ACADEMIC QUACKS

BRYCE ON ACADEMIA

- "Theorists" versus "Practicals."

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I have met a lot of college professors in my lifetime, be it when I went to school, when I lectured on systems, or in various discussion groups on the Internet. From my perspective, they fit into two categories:

1. Practical people teaching proven concepts, as in engineering, chemistry, history, math, and English.

2. Theorists who invent a bunch of gobbledygook offering no practical use. I have found such people in sociology, political science, management, and very prevalent in information technology.

I have found the "Practicals" to be more interesting as they are more confident of their subject matter and are excited about communicating their body of knowledge to their students. To me, they are down to earth people who are practical in nature and willing to assist you any way possible. They are the type of people you would like to share a beer with and talk shop.

The "Theorists" are entirely different. Their world is based on observations and evidence, but no concrete proof, hence they lack the confidence of the "Practicals." Instead, their world revolves around argument, which can be quite loud and vehement at times. Their bravado in discourse is based on their lack of confidence. Some people refer to them as pseudo-intellectuals, others as academic quacks. It is like they have got a bolt lose somewhere but don't know how to tighten it. When I listen to them I get the uneasy feeling I should be holding my wallet. Rarely have I seen the "Theorists" produce anything practical for use, which is why many of them can best be described as "humbug."

I do not have a problem with professors teaching proven concepts; but I do have a problem when they try to disguise their ideas as gospel. In the process, they invent a junk vocabulary intended more to confuse you than to prove their point. They are also content doing small things in the hopes of it leading to something bigger. When I listen to the Theorists, I am somehow reminded of the expression, "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin." In other words, much ado about nothing.

It is one thing to theorize something, selling the concept to earn a livelihood is quite another. Most of the Theorists would likely starve without the backing of the college or university. As for me, I tend to believe in the old English proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention." It has been my experience the effective techniques used in management and information systems were derived from legitimate business needs. For example, our "PRIDE"-Information Systems Engineering Methodology (ISEM) was created to satisfy the need to build integrated enterprise-wide systems resulting from the "Management Information Systems" (MIS) movement of the 1960's.

There have been many other offerings developed over the years to expedite systems development, but we took a scientific approach to the problem and defined our terminology and principles. The fact it still works after +40 years means it has stood the test of time.

In the end, the real test of whether you perceive someone as a "Practical" or a "Theorist" is whether you would enjoy a beer with them or not. As for me, I have developed a taste for Stella Artois, but I'll drink just about anything ice cold.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

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Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

NEXT UP:  FALLING INTO A RUT - Getting out is a lot harder than getting in.

LAST TIME:  UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS PROCESS DESIGN - A primer; it's not what tools you use, but rather knowing what you are doing.

Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) "The Town Square" with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington "The Morning News" with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim's channel on YouTube.

UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS PROCESS DESIGN

BRYCE ON SYSTEMS

- A primer; it's not what tools you use, but rather knowing what you are doing.

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There are several interpretations of Business Process Design, which is concerned with devising a cost-effective approach for the various tasks to be performed in a business. Here is mine which has worked effectively for me for several years. It's not a matter of what tools I use, but rather understanding the principles behind the design process itself.

An inherent part of any Information System is the business processes (or as we originally referred to them as "sub-systems"). An Information System consists of two or more of these business processes representing how information is used to support the actions and decisions of a business, be it a commercial enterprise or a not-for-profit institution, such as a government agency. Actually, an information system is a grouping of processes dedicated to a specific purpose, such as to serve the needs of Accounting, Payroll, Manufacturing, Order Processing, Customer Service, etc. These processes are first defined logically as to who they serve, the information requirements they support (thereby defining the purpose of the process), its timing (how often it occurs, when it starts, and the amount of time necessary to complete the task), and the inputs, outputs and logical files associated with each. This simply represents "what" must occur and "when," representing a relatively stable logical model (it will only change if the information requirements change). Consider Payroll for example, something we have been processing in different physical forms for many years, yet the logical model is stable; to illustrate: Employee setup or termination, Reporting of Hours worked (reported either on a daily, weekly or monthly basis), Employee Payment, Government Reporting, etc. These processes do not change as much as you may think. However, the physical implementation of each process does. For example, Payroll used to be implemented manually using ledgers and spreadsheets; then computerized versions implemented the processes on mainframes, minis, and personal computers; and now we hear of "cloud" implementations. Yet, the basic logical processes remain the same.

So, when we discuss "business process design," we are actually discussing its physical implementation. The logical design of the sub-system, of course, should be considered a precursor. Assuming it is in place, the challenge is two-fold: to physically define both the work flow and data flow. In terms of the work flow, the intent is to procedurally define how the business process will be executed from start to end, and by whom. Here, there are three types of procedures used: Administrative (to reflect manual processing), Computer (to represent programming), and Office Automation ("OA"; to represent the use of certain office equipment, such as optical or audio scanning, fax, key entry, etc.). Within a business process, there must be one or more Administrative of OA procedures, and one or no computer procedures (in other words, a manually implemented business process). The basic processing constructs in the work flow are Sequence (linear), Iteration (repetition), and Choice (selection). These can be combined in a single business process as required.

Data Flow is defined through the various inputs, outputs, and physical files used in the process, each includes records. In terms of inputs, records represent transactions, referring to some sort of action or event, such as a purchase, a return, a back-order, a debit or a credit, etc. Most of what we do in business is process transactions, be it a query, or to update files. This means there are three fundamental actions performed: Create (C), Update (U), and Reference (R). Some would argue there is also a "Delete" to be considered, but this is the opposite function of a "Create." In programming parlance, a "Reference" is considered a "Read," and an "Update," is a "Read/Write."

One of the fundamental considerations for both work flow and data flow is timing, which should be defined for the overall sub-system in terms of "Frequency" (how often the business process is executed, such as "Twelve Times a Day," "Once a Month," or "Upon Request" (whenever desired)). "Offset" represents when the process is to start, such as at the end of the month, first day of the week, etc. As an aside, there is no "Offset" when the "Frequency" is "Upon Request." Finally, "Response Time," represents the total amount of time allowed to execute the business process; for example, ten seconds, one day, etc.

These timing nuances will ultimately influence the processing of transactions. To illustrate, if the "Frequency" is once a month, beginning on the last day of the month, with an hour or more "Response Time," this will likely result in a "Batch" process which is still actively used today. However, a Frequency of "Upon Request" with a five second response time will likely result in an "Interactive" process, where transactions are processed one at a time.

As an aside, when we consider the performance of a business process, we are basically measuring time versus transactions. If the transactions cannot be processed in the allowed time, perhaps it is necessary to devise a new physical implementation.

Through these rules, the Analyst defines the physical implementation of the business process from start-to-end. This can be depicted using common flowcharts drawn from left-to-right, or top-down.

After the business process has been designed, now is the time to write its testing criteria. This will be used after the Administrative and OA procedures have been detailed in terms of steps in execution, and the software engineering for the computer procedure has been written and tested. This ultimately represents a "string" test whereby the whole business process is tested from start-to-end. In addition to basic testing procedures, the criteria should also specify default values for data to assume, invalid values, and the conditions for resulting error/warning/information messages.

Bottom-line, the Analyst's objective in business process design is to devise the most cost effective physical solution to satisfy the logical specifications of the overall sub-system.

Business process design is less about knowing what tools to use to physically design the process, but rather having the analyst know more about the logical specifications and the mechanics of design (the methodology). To me, I look upon such work as more of a science as opposed to an art form. You can only treat it as a science if you are willing to define your terms and principles. When this is done, you can go even further by automating the design process, not just by pretty pictures, but by automatically deducing the design based on specifications (aka, "inference").

Related articles:

Process Templates - Apr 06, 2015
It's All About Transactions - Oct 21, 2013
Logical Systems - June 16, 2014

"PRIDE" Methodologies for IRM

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

NEXT UP:  ACADEMIC QUACKS - "Theorists" versus "Practicals."

LAST TIME:  THE COUPON SHELL GAME - A clever way to conceal inflated prices.

Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) "The Town Square" with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington "The Morning News" with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim's channel on YouTube.

THE COUPON SHELL GAME

BRYCE ON ECONOMICS

- A clever way to conceal inflated prices.

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Our weak economy is cause for concern for just about everyone. It is difficult to avoid the subject in either personal or professional settings. We're all looking for creative ways to survive in these difficult times.

Recently I was talking to a merchant in my area who complained how the vendors who serviced his store were slowly and quietly raising their prices as if nobody was paying attention. My friend certainly was. When he confronted them about their escalating prices, they all claimed they had to do something to offset the customers they had been losing recently. In other words, they were making the merchant pay for their problems. For my Liberal friends, this is what is commonly called "Inflation."

Nonetheless, my friend agonized what to do. He had cut costs as much as possible, tried different types of advertising, experimented with changes to his product line, etc. Regardless what he tried though, he still suffered from fewer patrons visiting his shop. Desperate for ideas, he came up with an idea that went against conventional wisdom, he raised his prices. Actually, he devised a rather slick idea whereby he doubled his prices but introduced a coupon program whereby customers could save 25% if they redeemed the coupon within a certain number of days. This worked remarkably well. More and more customers started to frequent his store thinking they were going to save a lot of money. The reality though was they were actually paying 75% more than before.

This hunger by the consumer to "save" money worked so well, my friend couldn't print coupons fast enough. After awhile, he didn't even have to print his coupons in the newspaper as word quickly spread customers could pick them up in the store. Then, my friend had a stroke of genius, he arranged a 50% sale on Mondays which were normally his slowest day. This resulted in a tsunami of customers flooding his store causing him to hire some additional help.

As a postscript, I visited my friend not long ago. He claims his store is doing fine now and is able to laugh about it. To hear him tell it, coupons are nothing more than a clever shell game to conceal inflated prices and driven by consumer greed. You know what the scary part is? It works.

Originally published: October 7, 2010

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

NEXT UP:  UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS PROCESS DESIGN - A primer; it's not what tools you use, but rather knowing what you are doing.

LAST TIME:  RASMUSSEN: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TOO BIG - 60% of Americans think their government is too big.

Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) "The Town Square" with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington "The Morning News" with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim's channel on YouTube.

RASMUSSEN: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TOO BIG

BRYCE ON POLITICS

- 60% of Americans think their government is too big.

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I have been a follower of the Rasmussen Reports for quite some time. In particular, I study their "Right Direction or Wrong Track" poll which reflects how Americans perceive the direction of the country. According to Rasmussen, Americans believe we have been heading in the wrong direction since 2009.

Echoing this sentiment, Rasmussen recently produced another poll, "What America Thinks: Back Off, Feds!" (Sep 29, 2015) whereby they reported, "Most Americans feel the federal government plays too big a role in their lives and think, generally speaking, that there is too much government power and too little individual freedom."

According to the study:

60% - thought the government was Too Big
08% - Too small
22% - About Right

Due to its size, the study showed, "Just 19% of voters trust the government to do the right thing all or most of the time."

This analysis of the size of the government will be greeted as both good and bad news by people in this country. It will be welcomed by those who believe the American people are not smart enough to do what is best and require a massive government to regulate the populace. Those who support a larger government are likely to believe the government should take care of them, just as in a slave state. Fortunately, most Americans see the federal government as too intrusive in their lives and a genuine threat to fundamental liberty.

The fact we believe the federal bureaucracy has gotten too big, means we no longer think it can function productively to serve the citizens of this country, hence the 19% confidence vote as expressed by Rasmussen. Here's the catch though, if we honestly believe the government is too big, why would we balk at cutting the federal budget to shrink it? The reality is, we still want most of the services and entitlements the federal government provides. Until such time as we get serious about cutting the budget, nothing will change and the government will remain massive. Then again, this may be the dependency our Congress and Executive branch want to preserve.

Back in the 1990’s Jack Welch embarked on a program to flatten corporate behemoth General Electric to rid the company of waste and get it to operate on a leaner and more productive level. This was done, in part, by slashing budgets, thereby forcing managers to make hard decisions as to what work and personnel were essential, and which were not. One by one he patiently waded through the many divisions of G.E. and flattened them down to size thereby earning him the nickname "Neutron Jack."

Interestingly, Rasmussen concluded in their study, "Americans don't believe the federal government of today is at all what the Founding Fathers had in mind." No kidding!

I prefer President Calvin Coolidge's interpretation of government when he said:

"I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom.

Until we can reestablish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very severe and distinct curtailment of our liberty."

Related articles:

Is America Too Big to Succeed? - Sep 02, 2015
Enterprise Engineering the Federal Government - Apr 27, 2011
Flattening Government - Jan 05, 2011

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

NEXT UP:  THE COUPON SHELL GAME - A clever way to conceal inflated prices.

LAST TIME:  THE PERILS OF NOT KNOWING YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES  - "Nobody is driving officer, we're all in the back seat."

Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) "The Town Square" with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington "The Morning News" with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim's channel on YouTube.

THE PERILS OF NOT KNOWING YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

BRYCE ON MANAGEMENT

- "Nobody is driving officer, we're all in the back seat."

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I recently read an interesting survey made by the Gallup organization titled, "Obsolete Annual Reviews: Gallup's Advice" (Sep 28, 2015), which studied how cognizant workers are of their assigned duties and responsibilities. Interestingly, they found only 50% really understood this. The rest only had a mild interpretation or no idea at all. Gallup's study was based on 50 organizations and 2.2 million employees. In addition to employees, managers also were not sure of their worker's duties. This may help explain why companies are lagging in productivity. The Gallup report contends productivity gains of 5% to 10% can be realized simply by having workers understand their roles.

In addition to the fundamental duties and responsibilities of an employee, it is not uncommon for workers to misunderstand their various project assignments. Consequently time and money is lost as employees try to delineate their responsibilities, including their relationship with co-workers.

In this day and age, it is hard to imagine a company without such things as organization charts, job descriptions, and employee handbooks (aka, Policy Manuals), but evidently there are still companies not using this documentation. There are also those institutions who develop job descriptions so generically, employees are at a complete loss as to what they mean. Employee performance reviews should also be performed regularly, be it annually, bi-annually, or whatever. This allows the manager and the employee to review the worker's performance, clarify their responsibilities, and make corrections as required. Finally, priority lists are useful for communicating to workers the precedent of job assignments thereby encouraging workers to row on the same oar.

It is not unusual for some companies, who make use of such documents, often find employees ignore them, as they do not want to feel encumbered or restrained, preferring instead to be unfettered and uninhibited. Of course, this is a reckless form of management and does not promote teamwork where everyone knows what their responsibilities are and how to work together.

Aside from these regular documents, it is also wise to define the methodologies of the business, representing the work breakdown structures and sequencing of work. Perhaps the best known methodology is the Assembly Line whereby products are mass produced by assembling components in a specific sequence. There is little point in having an assembly line if the workers do not understand what their duties and responsibilities are on the line; it will simply be counterproductive. Instead, each person in a methodology should know "Who," is to perform "What" task, "When," "Where," "Why," and "How" (aka, the "5-W's + H"). In addition to specifying how work is to be performed, thereby improving productivity, defined methodologies are useful for improving the quality of products by specifying the acceptance criteria for each stage within the assembly. Methodologies overcome the classic problem of, "If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there." They define assignments, responsibilities, and provides direction for projects.

The Gallup study is startling, and hints at a basic management flaw in business. I see these forms of documentation as fundamental to the running of any business. As the study suggests, people want to know their duties and responsibilities, feeling insecure without such knowledge. As I have touted on more than one occasion, workers want to lead a worthy life, they want to believe what they are doing has purpose and meaning. This can only be achieved by communicating what is expected of them. Without it, they will flail away on project assignments, inevitably performing the wrong tasks and producing the wrong work products. They may be efficient workers, but if they are performing the wrong tasks in the wrong sequence, they will be counterproductive.

I am certainly not a proponent of Theory X "micromanagement," however, the manager's mantra should be "never let it be said, a worker doesn't understand his/her responsibilities." It should be considered an inherent part of any management program.

The point of the Gallup survey should be obvious: "Shapeth up, and geteth thine act together."

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

NEXT UP:  RASMUSSEN: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TOO BIG - 60% of Americans think their government is too big.

LAST TIME:  PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH - Or Press 0 to speak with an agent.

Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) "The Town Square" with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington "The Morning News" with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim's channel on YouTube.

PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH

BRYCE ON LIFE

- Or Press 0 to speak with an agent.

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Welcome to (any company using voice mail). Your call is very important to us. Listen to your options carefully:

PRESS 1 - for English.

PRESS 2 - por Espanol.

PRESS 3 - for any other language except French, Greek, Dutch, Italian, German, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, and Ebonics.

PRESS 4 - if you detest Voice Mail.

Thank you. While we're processing your request we'll now play some incredibly boring music repetitively that has been proven to drive away most adults.

PRESS 1 - if you are a glutton for punishment and want to continue waiting.

PRESS 2 - if you would like to call back and be bored to death another time.

PRESS 3 - if you would like to change language options.

PRESS 4 - if you detest Voice Mail.

Please note, for Quality Assurance purposes some of our calls may be monitored. In reality though, we couldn't care less.

PRESS 1 - to enter your nine digit social security number.

PRESS 2 - to enter your account number which we will lose after you have entered it.

PRESS 3 - to enter the winning Lotto number for tonight's drawing.

PRESS 4 - to enter the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.

For a Customer Service agent:

PRESS 1 - to speak to "Bob" in India.

PRESS 2 - to speak to "Bob" in Baghdad.

PRESS 3 - to speak to "Bob" in Pakistan.

PRESS 4 - to speak to "Bob" in the United States. Sorry, just kidding.

Thank you for your patience. All of our agents are currently busy with other customers at this time. Please stay on the line and the next available agent will take your call in the order it was received, which happens to be backwards. While you're waiting, take your telephone outside to your front yard, jump up and down, wave your arms madly, and scream like a chicken as it will be a better use of your time than waiting for us to do anything on the phone.

Originally published: October 1, 2010

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

NEXT UP:  THE PERILS OF NOT KNOWING YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES - "Nobody is driving officer, we're all in the back seat."

LAST TIME:  MORALE IN THE MILITARY - Lowest since the Carter Administration.

Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) "The Town Square" with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington "The Morning News" with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim's channel on YouTube.

MORALE IN THE MILITARY

BRYCE ON THE MILITARY

- Lowest since the Carter Administration.

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I happened to have lunch recently with a friend in the military, a captain in the Air Force. In the course of our conversation, he complained about the state of morale in the military. A few days later I happened to talk with another military friend, a captain in the Army, who also spoke of the growing morale problems in his branch of the military. The similarities of their separate remarks surprised me.

As captains, I look upon them as "middle management" in the military, charged with instructing their men under orders from their superiors. Remarkably, both painted a dismal picture, not at all what the general public perceives as the state of our military. What I heard was a dog-eat-dog world where there is little teamwork or cooperation, a cover-your-ass mentality, and people bailing out of the service as opposed to making it a career. They described a very bureaucratic world with an inordinate amount of paperwork impeding progress. There is also a lack of leadership, and you are discouraged from taking charge. In other words, there is no longer a culture of "improvise, adapt and overcome" as characterized by the Marines. Instead, it appears the military is suffering with a bad case of "Theory X," a top-down autocratic form of management best characterized by the expression "micromanagement."

I was also told the millennials coming into the service are "soft" as they feel entitled to promotions without having to earn it. This is alarming to people just ten years their senior.

After speaking with the captains, I was reminded of the military culture under President Jimmy Carter, which was perhaps one of our lowest points in recent memory. This all changed for the better when President Ronald Reagan became Commander-in-Chief.

Following these discussions, I decided to do a little investigation to see if these were legitimate grievances. It didn't take me long to validate their stories. This past December, the "Military Times" ran a story titled, "America's Military: A force adrift" which described a worsening morale crisis. The Times surveyed 2,300 active-duty troops and from this, "found morale indicators on the decline in nearly every aspect of military life. Troops report significantly lower overall job satisfaction, diminished respect for their superiors, and a declining interest in re-enlistment now compared to just five years ago. Today's service members say they feel underpaid, under-equipped and under-appreciated, the survey data showed."

The survey goes on to report, "active-duty troops reported a stunning drop in how they rated their overall quality of life: Just 56 percent call it good or excellent, down from 91 percent in 2009" (at the start of President Obama's administration).

All of this follows years of deep cuts in the military and tens of thousands of troops pink slipped. Unfortunately, most soldiers do not see the military getting better any time soon, hence the growing disenchantment. From this perspective, the parallel to the Carter years is uncanny. What is most troubling is the American public has no idea of the problem and prefer to think everything is rosie in the military. The truth is, it is not. It should make us all wonder what kind of leadership we'll have in our next armed conflict, and if anyone will follow.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Copyright © 2015 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

NEXT UP:  PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH - Or Press 0 to speak with an agent.

LAST TIME:  HOW THE PRESS CONTROLS POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS - "The judge, jury and executioner of American politics."

Listen to Tim on WJTN-AM (News Talk 1240) "The Town Square" with host John Siggins (Mon, Wed, Fri, 12:30-3:00pm Eastern); WZIG-FM (104.1) in Palm Harbor,FL; and KIT-AM 1280 in Yakima, Washington "The Morning News" with hosts Dave Ettl & Lance Tormey (weekdays. 6:00-9:00am Pacific). Or tune-in to Tim's channel on YouTube.