News - Report suggests Hewlett-Packard is "planning to split into two"

[HEXUS]

HP looks set to separate PC and printer business from enterprise computing.

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[Brewster0101]

Shame HP laid of tens of thousands of people just the keep the share price higher.....

With that kind of ethics they don't deserve to do well.

[GuidoLS]

They have another 55k employees slated for the chopping block... glad I don't use their products, so one less item to worry about boycotting.

[crossy]

Shame HP laid of tens of thousands of people just the keep the share price higher.....
With that kind of ethics they don't deserve to do well.

If it was a share price booster then it didn't work very well, and the official reason was that there was a lot of "surplus" available. The continual job losses are 'wonderful' for morale though.

They have another 55k employees slated for the chopping block... glad I don't use their products, so one less item to worry about boycotting.

I don't understand what you're getting at here.

If you check out the Forbes coverage you'll see that they're saying that HP is merely following that other behemoth - IBM - in the diversify and divest strategy. Forbes also said that there were major job losses expect, yet followed that up by pointing that "back room" setups will have to be duplicated in the two separate companies. So are they saying that HP A/B will be firing engineers and technicians only to replace them with administrators? If so, then that sounds like a real smart move! (sarcasm)

The HP public statement though was that the streamlining of the business was done expressly to setup for this split.

[DevDrake]

Shame HP laid of tens of thousands of people just the keep the share price higher.....

With that kind of ethics they don't deserve to do well.

Well said.

Last years it was proven that they corrupted few governments just to sell their stuff.

This company seems to have no ethics from the roots.

[crossy]

Well said.
Last years it was proven that they corrupted few governments just to sell their stuff.
This company seems to have no ethics from the roots.

That last bit is just a pile of total manure, and I actually find what you're saying personally offensive*.

I remember those charges you're referring to, and even the prosecutors concerned said that it was the actions of a few individuals who were more concerned about their sales-related bonuses than adhering to the ethical standards. HP as a company got slapped with fines because of the "corporate responsibility" aspect, that the managers of those ... "people" ... should have been more aware of what they were up to. Which I can kind of see the point of, and agree.

I could be wrong, but I also seem to remember that the offenses also happened during the tenure of Mark Hurd. In which case I can see where the pressure for "sell at any cost" was coming from (I could talk about MH, but I'd get banned for bad language). That said, I would have had no issue with the offending folks getting serious jail time - preferably not in a US "country club" style open prison. Federal crime needs Federal time!

Leo Apotheker might have been a loon in other respects, but he definitely "upped the game" with regards to enforcement of ethical standards. Current management have continued that trend, putting ethical business practice front and centre. I could give examples, but I really don't want to bore you.

(* HP pays my bills, but anything I'm posting on Hexus is purely my personal opinion)

[DevDrake]

crossy.


Your response did not bore me, you seems to be much more knowledgeable about the HP company than me. It was quiet interesting lecture. My statement however remains because:

I dont think i am offensive, all i said is true and what you said is in sync with that - MH was their root right ?

Its obvious that after they were cough they started to care about the ethics - they have no other choice if they want to continue the business.

The funny thing is that they corrupted European countries and paid the damages to USA government. The contracts are still running in those countries...

Next thing is allowing individuals like "that" to have power, means that the company dont know or dont want to know. Both means that company has an issue.

The last i wanted to mention is that i wrote "seems" because this is what appearance they give to me - other companies are not doing that, so why i should think good of them? They did bad in the past, why i should think that next gray move is not black?


Summing up:
It is always better to not lose the "face" than lose it and rebuild with good. Stink stays.

[crossy]

Your response did not bore me, you seems to be much more knowledgeable about the HP company than me. It was quiet interesting lecture. My statement however remains because:
I dont think i am offensive, all i said is true and what you said is in sync with that - MH was their root right ?
Its obvious that after they were cough they started to care about the ethics - they have no other choice if they want to continue the business.
The funny thing is that they corrupted European countries and paid the damages to USA government. The contracts are still running in those countries...
Next thing is allowing individuals like "that" to have power, means that the company dont know or dont want to know. Both means that company has an issue.
The last i wanted to mention is that i wrote "seems" because this is what appearance they give to me - other companies are not doing that, so why i should think good of them? They did bad in the past, why i should think that next gray move is not black?

You said that "the company has no ethics from its roots" - i.e. the entire company from the lowest level is corrupt. Given that I am at a low level (I'm not a manager) then you're effectively saying that me and my colleagues have no/poor business ethics. This is untrue and the cause of my "personally offensive" comment.

Mark Hurd (pauses to spit) was replaced because he was caught making false expenses claims - one of which is more than I earn in a year! Hurd was replaced by Leo Apotheker (from SAP) who made it very plain that he wanted to "clean up" the company - removing those "bad apples" from the Hurd days. Unfortunately he then had to leave, mainly because he'd misunderstood the business, but also because of a fairly major scandal at SAP which happened on "his watch" (i.e. when he was in charge), although there was never any proof that he knew about it. Meg Whitman (the current CEO) was drafted in to replace Leo, and she continued his "rehabilitations", further strengthening the controls he put in place.

The "European countries" that you refer to was Russia, and I think Poland. And the FBI/SEC investigation proved that (a) it was a few highly placed "sales executive" who offered bribes and (b) a few highly placed civil servants in those countries who took the bribes. This is a violation of local laws (although in the case of Russia I'm assuming this) and definitely a major violation of the US "FCPA" act. The FCPA violation mandates some punishment - and in this case the DoJ negotiated a hefty fine. I also believe that HP "fully cooperated" with EU and US investigations and offered all/any supporting documentation.

I know these things because everyone in the company was told about this, and the determination of the management that such "shameful and unHP-like behaviour" should never happen again.

In my bit of HP, ethical behaviour is at the heart of what we do - sorry if that sounds like a management line:
1. Every year, everyone is required to undergo a 45-60 minute ethics and business conduct training course. This is marked/assessed and if you "fail" then your manager is notified, plus as I said the course is mandatory for HP employees (and I think some third parties too), so if you try to dodge it then you're out of luck;
2. HP has a dedicated "ethics compliance" team. If you spot unethical behaviour you are strongly encouraged to report it, and it's in everyone's terms and conditions that if you do so "in good faith" and it turns out to be a false report then no action will be taken against you. Any investigation that the compliance team undertakes is reported to the HP board - so you have interest from the highest level in the company;
3. There are regular bulletins and videocasts on correct business behaviours - at least one a week.
4. Staff reports have a section that has to be filled in (by at least three other people in addition to your line manager) that describes your adherence to ethics and fair treatment. So your colleagues and customers get to comment on your ethics

Summing up:
It is always better to not lose the "face" than lose it and rebuild with good. Stink stays.

Now here, I'm going to agree with you 100%. It's even more galling that the actions of a few greedy yahoo's has besmirched the reputation of an entire company. Personally, it got me so angry that I would have quite happily voted to have the offenders publicly flogged. Heck, I'd have even been happy to do some of the whip work myself! Unfortunately Mark Hurd's "win at all costs" mentality was eagerly adopted by some, which invariably leads to this kind of shocking behaviour. I would love to express my true feelings about Mr Hurd - both as a "leader" and human being - but unfortunately doing so would definitely get me a permanent ban from Hexus, so I'll content myself with firing up a video game and using that to express my opinions of that individual.

Alas, there's also other companies who follow that "win whatever" method.

[DevDrake]

crossy

In my understanding the root is the CEO in company - you are the leaf.
Why? root is one, leaf are many. Leaf inherits from from roots.
I think your logic is blinded by your company in this topic.

[DevDrake]

crossy

In my understanding the root is the CEO in company - you are the leaf.
Why? root is one, leaf are many. Leaf inherits from from roots.
I think your logic is blinded by your company in this topic.

And just before you take it to as an offend - what i meant here is that the topic is close to you, so i have strong feeling that you take it to yourself. (the words were not the best here)
I dont have any point in offending you, i wish you best.

[crossy]

In my understanding the root is the CEO in company - you are the leaf.
Why? root is one, leaf are many. Leaf inherits from from roots.
I think your logic is blinded by your company in this topic.

Ah right - the light dawns. I was following the more usual meaning, that the workers are the roots - because there are a lot of them; they're low down; and they're usually kept in the dark! I must admit to much preferring your take on this!

And just before you take it to as an offend - what i meant here is that the topic is close to you, so i have strong feeling that you take it to yourself. (the words were not the best here)
I dont have any point in offending you, i wish you best.

The misunderstanding above is to blame. And to be honest I've no great affection for HP - I didn't join them, they took over a company that had bought the company I was working for. In terms of ethics though I still maintain that current HP is no worse than any similar company - e.g. IBM. Although - as you say - they have a past that is best forgotten.

And if we want to compare notes on where they (HP) fall short on product design then I've got a few ideas:
o Horrible Windows printer drivers;
o Far too much bloat on their laptops/desktops;
o Tablets that launch and then don't get updated ever again;
o No printer models that can print to CD's (I've had to hold onto an old Canon for that job);

Thanks for the best wishes, so polite. And of course I wish you the same good fortune!