Situation 02 · Reducing cost
The haircut hits the critical position and the dispensable one alike.
The cost target is set — ten percent of personnel costs. The haircut reaches it. What that cost is written nowhere.
Ten percent of personnel costs are to come out, and by the new financial year. In the plan this is called a cost reduction program or personnel cost planning.
The problem underneath is that every cut costs something elsewhere — lead time, error rate, key knowledge. That cost appears in no cost plan, because cost planning and structure run separately.
Cost planning stays necessary. It only has to calculate on the same structure that produces the costs — then the price of the cut is part of the calculation instead of a surprise after it.
Where is the cut made — and what does the cut cost at another point?
No position is judged by its price alone. And the risk of a cut is established before the decision, not after it.