Planned Obsolescence: the process of a product becoming obsolete and/or non-functional after a certain period or amount of use in a way that is planned or designed by the manufacturer.

This is the classic definition of planned obsolescence. Based on products. A couple of months ago, I realized how true planned obsolescence is when we relate it to people/employees.

Take CEOs for example. They have become specialists in what they do. After a number of years, they are replaced. They are replaced by some young person that just graduated from school.

Also, lets consider the manager of a business. They put so many years into their employer’s business. They become the face of the business. Then out of the blue, we have new workers that come in and “does” the job of the manager. It’s part of the new training program for new hires. Why doesn’t the current manager get filled in on this “training program”? This training program is designed to make all new staff members cross-functional. Eventually that manager is replaced because he/she specialized in being the manager, while the new people are well rounded and can do the job of the manager in the process. The end goal of all of this is to eventually end up with a manager is that also as cross-functional as the other staff members. Was the manager of the past bad??? No. It’s just that these new guys can do more and we can pay them less.

Should we blame employers for doing this??? Yes and no. Although this training program is required for the new staff, there is nothing stopping the older staff members from taking part in the training as well. We could equally blame ourselves for being resistant to the changes in our environment.

I do understand the employer’s perspective. With everyone being cross-functional, processes run smoother. It is easier to replace or cover for other employees if needed. Here is the problem I see with having a fully cross-functional staff. POWER STRUGGLE!!! We are going to have staff members butt heads because each person is under the impression that their way is best. Why even have a team if everyone thinks that their own decisions are best? I thought the idea of a team is to come up with the best decisions. Because of this imbalance in power, we get staff members that bicker or are already bickering at each other. And that’s a disservice to everyone, your co-workers, employer, and customers.

I’m not here to bash on having a staff that is cross-functional. It’s fine in moderation. We need specialists because of what they do. Cross-functionality is like knowing the highlights of the highlights of a job. In essence, cross-functional employees are going through the motions of the specialists. The task at hand is different through the eyes of a specialist. It takes a true specialist to solve problems between these cross-functional guys that think they are the shit.

I’m surprised that in all of my years of college no professor has taught me this. I found this out on my own through patterns that I noticed with my friends’ jobs, my own, and jobs that my family members have. Another place that I owe credit to for coming up with my theory is Professor Walton and Professor Reade. These professors never taught any of this to me, but they gave me the knowledge I needed to piece this together.

For all of you that can relate to my little theory, feel free to send me an email. And for those of you that disagree, you are also welcome to send me an email. I want to know all sides of the story. Issues like these can’t be learned directly from a classroom. Experience teaches more. Or, I’m pretty sure everyone is familiar with this quote, “There is no knowledge that is not power.”