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This note outlines a simple but powerful model, in managerial language, for understanding why people behave the way they do. The model builds a set of relationships among perceptions, beliefs, conclusions, defense mechanisms, and behavior. The note provides a framework that has been useful in a variety of settings for practicing managers.

Examines the three factors critical to this company's remarkable success in the high tech field. The first factor is the founder, Dr. Inamori's powerful leadership. The second is the strong corporate culture or philosophy of the firm. The third element in Kyocera's success is the company's management systems, i.e. the "amoeba" system of profit centers. This system is bound together by an interactive level of meetings and the strong philosophy of the company which emphasizes both creativity and working toward a higher goal for the good of the company. This philosophy of a higher common goal prevents infighting amongst profit centers and preserves a unity of purpose, while encouraging a great deal of individual autonomy and creativity through the management system. This system in conjunction with the philosophy also promotes multiple levels of leadership and individual initiative throughout the firm. Dr. Inamori's leadership communicates this philosophy to the employees.

Instead of embarking on an odyssey for the perfect mentor, individuals should pursue a strategy of building a network of developmental relationships. In this note, we explore the process by which such a network can be established and cultivated: 1) What functions can developmental relationships serve? 2) How are these relationships formed and maintained? 3) With whom in an organization can an individual establish such relationships? and 4) What are some of the special challenges those in the minority face in building these relationships? In summary, we offer guidelines for building a constellation of developmental relationships.

This article, first published in 1974, answers one of management's most important questions: Why do so few organizations reach their productivity potential? The author answers that most executives fail to establish expectations of performance improvement in ways that get results. To set high goals that employees respond to and are accountable for, managers must invest their own time and energy. The first step is to set a modest, measurable goal concerning an important organizational problem. If this goal is met, management uses the success as a springboard for more ambitious demands.

Depicts the reformation of Nissan Motor Co.'s corporate culture and the company's subsequent turnaround in market share and profits. In 1985, Yutaka Kume became president of Nissan and thereafter, he continually emphasized the need for internal change throughout the organization. Despite the difficulty of effecting widespread change in such a large organization, Nissan's managers and employees got behind this effort. By 1990, there was a discernable difference in Nissan's image and product. The infamous "econo-boxes" of the early 1980s had been replaced by sleek new models like the Silva (240sx). This case explores many of the changes which took place throughout the organization to make such cultural change possible and effective, from the top management level, to the design department, to the assembly line. Also examines the difficulty and time needed to make lasting change in an organization.

In December, 1986 the General Motors Board of Directors must decide whether to accept the buyout agreement between GM and Ross Perot, a director of GM and its largest stockholder. The agreement called for GM to purchase all of Perot's GM shares in exchange for his resignation from the GM board and his resignation as Chairman of EDS, the company Perot founded in 1963 and sold to GM in 1984. The case chronicles a history of the Perot/GM merger, and the friction between Perot and GM management which led to the buyout agreement.

Professor Jackson is offered a spot on the slate of directors that Harold Simmons, Lockheed's largest shareholder, has nominated for Lockheed's board to oppose the slate nominated by Lockheed in the Spring, 1990 elections. Jackson must decide whether to join Simmons' slate. The case raises the issue of what factors one should take into account in deciding whether or not to join such a slate, and the broad question of the role of proxy fights in corporate governance.

Explains Jackson's reasons for his decision and describes the result of the proxy fight for control of the board.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 491-082.

The owner/editor of the small Davis Press encounters a dilemma when she is given the opportunity to publish a novel set in the Islamic holy city of Mecca. Given the events of the last 16 years--the angry fallout after Salman Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses," the continuing Iraq War, and the recent controversy of Koran desecration at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Prison--publishing the novel presents a host of various ethical dilemmas, including whether she should put her staff at risk. Discusses the ethics of a free press and challenges the profit motive in the face of jeopardizing political and religious world affairs.

Allen-Bradley's Industrial Computer and Communication Group (ICCG) underwent a period of rapid transformation in the 1980s, instituting a wide array of innovations from product development to information systems. In 1990 the Ohio-based group announced a major reorganization of its business and began carrying out a sweeping program of cultural change. The case requires students to develop an overall perspective on the process of organizational change and to think critically about the kind of challenges that lie ahead for ICCG.

Examines the experiences of being a "recipient" of change and how to help individuals cope with change. The first part describes how people typically respond to changes likening it to a loss experience. The second part describes what organizations can do to help individuals through difficult transitions, while the third part identifies what individuals can do for themselves. Finally, raises the challenges for individuals to deal with multiple and continuous change.

Faced with changing markets and tougher competition, more companies realize that they must transform how they function. Although senior managers understand the necessity of change, they often misunderstand what it takes to bring it about. They assume that corporate renewal is the product of companywide change programs--and that to transform employee behavior, they must alter a company's formal structure. Change programs are, in fact, the greatest obstacles to successful revitalization, and formal structure is the last thing a company should change, not the first.

According to a survey the author conducted for the International Women's Forum, women managers are succeeding by drawing on what is unique to their experience as women. Because they have historically been expected to play a supportive and cooperative role, women have learned how to manage effectively without relying on their control of resources and power to motivate others. They tend to be more interactive in their leadership than men.

Describes the leadership role of Northwest Airlines' chairman and his key organizational development "lieutenant" during five years of major change and pressure--1985-89. During this time the airline was confronted with major customer service problems, the merger with Republic, and the crash of one of its planes. Highlights the roles, responsibilities, and tactics of Steve Rothmeier and Ken Myers during this turbulent period. Can be used to evaluate leadership in times of difficult pressures, the different styles of change that each embodies and advocates, and the results of their actions.

Describes three middle managers acting in the role of change agents. Highlights their personal roles and their "moods" at two points in the course of introducing major cultural change. While their comments are only six months apart, they have reached a more pessimistic and sobering phase of the change process. It allows students to see how dynamic a change effort is, how the degree of optimism can shift, and what the major concerns are for change agents--in both the middle of the organization and in the middle of change.

In just 10 years, 1980-1990, British Airways turned around both its declining image and financial situation. Focusing on the paramount importance of customer service, British Airways went from "bloody awful" to "bloody awesome." Experiencing a financial crisis in 1981 and trying to meet the challenges of privatization helped the people at British Airways focus on changing their culture through reorganization and instituting new beliefs.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 491009.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Ray Stata of Analog Devices put the importance of the learning organization succinctly: "The rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage." At an MIT-sponsored conference entitled Transforming Organizations, two questions arose again and again: How can we build organizations in which continuous learning occurs? What kind of person can best lead the learning organization? This article, based on Senge's book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, begins to chart the territory, describing roles, skills, and tools for leaders who wish to develop learning organizations.

Focuses sharply on a crossfunctional product development team at Honeywell's Building Controls Division. Traces the history of teams at the division, which introduced them as a response to intensifying competition and the need for faster development. Reveals the challenges team members, their managers, and executives face when an organization adopts a collaborative approach to work. With a history of sequential product development and animosity between functional areas, the MOD IV team has the added pressure of having to finish the division's most ambitious project in history under a strategy of faster development. Through three perspectives -- team member, manager, and executive -- the case exposes students to the reality of teamwork.