The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1002

A couple of days went by as Ves spent his time in his hospital room in isolation. He knew that a pair of heavily-armed security guards stood outside the door. A whole host of other security measures protected this wing of the military hospital as well, so absolutely nothing should pose a threat to his life.

He chuckled at that naive notion. "I thought I was safe inside the perimeter of a military base. Turns out I was wrong."

What really got to him was that his own side decided to gamble with his life in order to agitate the Mech Corps and shoved them into action!

Their heightened state of alert and the alarm they felt after hearing what Ves had to say on the KNG indeed achieve the drastic effects that Flashlight sought. Certainly, their hasty raids at the Ansel and Mosville Complex resulted in a lot of casualties that could have been prevented if the military police moved slower and planned out their raids in advance.

The blood of the workers and the military policemen that died from those partially-botched raids stained Ves and Flashlight’s hands. Yet Ves figured that this mission had definitely ended in success in their books.

So what if a couple of hundred people died? Those deaths only magnified the blame being put on the feet of the KNG. None of the backers who formerly supported the company behind the scenes dared to share in the blame by protecting the company from the storm of criticism from the public!

As Ves stayed on top of recent events through his connection to the galactic net, he felt a little regret at being one of the principal instigators responsible for dragging down this once-promising company.

"Estelle and Antoine doesn’t deserve most of the blame." He sighed. "They ran their company to the best of their abilities. Nothing they’ve done in person can be faulted."

As mech designer and a business owner himself, Ves really sympathised with the tough times they must be going through right now. They didn’t make any mistakes by themselves. They just trusted the wrong people too much and failed to put the right people in the right positions.

In short, Kadar and Neyvis failed in delegating responsibilities to others.

Overall, the KNG’s current fate served as an object lesson to Ves in the dangers of delegating incorrectly. It was very difficult to screen out bad apples when they did their best to blend in with the good apples.

As the example of theKNG amply showed, technology and other sophisticated means of control only worked up to an extent. It was more important to keep the workplaces staffed with loyal employees that wouldn’t let any shenanigans that damaged the company take place.

"So in short, I have to indoctrinate my employees." He concluded.

By aligning the values and beliefs of the workers to the LMC’s corporate culture and identity, they would become so attached that they would mindlessly defend the company whenever possible.

It wasn’t easy to accomplish such a feat. The workers needed to be treated well and feel valued by the company in order to reciprocate.

Ves believed that the KNG attempted to do such a thing. "It explains why they are paid so well. All the KNG employees I’ve talked to all professed their devotion to the company."

Still, their enthusiasm for the company was primarily back by benefits. The workers all stood up for the KNG, but only to show their gratitude for all the pay they received.

"In the end, the KNG’s attempt to secure the loyalty of their workers missed the mark."

Shared identity could only get you so far. A shared identity based on greed and avarice encouraged workers to look the other way whenever they saw something shady. Ves bet that many workers not involved in the scheme at the Mosville Complex probably received some bribes to ignore some shady activity if they came too close.

"If I want to prevent the same thing from happening at the LMC, I will have to redefine its corporate culture and incorporate some aspirational values and beliefs.

His employees needed to feel pride for their work and share in the dream that Ves wanted to fulfill. They needed to feel as if they were part of a great mission, just like how most of the servicemen of the Mech Corps took pride in their service.

"It’s not going to be easy to emulate such a level of devotion in my workforce."

Ves had more than enough time to figure out his approach to this huge and complex issue. Lying around in bed only to browse the news or watching some drama broadcasts only distracted him to an extent.

"I’m a man of action. I’m no longer someone who passively reads the news. I’m influential enough to make the news. As for those silly action dramas, the events I’ve lived through are a thousand times more exciting than seeing some actors flail around in a simulated studio!"

He used to be a big watcher of galactic drama broadcasts when he was young. Yet once the inexperience of his youth faded away, he lost his interest in fake adventures and contrived storylines.

In truth, Ves wanted nothing more than to design a mech to lift up his miserable mood. Though he didn’t have any particular mech design in mind, he just wanted to do his job instead of staying stuck in this tightly-guarded hospital room.

At some point, Ves received a familiar guest.

"How is it going, Ves?"

"Leland! You’re my least favorite person from the organization, you know! How dare you return in my presence! I ought to shoot you so you can feel how bad it hurts when you get shot through the heart!"