個案總覽

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Why are some companies able to remain vital, even after extensive reengineering, while others flounder and fail? The answer, according to these authors, lies in a company's ability to rejuvenate its employees by establishing a behavioral context with four characteristics: discipline, support, trust, and stretch. The authors trace postwar corporate history to identify the pernicious qualities that have ossified many companies, using Westinghouse as an example of an oppressive context based on the elements of compliance, control, constraint, and contract. They also show how companies like Intel and 3M have renewed themselves by creating an environment in which people are the most important resource.

Every morning, Paul Marsh, the chairman, president, and CEO of Kansas-based Coltrane Farm Equipment & Manufacturing, climbs the six flights of stairs to his office as part of his stress management plan. But recently the stress has intensified. In just five months, Marsh is retiring, and critics charge that there is no one suitably prepared to step into his job. Coltrane has prospered mightily under Marsh's leadership, and in recent years he has pushed the company to grow overseas. At the same time, Marsh also has a history of conflict with his closest subordinates. Coltrane's former president and COO left eight months ago and has not been replaced, and the head of international operations was fired in 1992 after just 21 months on the job. With the clock ticking, can Coltrane develop a plan to find a replacement for Marsh who can successfully lead the company into the next century? In 95509 and 95509Z, John Pound, Philip A. Lichtenfels, Alonzo McDonald, and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld offer advice on this fictional case study.

Every morning, Paul Marsh, the chairman, president, and CEO of Kansas-based Coltrane Farm Equipment & Manufacturing, climbs the six flights of stairs to his office as part of his stress management plan. But recently the stress has intensified. In just five months, Marsh is retiring, and critics charge that there is no one suitably prepared to step into his job. Coltrane has prospered mightily under Marsh's leadership, and in recent years he has pushed the company to grow overseas. At the same time, Marsh also has a history of conflict with his closest subordinates. Coltrane's former president and COO left eight months ago and has not been replaced, and the head of international operations was fired in 1992 after just 21 months on the job. With the clock ticking, can Coltrane develop a plan to find a replacement for Marsh who can successfully lead the company into the next century?

Every morning, Paul Marsh, the chairman, president, and CEO of Kansas-based Coltrane Farm Equipment & Manufacturing, climbs the six flights of stairs to his office as part of his stress management plan. But recently the stress has intensified. In just five months, Marsh is retiring, and critics charge that there is no one suitably prepared to step into his job. Coltrane has prospered mightily under Marsh's leadership, and in recent years he has pushed the company to grow overseas. At the same time, Marsh also has a history of conflict with his closest subordinates. Coltrane's former president and COO left eight months ago and has not been replaced, and the head of international operations was fired in 1992 after just 21 months on the job. With the clock ticking, can Coltrane develop a plan to find a replacement for Marsh who can successfully lead the company into the next century? In 95509 and 95509Z, John Pound, Philip A. Lichtenfels, Alonzo McDonald, and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld offer advice on this fictional case study.

Most managerial work happens through talk--discussions, meetings, presentations, negotiations. And it is through talk that managers evaluate others and are themselves judged. Using research carried out in a variety of workplace settings, linguist Deborah Tannen demonstrates how conversational style often overrides what we say, affecting who gets heard, who gets credit, and what gets done. Tannen's linguistic perspective provides managers with insight into why there is so much poor communication. Gender plays an important role. Tannen traces the ways in which women's styles can undermine them in the workplace, making them seem less competent, confident, and self-assured than they are. She analyzes the underlying social dynamic created through talk in common workplace interactions. She argues that a better understanding of linguistic style will make managers better listeners and more effective communicators, allowing them to develop more flexible approaches to a full range of managerial activities.

Presents a model for understanding the behavior and evolution of primary, stable work groups over time. The model describes contextual factors, design factors, and emergent culture as determinants of group behavior and performance. Describes emergent behavior, norms, roles, and rituals as aspects of group life. A rewritten version of an earlier note.

This case presents the issues faced by the BA-USAir coordination team as it struggles with creating a management structure to facilitate the development of a newly announced alliance. The team has six weeks to design a blueprint and present it to senior management. Students and executives find that this case opens up significant issues related to implementing alliances. The B case is OB-0585.

Rigid, old corporate styles, like the inflexible steel and stone headquarters that symbolized them, are fast becoming quaint vestiges of things past. Many of today's managers are beginning to understand that encouraging some behaviors at the edge of accepted organizational propriety can actually help their companies achieve success in this new competitive environment. And hot groups are helping organizations do just that. Based on years of observing and participating in hot groups, the authors describe the conditions under which such groups flourish, the behaviors they exhibit, the type of leadership they require, and the benefits they bring. For those executives who believe that more hot groups might help stir the hearts and minds of their people, there remains the question of how to make them happen. The authors offer suggestions that managers can follow to create an environment fertile enough to allow hot groups to grow.

A glossary of some commonly used Industrial Relations terminology to be used in conjunction with introductory Industrial Relations cases.

The technological possibilities of the virtual organization are seductive. But its managerial and personal implications require rethinking old notions of control. As it becomes possible for more work to be done outside the traditional office, trust will become more important to organizations. Handy proposes seven rules of trust. Trust is not blind: It needs fairly small groupings in which people can know each other well. Trust needs boundaries: Define a goal, then leave the worker to get on with it. Trust demands learning and openness to change. Trust is tough: When it turns out to be misplaced, people have to go. Trust needs bonding: The goals of small units must gel with the larger group's. Trust needs touch: Workers must sometimes meet in person. Trust requires leaders. Virtuality's Three I's (information, ideas, intelligence) can improve quality of life. The question Handy asks is, Will they be for everyone? He believes the potential exists for the Three I's to benefit not just organizations but also those with whom they do business and society as a whole.

Do men and women have distinct leadership styles? Do they approach management differently? This note summarizes the two perspectives that have dominated the ongoing debate on gender differences in organizational leadership and management behavior. Psychological theories emphasize the different outlook, attitudes, and values inculcated in men and women during their development and socialization. In contrast, situational theories argue that gender differences are few, and largely an artifact of differences in opportunity, power, and lack of representation in business and organizational settings. The evidence from research studies is reviewed briefly.

Describes a managerial network as a set of relationships critical to a manager's ability to get things done, get ahead, and develop personally and professionally. "Networking" refers to the activities associated with developing and managing such relationships. Describes different types of networks, outlines characteristics that make networks useful, and concludes with practical guidelines for developing a useful network.

In July 1991, Lawrence A. Bossidy became chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal, the $13 billion industrial supplier of aerospace systems, automotive parts, and chemical products. The company's story since then appears to be the typical slash-and-burn turnaround, but the view from the inside is far more interesting for anyone grappling with what it takes to lead a competitive organization and sustain its performance over the long term. Bossidy is a straight-shooting, tough-minded, results-oriented business leader. But he is also a charismatic and persistent coach, determined to help people learn and thereby to provide his company with the best-prepared employees. In this interview, Bossidy explains his views on the leader's role in changing a large organization. He discusses how he uses values and goals to "coach people to win." And he explains his efforts to focus AlliedSignal's management on three core processes--strategy, operations, and human resources.

Describes the attitudes, feelings, and perceptions of the manager who will conduct the performance appraisal interview. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Describes the events leading up to an actual performance appraisal interview--the views, opinions, and attitudes of the subordinates who are to be interviewed. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

A law firm must decide how to split partnership profits among the partners. Issues of seniority versus performance, performance evaluation, and lack of consensus of values dominate the discussions. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement.

Examines Beer's actions on assuming leadership of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, the world's sixth largest advertising agency, during a period of rapid industry change and organizational crisis. Focuses on how Beers, the first outsider CEO, engages and leads a senior team through a vision formulation process. Chronicles closely the debates among senior executives struggling to reconcile creative, strategic, and global vs. local priorities. Sixteen months later, with a vision statement agreed upon, Beers faces a series of implementation problems. Turnaround has begun, but organizational structures and systems are not yet aligned with the firm's new direction. Concludes as Beers must decide how to work best with her senior team to achieve alignment in 1994.

Updates CEO Beers' progress two years after her initiation of a massive organizational change effort. Designed as an in-class handout.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 495-031.