As a former AMA employee, I am distressed by the recent developments at an institution that contributed much to the public health over the last 150 years. But it’s easy to understand why the Sunbeam disaster occurred now.
Several years ago, the AMA embarked on a restructuring and downsizing. As a result, it is operating without a sizable chunk of the institutional experience that made it a sophisticated organization.
For example, after recruiting the most ambitious workers into an elite health-care reform unit, all of them were fired soon after the Clinton health-reform initiative fizzled in 1994. The formerly prestigious scientific staff has been decimated while jobs dealing with “core products marketing” and “information management” have proliferated. The remaining competent staff people are motivated to suppress their own good judgment and anxiously embrace any scheme having the interest of senior management in order to survive the next round of “reorg.”
So when the Sunbeam deal came along, AMA senior management lacked the protection from its own inattention and misjudgments that prevented similar crises in the past. Other downsized and reorganized enterprises should take a good look at what can happen if they disrespect the value of their human resources.
