Pros

Amongst non-management employees there is a strong level of commitment, high energy, and a great deal of comradery. Also, there is no lack of challenges or work. If you are the type who hates having to look for something to do, Activant may be a good fit. That is of course only if you enjoy playing politics beneath a growing mountain of work.

Cons

Managers have a very specific set of answers they want to hear from their employees. Despite technical objectives not being met, providing a manager with the answer he/she wants often constitutes success. Hence the Machiavellian aspect. This may sound relatively benign, but when you consider that the employee is left to clean up the mess while the manager leaves at 5 PM, it takes on a more insidious character.

Also, perhaps to counteract the comradery of those at the lower end of the totem pole, management works hard to promote a culture of hostile competition and one-ups-man-ship amongst employees. When you combine this with the limited opportunities for professional growth and promotion, it is hard not to resent the needless strife on top of the already very high demands for productivity.

In short, it is an environment where employees are given an infinite amount of responsibility (under extreme duress) without the authority to make decisions. The authority to make decisions is in the hands of the managers as their bonuses are affected by deadlines and invoicing.

Advice to Senior Management

Customers and employees are most concerned with having a high quality product while management is concerned only with numbers and delivering the results their superiors expect despite whatever lip service they may pay to quality. Managers and executives should realize that sometimes delivering a quality product is going to hurt their monthly bonus, but that's life. You can't push a team to deliver garbage and expect to meet your numbers and get a bonus. It is childish and myopic.