The yin/yang of management

American management is being turned upside down. The corporate ladder now starts at the top and goes to the bottom of the inverted corporate pyramid. Workers are now supported by management, and, in the language of customers and suppliers, the employees are the customers of the CEO. Workers are exhorted to focus on process over outcome, and teamwork has replaced work by goal-oriented individuals. Central offices are giving up control, pushing decision making closer to workers involved in processes. This shift in management philosophy has been provoked and maintained by western reaction to Japanese success at adopting and adapting the principles of management introduced by Americans in the 1920s.