| "Digital philosophy as represented by the following statements
reflects the kind of company Digital strives to be, to its
employees and to the outside world.
HONESTY
We want to be not only technically honest, but also to make sure
that the implication of what we say and the impression we leave
are correct. When we make a commitment to customers or to employees,
we are obligated to see that it happens.
PROFIT
We are a public corporation. Stockholders invest in our corporation
for profit. Success is measured by profit. With success comes
the opportunity to grow, the ability to hire good people, and the
satisfaction that comes with meeting your goals. We feel that profit
is in no way inconsistent with social goals.
QUALITY
Growth is not our primary goal. Our goal is to be a quality
organization and do a quality job, which means that we will be proud
of our product and our work for years to come. As we achieve quality,
we achieve growth.
RESPONSIBILITY
Plans are proposed by managers of teams. These plans may be rejected
until they fit corporate goals or until the Operations Committee
is confident of those plans. But when they are accepted, they are
the responsibility of those who proposed them. The impetus for
a plan may come from outside the group making the proposal, but
once accepted, the proposal is the responsibility of the one who
proposed it.
LINE MANAGEMENT
We particularly want to be sure that line management jobs are clear
and well-defined. Because so many people are dependent on the plans
of line managers, it is very important that the plans have regular
automatic measurements built into them. Meeting financial results
is only one measure of a plan; other measures are satisfied customers,
development of people, meeting Digital's long range needs, development
of new products and the opening of new markets. We believe that
our commitment to planning ensures our freedom to act.
SOCIETY
We are committed as a corporation to take affirmative action in
providing equal opportunity for employment and promotion for all
persons regardless of race, color, creed, or sex. We encourage
all employees to take responsibility in community, social, and
government activities. We are always open for proposals as to what
the corporation or an individual on corporation time may want to
do in these areas. However, activities done on company time or
with company funds should have a formal proposal including ways
of regularly measuring success toward goals.
ENVIRONMENT
As good citizens we have a responsibility to keep our environment
free of pollution, and to set an example by these activities.
CUSTOMERS
We must be honest and straightforward with our customers. Not only
must they be told the facts, but we must be sure they understand
the facts.
To the best of our ability, we want to be sure that the products
we sell answer the needs of the customer, even when that customer
does not understand these needs exactly. When we sell a product
to a customer, we want to be sure the corporation fulfills the
obligations we took on with the sale. We sell our corporation,
nota single individual, to our customers and we must be sure all
Digital commitments are met.
COMPETITORS
We never criticize the competition publicly. We sell by presenting
the positive features of our own products. We want to be respectful
of all competition, and collect and analyze all public information
about competitors. When we hire people from competitors, we should
neither press them for confidential, competitive information, nor
should we use confidential literature they may have taken with them.
SIMPLICITY AND CLARITY
We want all aspects of Digital to be clear and simple and we want
simple products, proposals, organization, literature that is easy
to read and understand, and advertisements that have a simple, obvious
message. We have thousands of employees and many thousands of
customers. We have to keep things simple to be sure that we all
work together. Our decisions must always consider the impact on
the people who are affected by them.
ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS
Standard products are the basis of our business. At times we will
invest in software and hardware specifically for special markets.
But we should never lose sigt tat the base of our business is our
standard products. We are very dependent on selling to OEMs. There
are more application for our products than we could ever develop.
In addition, there are many risks to be taken in developing new
fields which we cannot afford. Therefore we are very dependent
on OEMs, and when they take the risks and they are clever enough
to be successful, we should be most respectful of their risks.
When our OEMs are in trouble with a customer, we should tell them.
PERSONNEL DEVELOPMENT
We encourage people to develop technical skills, breadth of knowledge,
and expertise in a specific area. We also encourage people to develop
supervisory and management skills. We believe that individual
discipline should be self-generated.
PROMOTION
We promote people according to their performance, not only thheir
technical ability but also their ability to get the job done and
to take the responsibility that goes with the job. Ability is measured
not only by past results, but also by attitude and desire to succeed.
Performance results are also used to decide if a person should remain
in his or her current job.
HIRING FROM CUSTOMERS
We should be exceedingly careful when hiring employees from customers.
Sometimes this is reasonable and desirable; but we should do it
with all caution and by being sure that the employee first tells
the customer and allows the customer the chance to compete against
us.
FIRST RULE
When dealing with a customer, a vendor, or an employee, do with
is 'right' in each instance."
Source:
Engineering Orientation Manual 1-APR-82
Updates to this information are welcomed...
|
| 1980 Version
LINE MANAGEMENT
.....development of people, meeting
long range needs of the Corporation, development of new products...
1985 Version
MANAGEMENT
We particularly want to be sure that line management jobs are clear and
well-defined. Because so many people are dependent on the plans of line
managers, it is very important that the plans have regular automatic
measurements built into them. Meeting financial results is only one measure of
a plan; other measures are satisfied customers, development of people, meeting
Digital's long range needs, development of new products and the opening of new
markets. We believe that our commitment to planning ensures our freedom to
act.
|