Firm built by continuously buying a variety of firms and then amalgamating them inneffectively by the “throw the spaghetti against the wall technique.” The results of this are as follows:
1. “Lots of chiefs, fewer Indians”. Many, many layers of upper management, lie between staff and the CEO. Consequently, communication is lousy.
2. Despite all the upper management, few of the regular processes to run the business are in place and most of them are very poorly implemented. For example, no process is in place to upgrade software, to administratively allow different parts of the company to work on the same project, to allow folks in different business lines who do similar things to find out about each other, etc. It’s pathetic.
3. Decision-making is all centralized at the very upper levels. Middle managers have no control to make decisions on issues that affect their direct reports, their office, and their clients. Those decisions will be made by upper level managers hundreds of miles away who don’t know your business and won’t make an effort to find out. A classic example of this is our new office. AECOM moved us to a new office this year that is tiny, cramped, and noisy. Our office is filled with planners, not engineers. We need space to layout out figures and do hand drawn renditions, to meet collectively with other colleagues to collaborate on designs, and semi-private spaces so we can talk with clients on the phone or chat with them when they visit. Instead we have a small “library-like” office where you can’t even start a conversation as the noise immediately distracts everyone, there’s no layout space to work on drawings or meet clients, and everyone gets the joy of getting to listen to everyone else’s phone conversation.
4. Messages from corporate are incredibly insensitive – some say Dilbertesque. First there will be message announcing an upper level manager promotion for bringing in lots of business and doing great work, followed by a message from the CEO saying the company is doing great, followed by a message stating that several more staff were laid off today as the company is not doing well.
5. Staff are highly disengaged. They are expected to be highly billable, but are handed projects that have been grossly underbudgeted. Many find the only solution to keep their official billable hours up is to stay late nights and come in on weekends and work “off the clock” to get the project done within budget (ie don't log the many hours really spent). Additionally, they have no say in what happens, continual layoffs and voluntary departures have created a high rate of turnover and continual project chaos, and there is a stifling bureaucracy that forces one to do endless paperwork for even the simplest task.
