#management

With the high degree of managerial incompetence that is plaguing this company how does one mange to let himself be PIPed out ?
Proving that someone is incompetent and is not performing well requires some degree of technical sophistication that MOST of the managers we have are not capable of.
I have seen this a lot around here, oh they put me on a PIP. Technically it is very difficult to fake prove that someone is incompetent unless the person is indeed incompetent. The performance factor will always be arguable and no judge in this world will grant Cisco reasonable grounds for termination with the current workload level most of us have. Adding more to that to push you out is practically impossible. The current workload as is it is already border line, medically and from legal perspective.

So my opinion is that when I see that people are complaining about being PIPed out, is that they really needed to be

A round focused on middle management and across the organization.

Srini/CEO did imply things would settle down by March, 2026.

1 or 2 Managerial staff laid off recently on gaming side.

The strategy is simple, keep making $500 - $750 million a year profit. Make the employees and other assets sweat to enable the Execs to make millions and enjoy other perks. Employ weak Exec froends who are not capable, Come up with fantasy themes like Cloud Right, Technical Debt, AI, Rebranding, musical chairs to keep employees and investors on board. Rinse and repeat for years.

Anyone hear that senior managers are targeted for January? What orgs and what criteria?

My manager has put review comments I am not agreed upon. We had almost 2 hours discussion with no conclusions. What are my options?

Communication will come from CL 28+ functional management.

First batch of communications Jan 5, second batch Jan 7. Communications will continue in batches every Monday and Wednesday through January.

First couple weeks will be job offers, severances will come later in month.

The plan consists of moving managers to Atlanta; Mesa, AZ ; Orlando; Miami; Richardson; Texas and Oklahoma sites.

Long time lurker, first time posting. I know we're all recovering from the Nov cuts, but I’ve been bored and reading the actual filings for the Frontier deal, and something isn't adding up.

The Union Shield: I saw the draft decision from the California judge (CPUC) yesterday. It explicitly says Vz agreed to 'No Involuntary Layoffs' for California union folks for 4 years to get the deal passed.

The Money: If they need to cut $500M in 'synergies' but can't touch the fiber techs or union reps... doesn't that mean 100% of the cuts have to come from Management/Admin?

The Calendar: The DOJ deadline to close is Feb 13.
The Kicker: The Nov layoffs happened Nov 20. The 90-day WARN clock resets around Feb 19/20.

Am I crazy, or is the company legally set up to drop a massive VSP/RIF on management specifically in early March? It feels like they are waiting for the 90-day clock to clear so they can target the non-union side.

Anyone else hearing whispers about March?

Joined TR was promised growth opportunities. Came here and it’s nothing but chasing a carrot on a stick. Manager kept saying visibility etc but I felt like that was just an excuse to make me do more work. I have the work of a Lead but do not have the title or pay.

On top of this there is no internal mobility because guess what’s the cherry on top of the cake? They offshored 90 percent of jobs in my org for roles I’d consider because it’s cheaper! Thanks TR! Oh on top of this annual layoffs!

I was just wondering if it's common here. When someone puts in their notice at Ford, does management ever try to get them to stay with a better offer on the spot? I haven't seen it happen to anyone on my team, but I know some other companies do it. I'm just curious if it's even a thing they consider.

Oracle has effectively traded innovation for acquisitions, functioning more as an M&A machine than a tech pioneer. By buying products like WebLogic and Java instead of building them, the company has gutted its R&D and triggered a massive brain drain. Visionaries cash out, and top-tier engineers end up buried in a hierarchy where they’re forced to babysit legacy products in maintenance mode rather than building the future.

The culture is currently defined by stagnation. We need a "meritocracy or exit" pipeline where upward movement is the standard; if a leader or employee isn't consistently contributing or growing, they shouldn't be occupying a seat. Instead, we see stagnant management protected while high-level individual contributors (IC 3–5) are hit by layoffs. This transactional, "cog-in-the-machine" mindset has to go. The left over managers just search talent needle in haystack with hackathons.

Even OCI feels like a reactive attempt to copy AWS, backed by massive data center spending that lacks a clear, long-term strategy. To turn this around, Oracle needs a total leadership overhaul. We must purge the non-technical bureaucracy and "people managers" to make room for visionaries who are ready to challenge the status quo and actually build something new.

Lately, it seems that every project that goes off track is suddenly my fault. I was just following the plans and deadlines THEY approved. It’s frustrating to get a bad review for problems I clearly didn’t create. This pattern is getting really old, really fast.

Starbucks hired Laxman Narasimhan, a former McKinsey & Company senior partner, as CEO in 2023, but his tenure was marked by declining market value (around $30 billion lost) due to a perceived disconnect between strategic advising and operational execution, leading to his replacement by an "operator" from Chipotle, Brian Niccol, which immediately boosted the stock, highlighting a shift from pure strategy to hands-on management at the company.

Key Details:
The Hire: Narasimhan, with deep consulting and PepsiCo experience, was seen as bringing strategic discipline to Starbucks.

The Problem: His focus on efficiency and process, influenced by McKinsey frameworks, alienated customers and staff, leading to poor store experiences and falling sales, despite strategic logic.

The Pivot: In late 2024/early 2025, Starbucks replaced him with Brian Niccol (ex-Chipotle CEO), known for actual operational scaling.

The Result: Niccol's appointment reversed the stock decline, showing the market's preference for real-world operators over strategic advisors for hands-on retail challenges.

The Lesson: The situation became a case study on the difference between consulting/advising (strategy) and building/running (operations), with Starbucks learning that its brand needed experience, not just frameworks, according to various business commentators.

Starbucks didn’t fail in its execution.. it just forgot what it is selling.. is chevron heading down the same path?

I was am employee from VMware. After in BC, I find managers always fight with other manager.

They make every source code, KB and discuss meeting notes only available inside the group, ask engineer do not do any task comes from other manager, and even ask engineer do not help customer just because the team is busy on a new version release.

Today my manager ask me to fight with a team member, pushing them to do something.

How does this phenomenon occur?

It’s so frustrating when leadership throws our team under the bus. Our manager just nods along in meetings and never defends our work or pushes back on unrealistic demands. You start to wonder what the point of having a manager is if they won’t support you. It makes the whole team feel completely unprotected.

So managers in COR pressuring reps to do this, so if your a new single line customer:
$65.99 rate plan
$24. 00. Average equip installment
$10.00 next up added
$19.00 (Asurion) protection
$25.00 Home tech protection plan
So tell me what’s up??!!

Most Ford management and employees lack ingenuity.

The leaders tries to copy other automotive companies and fails miserably. Constantly ties ways to burn cash. Flip-flops without proper market research or vision.

Employees constantly blame the leaders for failure. Few with good ideas are shot down, so now they have low morale and lack motivation.

Some great talents are lost due to RTO and low performers are still around us because they can badge in every day.

Bill and his Board of Bandits continue to throw things against the wall hoping something will stick to get share price up.

If this town hall is representative of how the Mass Markets organization is run, it’s a real $hit $how over there.

There is a "rumor" that more of the upper management will be "departing" in the new year around February time frame. Cant say much else without compromising the source of the information but what I can say is that things are much worse then what is being shown. KKR has been aware of this and will now be more "involved" in the nearing future. Personally, I think the next 6-12 months will be turbulent but necessary but feel like many people are going to be effected.

I’m exhausted from hearing the same promises over and over again about backfilling positions that never actually get filled. We’re overloaded, the work keeps piling up, and every month we’re told help is coming, but it never does. Add in the empty promotion talk, and it’s getting harder to stay quiet.

What a joke of a management committee, board of directors and the government for letting a US company bring IOL (100 year old company) to the s**.

What happened to corporate separateness? Now TG and DW have plans to exploit Canadian molecules, hose the minority interest investors (upwards of $500M of value based on rough estimates) and set up a wholly owned shell Trading shop in Canada in 2026.

Again, is the IOL board of directors asleep? Critical jobs are being migrated south to Houston at a higher cost and at the same time decimating fundamental knowledge that’s required for any stand alone O&G company which is a huge risk. How about the provincial and federal governments? Canadian taxable income is about to be stripped for the US to benefit. At this rate, all weak leadership contributing to this mess should be managed out of India in the “Global Hub”based on the lack of long term value they bring to the company and how far they are from the real Canadian business.

@ the government and BoD - wake up and block this immoral trade shop from starting up and exploiting Canadian molecules at the expense of the independent shareholders. Audit the s*** out of any proposals being presented including risk to long term value to the company. The move of Calgary head office to Strathcona Refinery and lack of diligence assessing the econs and long term risk to the company due to losing its top talent was already a disgrace.

https://blogs.opentext.com/tis-the-season-to-simplify-work-5-ways-ai-helps-teams-wrap-up-the-year-smarter/

1. Give employees the gift of better focus

Perhaps the most meaningful impact of AI content management is how it changes the employee experience.

By automating repetitive work and simplifying content discovery, teams can focus on higher-value tasks, such as strategy, innovation, and customer experience. It’s a lasting gift: fewer silos, faster collaboration, and a renewed sense of control over information.

This is better than the jelly of the month club, since this is the gift that keeps giving forever, not just the whole year.

No

I thought on 3M's previous 5-point scale, 4's and 5's had a quota (you couldn't give more than they told you, basically some % of your headcount), and 1's and 2's were a corrective action tool (not mandated in a group).

Is there a forced quota on 1's and 2's with Solventum's new 5-point scale?

This 3M post sounds like managers have to hand out low ratings, and they also switched back to 5 points.
https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1kbec0e8c

Don’t teams need a minimum of six? On my site many are down to four and many of the ones that aren’t they are having managers plan to cut down to that. This is in research. When will managers get cut? Didn’t see any in last round get cut and none through PIP either

Dell’s recent brand unification—and the apparent reversal back to older brands next year—stands as a textbook example of how not to manage brand strategy.

Brand changes are expensive by design. They consume money, time, internal focus, and customer attention. When done right, that investment buys clarity, momentum, and long-term equity. When done poorly, it delivers the opposite: confusion, fatigue, and erosion of trust. Unfortunately, Dell’s approach seems to fall squarely into the latter category.

Unifying brands only to roll them back shortly after signals a lack of conviction and strategic coherence. Customers are left wondering what Dell actually stands for. Partners struggle to align messaging. Employees are forced to relearn narratives that may soon be discarded again. None of this creates value—it destroys it.

The most troubling part isn’t the wasted marketing spend or the operational churn. It’s what this reveals about leadership. Strong leadership makes hard decisions, commits to them, and sees them through with discipline. Weak leadership oscillates, reacts, and reverses course without fully absorbing the consequences.

Brand strategy isn’t a logo exercise. It’s a long-term promise to the market. Changing that promise repeatedly tells customers one thing very clearly: we’re not sure who we are.

In an era where trust, clarity, and consistency matter more than ever, this kind of back-and-forth is not just inefficient—it’s damaging. And the cost will be paid not in rebranding budgets, but in lost credibility

The Dell culture has taken a turn for the absolute worst. I’ve never seen anything like it. They allow complete disrespect go unanswered by HR. Breed a toxic and narcissistic management environment. Allow for people to just sh!t all over each other without consequence. Their management is ignorant, insulting and arrogant. I’m waiting for a meeting at some point to just break out into a brawl as people are getting to that point.

Why do we need Market Leaders? They ought to be referred to as Recruiter Specialists. They no longer have any significant role in managing a Market. Getting rid of Ops and CA’s is not helping the bottom line.

Well if you are in management now at Dell you are just a political pawn. They’ve totally incapacitated you to make decisions on your own and actually drive any innovation. If you can get out you should, I don’t know anyone who just likes to make PowerPoints, kiss a$$ and lay people off.

The real leadership in groups like ISG and CSG at least are the ICs who are at least able to operate independently. At this point though all Dell management has become is congress. They do nothing but talk about doing, don’t actually do and kiss the a$$ of the person above them. They have no original thoughts of their own and if they don’t comply they’re gone.

If you’re in management just get out of it. It’s pathetic and sad. You’re just a pawn.

After the last round of cuts, anyone who picks up all the extra slack is just setting themselves up for more trouble. I'm sticking strictly to my contracted hours and focusing on my core tasks. If our overall output drops, that's a direct reflection of the staffing decisions, not our effort. It's the only way management might actually see the problem they created.

Which one is more accurate?

There's a fresh wa-ker strutting into town, handed the keys to International on a silver platter like he's won the bloody lottery. And what does our heroic new overlord do? Bu---r all in the way of actually selling anything, of course.
Instead, the daft sod's obsessed with poring over every sodding line in the SFDC opportunity updates, picking at them with the sort of OCD paranoia that'd make a conspiracy theorist blush. Proper control-freak territory, innit?
To top it off, he's an arrogant bellend who's being an absolute cvnt to customers (never mind the poor sods who work for him). Charming bloke, clearly.
Mark my words, this pillock's going to hammer the final nail into Avaya International's coffin. Either he'll get the boot by the end of H1 for missing his numbers by a country mile, or he'll manage to torch half the business in the process.
Frankly, I'm not convinced PD or ML give a toss about International anymore if they're willing to serve it up to this manchild on a plate. What a shower of sh-t.

.......
OR
.......

Another absolute genius has been parachuted in to run International, handed the whole bloody kingdom like he’s the second coming of Steve Jobs. And what’s his masterstroke, you ask? Sweet fu-k all when it comes to actually shifting any product, naturally.
No, our fearless leader’s true calling is to hover over every single poxy line in the SFDC opportunity updates like a proper obsessive-compulsive hawk, nitpicking with the sort of deranged paranoia that’d make your average flat-earther look well-adjusted. Top-tier management material, clearly.
And the charm! Christ alive, the man’s an arrogant, swaggering bellend who treats customers like something he’s scraped off his shoe—and that’s on a good day. The staff? Mere peasants fit only for a daily bollocking.
Give it a few months and this utter we-pon will personally drive the final, glittering nail into Avaya International’s already knackered coffin with a flourish. Either he’ll get spectacularly sacked by the end of H1 for missing his numbers by a galactic margin (shocker), or he’ll somehow contrive to incinerate half the business before anyone notices. Either way, a triumph.
Honestly, if PD and ML are happy to lob the entire region to this tantrum-throwing manchild on a silver salver, it’s blindingly obvious they couldn’t give a flying toss about International anymore. What an absolutely magnificent shower of sh-t. Well played, everyone.

a company in healthier stage was valued less than a company with more than half of talent gone. To think that former WD management adds that much to the premium is something only seen by Wall Street - bulls create unthinkable scenarios

I've been here for years, and the last couple have been rough. I've had three different managers in a short time, and each one seems less prepared than the last. It really makes me question how they're choosing people for these positions now. The whole process seems very much broken.

They pushed all debt to 2029 push br all while paying themselves millions.They will start firing employees once investors start getting pissy but won't lower there salary. What happens when you hire a hillbilly CEO who sounds low IQ.

Be honest , how much say did you all have in the recent RIFs? Or did we really get selected by a program based on years worked and salary ? I say the managers had a say because my manager fired 3 black people. What are the odds ??

I see people relocated to berkley heights from all other states including countries, for what? for their stock value to drop over 70% , work in the noisy office 9 hours 3 days, and waste time, most of the products are legacy and need atleast 7 to 10 people to keep them running, no innovation, and they make it look as if they are one of those trillion $ companies like Faang or Nvidia, VP's and SVP's just satisying egos , giving 1- 2 % increments to people working 12 hours a day to keep the lights on, That is fiserv. product managers non stop talking from 8 to 8 with zero innovation, and knowledge , may be they wanna retire here doing mundane work.

I ended up being part of the November RIF at Optum, which actually worked out in my favor thanks to my team lead. I had already told my manager in September that I was planning to retire in October. She let me know about the upcoming layoffs and suggested rating me at the bottom of the team’s performance list—even though I always score highly—to ensure I got the severance package if selected. It was a risk, but it meant I was part of the RIF in November. Big thanks to Optum for essentially providing me with a six-month retirement bonus! Nice to see they are not verifing the information provided to them for RIF selection. Truely an indication of how good upper management is really doing.