Great post. I'd like to add a couple of observations from my experiences in like circumstances: Management, lacking vision as you alluded to, will tend to blame employees for the problems even if the blame doesn't rightfully rest on the employees shoulders. Then you get a situation that can best be described as 'the beatings will continue until morale improves'. It becomes a self reinforcing cycle....employees are making less money and are being driven harder and harder, so they are pissed off. They'll try to stick it to the company any chance they get, when no one is looking. Management isn't getting the results they want, so they are pissed off. Eventually, it becomes obvious that there are too many employees in management. That's when things really fall apart. Management will then go to work, individually, doing anything and everything they can to justify their existence. They'll write policy and process on top of policy and process, most of it counterproductive, and (if they manage to stick around long enough) eventually it ends up bordering on the laughably insane. The individual with true business acumen tends to get fired or rendered the pariah in this situation, that's the sad part. As Glass said, no one wants to do what is necessary (especially if puts their job at risk). dys