> Your city has a problem with trash ...doesn't that entire problem rest on the fact that the unstated goal is to pick up the trash at the lowest cost labor wi

> Your city has a problem with trash ...doesn't that entire problem rest on the fact that the unstated goal is to pick up the trash at the lowest cost labor will bear? That yields service reduction, automation, and labor disputes. When you look at it that way, the organization is seeking the goal, not fighting it. I think there is truth in the general idea, but a correlary that no one sees value in continuing to solve a problem that has been solved once. They always imagine it will get cheaper, meanwhile those who create expertise in it see themselves as more valuable with time, and that creates tension.