Lessons To Be Learned From The CE’s Experience With the benefit of hindsight being 20-20 we are always wiser. Obviously, the CE in the case made some fundamental mistakes in attempting to grow the business and take it in new directions. New CE’s will want to start raising performance levels through a strategic change initiative. That being said, this particular CE’s course of action was something that many Chief Executives do everyday in business, especially as it relates to making a strategic vision their vision and not a wider, group vision, with the appropriate inputs and support from key people. Often, the consequences of such actions means having the CE’s head on a platter i.e. he is fired, in spite of whether or not the new strategy ends up working and yielding profitable results. The first step would be to look at some of the resilience-questioning put forth in the Margolis article (Margolis, 2010). Specifying: What aspects of the situation can I directly influence to change the course of this adverse event? Certainly, the CE felt that he was very much hands-on and believed that he could directly influence the whole situation. I think in that sense he over-reached and did not appreciate that he could only directly influence some aspects but not others. The CE also did not step back and do Visualizing: What would the manager I most admire do in this situation? And, a big problem was as it relates to Collaborating: Who on my team can help me, and what’s the best way to engage that person or those people? Granted, the CE did spend some considerable time addressing the problems, gathering data, talking to people, and shaping up his plan. But, his plan was not being fully or properly implemented because it was seen as the... ... middle of paper ... ...rvard Business Review, 88 (½), pp.86–92. Pye, A. (2005). ‘Leadership and organizing: sensemaking in action’, Leadership, 1 (1), pp.31–49. Adversity Quotient: Peak Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/501-550/article517_body.html (Accessed 20 March 2012) Works Cited Conklin, E. J. & Weil, W. (1997) ‘Wicked problems: naming the pain in organizations’. Available from http://www.leanconstruction.dk/_root/media/15.pdf Margolis, J. D. & Stoltz, P.G. (2010) ‘How to bounce back from adversity’, Harvard Business Review, 88 (½), pp.86–92. Pye, A. (2005). ‘Leadership and organizing: sensemaking in action’, Leadership, 1 (1), pp.31–49. Adversity Quotient: Peak Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/501-550/article517_body.html (Accessed 20 March 2012)
This book is important to business students because it shows that even the most seasoned executive runs into unexpected challenges and can find themselves in uncharted territory. Jim Barton’s experiences and lessons can be lessons for anyone. Any employee, whether they are support staff or a top executive, should always maintain an open mind and be ready to learn from a situation or the people around them at any time.
...strategy when the initial downsizing failed to take them out of the red or gain back lost market share.
Robbins, S. P., Decenzo, D. A., & Coulter. M. (2013). Fundamentals of Management (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
The novel Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, written by Tim Harford, is based around how one can achieve success in a unique way, through failure. Throughout the novel he teaches us powerful ways to tackle issues or problems that are thought to be unconquerable. His argument is based around one key word, Adapt. Harford reveals countless examples of failures and successes but most importantly, analyzes the practices that were used to achieve the results. The novel starts off by describing how complicated the world we live in today is. This chapter was the reason I remained engaged in the entire novel up to the very last word. He tells
Luthans, F. & Stewart, T. (1977), “A General Contingency Theory of Management”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 2, pp. 181 – 195.
According to the American Psychological Association website, there are 10 different ways to build resilience. Those 10 ways are Make connections, Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems, Accept that change is a part of living, Move toward your goals, Take decisive actions, Look for opportunities for self-discovery, Nurture a positive view of yourself, Keep things in perspective, Maintain a hopeful outlook, Take care of yourself, and Additional ways of strengthening resilience may be helpful (apa.org). In my perspective, three out of the 10 different ways to build resilience are more important: Make connections, avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems, and accept that change is part of living.
Over time, this dull pain can erode the self-confidence and passion of even the strongest people, which in turn, affects their spouses and children and friends in subtle but profound ways… Though it may be difficult to quantify, the dissatisfaction of employees has a direct impact on productivity, turnover, and morale, all of which eventually hit a company’s bottom line hard,” (p. ix –
Badaracco, J. . Defining moments, when managers must choose between right and right. Harvard Business Press, print.
Kotter, J. P & Schlesinger, L. (2008). ‘Choosing strategies for change’. Harvard Business Review, July-August, 130-139.
To demonstrate the totality and the need for a holistic approach, below is an illustration showing the pressure on a large organization (Werther & Chandler, 2006)
Robbins, S, DeCenzo, D, Coulter, M & Woods, M 2011, Management: The Essentials, Pearson Australia, NSW, Australia, 1st Edition
However, during the 1990s, Philips and Matsushita both faced major challenges to sustain their position in the market. Changing profile of the industry and globalization forces made Philips and Matsushita’s organizational models and competitive advantages obsolete, and brought up the need for drastic actions. At the brink of a new century, the battle of two giants unraveled with CEOs from both sides implementing another round of strategic initiatives and restructurings. The pressure put on new CEOs was enormous – wrong st...
Cultivating a taste for failure and chaos Schmidt encourages it: “Please fail very quickly—so that you can try again.. he had praised an executive who made a several-million-dollar blunder: “‘I’m so glad you made this mistake. Because I want to run a company where we are moving too quickly and doing too much, not being too cautious and doing too little. If we don’t have any of these mistakes, we’re just not taking enough risk.’”
Robbins, S.P., & Coulter, M. (2009). Management (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Yawson, A. (October 20, 2004). Performance shocks, turnaround strategies, and corporate recovery: Evidence from Australia. Retrieved July 18, 2005 from http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:2aoQ4Wn2y8MJ:wwwdocs.fce.unsw.edu.au/banking/workpap/wp%252010%25202004.pdf+australian+strategies+corporate+restructuring&hl=en&ie=UTF-8