There is nothing wrong with trying to get employee input to help solve the Company's problems. In fact, it is commendable and the way to go, IMHO.
However, I hope that there were some lessons learned from the deficiencies of the "My Idea" program.
1) While some individuals were probably only motivated by the chance of winning a substantial cash reward, it did not recognize the motivation of other employees who simply wanted to help the company get on track. Unless an idea was selected for the grand prize, there was not even a simple "thank you" letter, something which anybody having dedicated time and energy to submit an idea, regardless of merit, should have received.
2) The "My Idea" program required a "well developed" plan with data (in other words, a Business Case). I am sure that some decent "spark" ideas never got submitted, because of a lack of ability to meet the requirements to do the work that would have benefitted the Company. Let’s face it, many ideas will be binned in any case, but some "cave drawing" concept may actually be taken by people with the expertise to save millions.
3) The "My Idea" program was well advertised, but complicated to submit the ideas. Had to be on paper, but there were no easily-accessible drop boxes or clear instructions on how to submit them. Even Björn Näf' secretary did not know. At least they have improved by providing an e-mail for this one.
4) There remains a cultural problem of indifference and resignation. Resignation ("What's the use?") is as much of a hazardous attitude in a work place as it is in the cockpit. Here, mid-level management faces the challenge to demonstrate that this is not true.
I certainly hope that this cost-cutting exercise is not going to turn into a hatchet job, or as Gordon Bethune muses in his book, From Worst to First:
How Running an Airline Is Like Making a Pizza
Say you’re running a pizza place, and your boss says, “The only way we’re going to be a successful pizza place and get customers and make money and win is to make a cheaper pizza.” What are you going to do?
If you want to win, if you want to be rewarded by your boss, you’re going to keep trying to make a cheaper pizza. You’re going to make thinner and thinner crusts to save on flour. You’re going to use less and less sauce to save on tomatoes. You’ll buy canned rather than fresh vegetables, frozen rather than fresh meat. Sooner or later somebody’s going to get the bright idea to take half the cheese off, or all the cheese off, or make the pizza out of cardboard.
Well, you can make a pizza so cheap nobody wants to eat it.
And you can make an airline so cheap nobody wants to fly it. Trust me on this—we did it. So you’re going to be making these incredibly cheap pizzas, and the people in the cost department, the people in the supply department, are going to be happy and high-fiving each other: They’ll be saying, We’re winning back here! And meanwhile, up front, where the orders have dried up and the customers are complaining and no pizzas are selling, you’re not winning at all.
In the end it’s like a canoe—the back end can’t be winning while the front end is sinking. If any part of the canoe is sinking, nobody cares how good the rest of the canoe is doing, because the whole thing is going to sink.