Since the year 2000, we have either been mesmerized, entertained, or in my case, irritated by a TV program called “Survivor.” Contestants on this show are isolated in the wilderness and compete against each other for cash and other prizes. The program utilizes a progressive elimination gimmick, allowing the contestants to vote off a member until only one contestant remains and is thus crowned the sole survivor.

Some of the places where brave contestants vie to be the survivor are Fiji, Borneo, and Guatemala. It becomes a war of wills and strength, as some contestants are granted immunity for winning an event while others are jettisoned from the island by a vote of their peers. If this sounds a bit like the current workplace in our nation, welcome to “Survivor: The American Workplace.”

In our new workplace environment, people are “voted off” the payroll every week because of declining sales, relocation to cheaper producing nations, or an incompetent management team. With a 12-percent unemployment rate here in Michigan, the outlook continues to be grim for survival. Unabashedly, I attribute most of the problems to management—a senior management team without a clear understanding of the market, a team steeped in old habits without the ability to change, and a team that is more concerned about protecting themselves than looking out for their staff.

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