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Executives who wish to avoid being caught off guard when speaking to the press or to the public need a sound attitude (one that is neither arrogant nor falsely humble) and they need thorough preparation. Ten specific guidelines to remember include: talk from the viewpoint of the public's interest, not the company's, speak in personal terms, avoid "off-the-record" statements, state the most important fact at the beginning, avoid arguing with the reporter or losing your cool, avoid repeating or denying questions containing offensive language, provide direct answers to a reporter's direct question, offer to find out the answer to a question if you do not know the answer, avoid "playing dumb," tell the truth, and do not exaggerate facts.

New England Telephone has developed an "upward communications program" based on the theory that communications operate up-and-down like gravity; downward communications flow more quickly and efficiently than communications upward, which require special incentives to be effective. The upward communications program at New England Telephone started with "private lines" that permitted all employees to discuss anonymously any matter with any responsible official. The program may adapt to any business. It is a management tool, introduced gradually, and adapted to different individual and group needs. Methods for success of the program are outlined.

Supplements the (A) case.

Presents the problem facing a newly appointed high school principal. Raises issues about interpersonal and group behavior including lack of open conflict resolution and the need to intervene in an interpersonal conflict. Also raises the issue of intergroup conflict between headmasters and department chairmen, as well as value questions concerning the need for discipline and innovation. Discusses several structural questions concerning the existing "house system" organization.

The contemporary emphasis on participative decision making creates a dilemma for modern managers. They may choose a pattern of leadership in relating to subordinates that ranges from making all the decisions themselves to allowing their subordinates to make decisions within prescribed limits. In deciding how to lead, managers must be aware of forces in themselves: their values, confidence in subordinates, leadership inclination, and tolerance for ambiguity. They must also consider whether their subordinates have the independence, maturity, interest, and knowledge to share in decision making.

A study of 318 executives indicates a consensus among executives on the specific characteristics that constitute a participative style, and general agreement that certain participative leadership characteristics produce more effective results. The participative leader prototype that emerged from the study is a sensitive, extroverted and emotive leader who is in close contact with his or her subordinates and is attuned to their needs. The managers in the study emphasized high performance of subordinates as an important part of a participative style.

American management attempts to motivate employees through the carrot-and-stick approach. According to the Great Jackson Fallacy executives unconsciously envision themselves as manipulators and controllers, and their subordinates as jackasses chasing the carrot. This attitude can place severe strain on management/employee relations and lead to employee inefficiency and low productivity. Executives should change their attitudes toward subordinates in order to ensure effective job performance.

The general manager of a corporation circulates a memo advising his employees on company policy about copier use. He carefully revises his original memo and in the process crystallizes his own thinking on the issue. Writing well and thinking well are interrelated. Because rewriting demands objectivity, an ability to separate essential from nonessential ideas, and a willingness to locate and correct contradictions, it provides the key to improved thinking.

Illustrates the challenges most managers face in prioritizing their time in the workplace environment. Looks at "a day in the life" of a printing plant manager who, with well-intentioned goals for the day, is frustrated by numerous interruptions.

Personality theory. The individual frame of reference.

Most managerial styles are characterized by an emphasis on the power and the right of the manager to pass judgment on the actions of his or her subordinates. Judicious managers facilitate the expression of ideas by sharing their power and acting as collaborators with their subordinates. By creating a climate in which it is appropriate to voice imperfect thoughts and ideas, judicious managers encourage more frequent individual and group accomplishment and increased satisfaction and motivation.

The fundamental psychological conflict that plagues family businesses is rivalry, compounded by feelings of guilt. Company founders feel rivalry when they unconsciously sense that subordinates threaten to remove them from their center of power. For the founders the business is an extension of themselves which they have great difficulty giving up. By confronting and discussing their feelings of hostility and rivalry, possibly in the presence of a neutral third party, family members begin to resolve their problems.

Formal education programs emphasize the development of problem-solving and decision-making skills, but give little attention to finding and exploiting opportunities or to dealing with potential problems. Effective managers, on the other hand, share characteristics that cannot be taught in a classroom: they need to manage, they need power, and they have the capacity for empathy. Furthermore, managers develop leadership capacities by firsthand observation of their environment and by an assessment of feedback from their actions. Managerial aspirants must be taught how to learn from their own first-hand experiences. McKinsey Award Winner.

Personal history of David Alpert, with emphasis on psychoanalytic developmental issues.

The results of interviews with 600 Pillsbury employees, to determine the effectiveness of internal communications, reveal that good communication and favorable employee attitudes are related. Providing employees with information that they want quickly, and through the channels they prefer, characterizes good communication. The principle organizational procedures of an in-plant communications program are: setting aside 15 minutes of the workweek for supervisors to meet with employees, reporting verbally on matters of interest, and learning from question-and-answer sessions.

Organizations are political structures which provide platforms for the expression of individual interests, and which revolve around the accumulation of power as a vehicle for transforming personal interests into activities. A "political pyramid" exists when people compete for power in an economy of scarcity. The organizational structure is an instrument rather than an end. It represents the working coalition attached to a CEO, and is a product of negotiation and compromise among executives who hold semiautonomous power bases. McKinsey Award Winner.

Describes a young man's first job with a large corporation, where he is given a great deal of responsibility but little authority or supervision. The action takes place in the 1960s.

A detailed examination of the findings of a study focusing on executive decision making in six representative companies indicates that executives rank innovation, risk-taking, flexibility, and trust as important influences for effective decision making. Results of the investigation indicate, however, that during important decision-making meetings, executives dedicate themselves to "getting the job done," which results in a suppression of creativity and innovation. Recommended methods of breaking down barriers include certain types of questioning; playing back and analyzing tape recordings of meetings; and laboratory education and its various offshoots.

Self-image is an important element in a manager's development. Personal growth is a direct result of an individual's changing self-concept. While growth does not occur in clear-cut logical steps, the process involves the following elements: self-examination, which lays the groundwork for insights and changes; the identification of self-expectations; changing to meet those expectations; self-direction; the broadening of perceptions; and self-realization. Growth is the evolvement of personal goals and the sense of venture in pursuing them.

The ability to communicate and write well is invaluable to a top executive and is a major factor in determining his or her promotability. A checklist of the elements of good writing is a means for individuals and groups to improve their writing skills. The four basic criteria of the written performance inventory are readability, correctness, appropriateness, and thought. Tact, supporting detail, opinion, and attitude are critical to determine the appropriateness of upward communications. In downward communications, diplomacy, clarification of desires, and motivational aspects are more significant. The most important element of any written communication is its thought content.