Restructuring. Downsizing. Reengineering. The result of all this reorganization has been employees who are more exhausted than empowered.

We talk and talk and talk about the importance of skilled, motivated people. Study after study agree that treating employees well pays off. And yet, companies don't always seem able to follow this simple principle. According to a recent article at HBS Working Knowledge, some of the problem may llie in outmoded strategic perspectives.

In knowledge-intensive situations people are the key resource and people can't be managed like office supplies.

The hardest mind-set to alter is the longstanding, deeply embedded belief that capital is the critical strategic resource to be managed and that senior managers' key responsibilities should center around its acquisition, allocation, and effective use.

In today's world, the burst dot-com bubble notwithstanding, capital is available. It's talented employees that must be sought, nurtured and sustained. One of the outcomes has been to recognize that, like shareholders, employees are also holders of scarce resources. This means that senior managers need to work to define a community that workers want to belong to.