2.4. Messiah or antichrist.

The most startling aspect of the publicity that surrounds Bill Gates is its

Intensity. For some reason, to a large number of people Bill Gates has come

to epitomize the sinister machinations of big business in a way that no other

businessman has ever done before.

In April 1996, for example, Wired magazine supplied its readers with a

tourist guide to the World Wide Web entitled “On hating Microsoft.” Every

site listed was devoted to venting anger and other strong negative

sentiments about Microsoft and Gates. One site proclaiming itself the “Bill

Gates Fun Page” offered a photograph of the Microsoft CEO with two Devil’s

horns added to his head. Gates haters were directed to choose from a

selection of lethal weapons including a knife, a hand gun, and an Uzi

machine gun, that could be turned on his image by a simple click of the

mouse. Weird as it is, this was just one of the more bizarre forms that anti-

Microsoft sentiment has taken over the years.

Social historians may one day explain why so many people dislike him so

much. For now, we can only speculate about what might be going on. The

most obvious explanation is envy. A lot of people resent the fact that Bill

Gates has made so much money and they have not. It may be that simple.

But more likely, there are a number of factors.

DON’T EXPECT ANY THANKS 98

Is it pure coincidence, for example, that the rise of the “Bill Gates as

Antichrist” movement mirrors the decline of that other US bogey man, the

Soviet Union? With the unravelling of the Russian communist empire, there

was a vacancy for a new evil empire. Who better to fill it than an incredibly

rich and powerful computer nerd at the head of a global software company?

Bill Gates, come on down.

Gates is not the first mega-rich tycoon in American history to be vilified for

anti-competitive activities. A century ago, the Texas oil baron John D.

Rockefeller gained control of America’s refinery business and oil pipelines.

Rockefeller then leveraged that power into control of oil production. Critics

of Bill Gates say DOS was the equivalent of a pipeline and its ownership

gave Gates the control of the entire industry.

On the other side, there is an equally passionate, if much smaller, group

that seems to credit Gates with almost godly powers. For these people, he is

the golden boy, whose incredible intellect and visionary powers make him

the closest thing the world has to a technology oracle. When Gates

pronounces on the future—be it the likely convergence of technology or the

spread of new software applications—there are plenty of people in high

places who sit up and listen (notwithstanding the recent change of direction

over the impact of the Internet).

If there is a lesson in all of this, it has to be that when you’ve got as much

money as Bill Gates there is no way that you’re going to please everyone—

and its pointless trying. This he now seems to be realizing.

References

1. Audia, P. G. & Locke, E. A. Benefiting from negative feedback// Human Resource Management Review, 2003.-631p.

2. Business Council of Australia (2004), CEO Turnover 2003, BCA, Melbourne.

3. Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org/9780521820462

4. Shields John Managing Employee Performance and Reward //Cambridge, 2007.-594p.

5. Peter F. Drucker, The Theory of the Business // Harvard Business Review, 2001.-327p.

Annotation

This report is devoted to problems of performance management in action. It gives information about errors and assessment methods of performance management. Also readers can get information about managing for results, about its definition, goals and tasks.

There are analysis of the literature on remuneration and performance management, exploring the main theories, debates and practices. The report seeks to provide students with a thorough understanding of the debates associated with issues of work motivation, performance management ethics and the methods of performance management.