This presentation focuses on the challenge of managing in a changing and increasingly competitive environment. Emphasis is placed on the importance of building a culture of affirmation, personal commitment, inner drive, and a winning spirit. Managers, supervisors, and staff members will be encouraged to examine the age old dilemma, "How can I develop and assist in the implementation of a safety and environmental health program that creates a culture in which expectations and performance are high, costs, absences, and turnovers are low, and safety is everyone's concern."
Our culture is instant oriented: "I want it now!" We have come to expect everything (excluding taxes) sooner rather than later. We live in a world of pre-cooked, pre-cut, pre-frozen consumer products. The shelves in the supermarket cry out to the impatient; one-minute Malox, minute rice, Minute Maid orange juice, minute steak, instant coffee, Jiffy Lube, and the One Minute Manager.
Is it possible in our quest for expediency that some managers, supervisors, or employees short circuit some of the critical elements to reach a speedy conclusion?
Building a corporate culture requires group consensus, research, preparation, and vision of the corporate mission. A corporate culture must have a sound foundation upon which the culture will stand.
Critical elements of a "total" safety and health program include but are not limited to policy development, accident/incident investigation, reporting procedures, safety manual, safety committees, education/training, and emergency and disaster planning.
Safety and health professionals should have an understanding of the history of the accident prevention movement, how theorems and early hypothesis have led to the current literature. History serves as a grim reminder of the early disasters that greatly influenced the safety movement.
Albert Wurts Whitney, famous for his writings on philosophy and his work with the National Safety Council, postulated: "The very most right thing about safety is that it leads to a more abundant life."
John Dewey, often referred to as the Father of Modern Education, is credited with saying, "We teach the whole child." It follows that management's philosophy should be to work with the whole employee, taking them where the are with their accumulated experiences, education, training and skills, and develop these by offering opportunities for growth and achievement.
It has been said that philosophy is the art and law of life, and it teaches us what to do in all cases, and like a good marksman, to hit the white at a distance.
