The saddest part of the disbandment of Foster Moore in the US is that it could have been prevented. The recent lay-off of almost all staff due to loss of projects, income, and the inability to win new contracts started on day one of their acquisition of a competitor. While many people raised alarm bells and questioned US management practices, nothing was done to ensure we kept our current clients or that we spent the necessary time on our US registries to ensure the right set of features and tools were implemented and in the right way.
The toxic culture of management by fear and hostility (yelling, cursing, outright bullying) saw many talented people leave and many fired for petty reasons. It was common practice for US management to ignore issues and opportunities for improvements, retaliate against those that suggested as much, blame internal delays on clients, and refuse to actually perform their own job tasks, leaving the staff floundering without direction or even base levels of strategic planning. When asked directly for plans and approaches to the most common issues that arise in software and any office environment, the answer was always, “It will work itself out” or “Don’t worry about it”. With that mindset, problems and issues compounded daily and eventually resulted, as no shock, to dissatisfied clients, chaotic releases, and poorly understood requirements of the industry and how to grow the product. The roles designed to empower the various teams to work together, grow ideas, and create a culture of excitement were filled by those that essentially ignored those initiatives altogether. The actual work and focus of management remains a mystery to this day.
The opportunities for success, growth, and maintenance of current contracts was available on day one and yet so many of those overlooked as the home office was entirely disconnected from the realities of what was occurring in the US. Unfortunately, individuals were in put in charge that were severely unqualified to manage software and people. As a result, many hard-working, dedicated people were laid off with not a cent of severance pay immediately before the start of the holiday season.
