tone positions even in the negative emotional band. People react and behave differently on various emotional tone positions, and therefore require different methods of communication and handling. Once you have mastered it, the rest of the management tools can be integrated easily to give you better understanding and competence to fully implement all other management tools for better success of your company.

When the emotions in the workplace are more close to the “apathy band” or “subapathy band” chronically which are simply little bit above the “death band”, one will not be surprised to witness suicide in the workplace. People on this band care less even including pain and suffering.

I recommend you watch this business film DVD, “Emotions in the workplace” and it will help you understand the subject better with a lot of illustration. The below is a video clip for a preview.

You can now buy your own DVD copy directly in Hong Kong, with a booklet of "The Emotional Tone scale" included. Free postage is offered if shipped to Hong Kong.

In order to prevent from any more suicide in the workplace, what first the management should do is to survey the existing workforce to find out their emotional tone and then introduce effective measures and messages with correct tone that can help to improve the emotional band of the workplace to higher tone position rather than dragging them further into lower emotional tone band. Once the emotion tone of workplace is up and improved, it will guarantee higher production, morale and efficiency.

Now, based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, there are answers to these emotional tones. One can learn and master the answers for results. So know your people for the success of your company!

If you are interested in getting more information about emotions in the workplace or any in-house training or workshop on the subject, please email me.