The Best Orchestras To Work For

Adaptistration People 039

I’d like to tell you which orchestras are the best groups for managers and musicians to work for. I’d like to tell you all about benchmarks for orchestral employee satisfaction. I’d like to tell you which orchestras experience the highest levels of employee loyalty and commitment. I’d like to tell you which orchestras have the highest levels of management-musician trust. Unfortunately, none of that is possible and we can’t expect anything …

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So Many Comments About Detroit

I know, I know, I keep promising my big post but something keeps popping up that catches my interest that I want to post about first. Perhaps it’s some new form of Blogging Adult ADD (BAADD?). Regardless, the first item I want to point out are a pair of articles over at Sticks and Drones from conductor Bill Eddins who has a lot to say about the situation…

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Looking Beyond The Numbers In Detroit

The 9/19/2010 edition of The Detroit Free Press published an article by Mark Stryker that dives into the non-monetary issues Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) labor dispute. It is good to see an article of this length focus on work rule oriented items, doubly so given the depth and magnitude of the changes being proposed…

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Catastrophic Tunnel Vision

Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the byproducts from the ongoing Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) labor dispute is discussions about the connection between artistic excellence and compensation. After all, that issue seems to be at the heart of the PR oriented end of the DSO’s struggle: musicians claim artistic levels will crumble in the absence of certain compensation levels and management claims all will be fine. Unfortunately, the entire argument (in and out of Detroit) suffers from catastrophic tunnel vision…

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People Are Attracted To Winners

That’s precisely what I told Jeff Karoub from the Associated Press yesterday when we were talking about the differences between for profit and nonprofit business strategies for dealing with a tough economy. One substantial difference is related to what I call the Fragile Powerhouse concept, which dictates that not only do performing arts organizations fail to benefit from laying off workers during down periods, but that course of action has a prolonged negative impact on overall artistic quality and institutional prowess…

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