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Chapter 24: Chevron and Industrial Relations Counselors Inc.
It was fortunate that we were so busy reestablishing our family
in the States, buying a lot and building a house, and working hard in the
bishopric during the 1959-1963. Otherwise, the frustrations of working
in Chevron at the time would have been unbearable. SoCal was renamed
Chevron. Chevron at that time was complacent and even arrogant. A
couple of examples may illustrate the situation:
One day when I had been with Chevron for perhaps a year my
boss talked to me thusly, Dick you frequently suggest changes in
what we do here or how we do it. You know, last year the company
earned more money than it had the year before; the year before that
we earned more than in the preceding year. So, why should we be
changing what we do or how we do it?
His question was, I thought, incredible. I had thought and ab-
sorbed the approach that management should always be seeking
how it could improve operations. This, of course, is a never-ending
quest. The philosophy that there was no real need to seek changes
in what or how we did things was totally alien to me.
My inclination would have been to argue the point. However, in
Chevron at that time, this simply wasnt done. It would have been
considered insubordinate.
An employee assigned to budget development for the Corporation
told me of an experience working with the General Manager of the
Motor Transport Department (the function of the department was to
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dealers). He asked the general manager to give him data as to the
numbers and types of vehicles he proposed to purchase in his capital
budget for the ensuing year. The general manager treated the request
with complete disdain. After all, he was the General Manager of the
activity! All he was willing to supply to the executive management
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