The psychology of ownership will become a necessary condition for the success of enterprises

Ownership is the link between individuals and organizations. Ownership is not only a legal concept, but also a state of mind. Possessiveness is a state of mind in which a person feels that their own well-being is tied to the interests of an institution or organization. In this case, employees believe in their interdependence with the firm and are willing to sacrifice their direct personal interests for the good of all. They will protect the interests of the business as they would their own room, family, or community. If people can achieve the kind of psychological realm, they will inevitably share the blessing with the enterprise. (That is, to the success of the enterprise for their own happiness, to the failure of the enterprise for their own pain.) It is this unity that we seek. I recently visited an assembly of Fortune Motors, which is preparing to involve employees in management. I spoke to the managers one by one and they expressed in full positive terms their willingness to work more closely with the trade unions. In the past, the car, like most cars in the United States, has had serious disagreements and disputes over labor relations. After talking to the managers, I went to Billy Joe Harris, the president of the local United Auto Workers union, who spoke with such a southern accent that it was easy to guess where he was from. I will never forget his words that surprised me. I asked him in what way he would not reform and what he would most like to see accomplished. "I want our workers to be known for making the biggest and best cars, and I hate the people who don't work all day and just complain, and I've heard enough of them, and anyone who doesn't show up on time can get the hell out of here," he said, and the president of the union in this place thought he was the owner of the workers, in his opinion. The jobs don't belong to Ford's thousands of shareholders, they belong to him! (Most of the shareholders were unaware of the company's existence.) The union president was proud of the efficiency of the workers and the quality of the products, and he was as excited about the success of his own business. Every Ford shareholder should be grateful to Billy. Because Billy has the sense of responsibility that they lack for home, only a character like him can ultimately decide the fate. The psychology of ownership will become increasingly necessary for business success, because work, management, and labor are constantly changing, and in an age when work was still mostly for sale, it was possible to make a clear distinction between the intellectual worker who made the decisions and the manual worker who carried out the orders. In the industrial age, the division of labor between boss, manager and worker was still effective, but it became a burden and a stumbling block in the new era.