> Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 01:11:01 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Brock Vodden <brock.vodden@odyssey.on.ca>
<<< some deletions here >>>
> Those organizations that blindly follow the main stream tendencies tend to
> develop, select, and promote leaders with limited vision, inadequate
> skills, and limited ability to respond to changes in their business and in
> society.
You are probably describing government divisions, some universities, etc. I
don't think that private business would have too many chances of survival
in today's business environment, if they followed this pattern of selection
of their business.
> Who is accountable for this defective traditional system of management
> development?
>
> The system has been created more by accident than by plan. It is the
> product of many decades of tradition, aided and abetted by hundreds of
> thousands of managers.
>
> Those who rise to positions of leadership within those organizations or
> industries do so by meeting the requirements of their flawed system. When
> circumstances change, revealing the inadequacies of the traditional
> approaches, and threatening total failure unless the leadership makes a
> drastic change in diection, is it fair to blame those leaders for not
> fighting the system which fostered them?
I think it is! For instance, when Lee Iacocca was telling the American
public that they couldn't recognize the quality of Chrysler's products
because the only perceive quality in Japanese brands, I think that he was
ignoring a big message that the public had sent him: Improve your product,
with true improvements, not just new commercials!
> Is that not like blaming the fish
> for causing their own death by living in a polluted river?
No, I don't think it is. The only thing fish can do about polluted water
is to move too another place or to die. Leaders and managers can do a
little bit more than that. They can even prevent pollution from happening
in the first place.
> I wonder if it is of any value to determine accountability in these cases?
> I guess that's the main question that concerns me at this point in the
> conversation.
>
> Perhaps we should focus on who has the responsibility to do something to
> break the perpetuating cycle . Perhaps it lies with those leaders in our
> society who have been fortunate enough to break away from the traditional
> way of thinking, and have acquired a new wisdom.
>
> Brock Vodden
I think that accountability does not only fall on leaders and managers. It
is the responsibility of all of us in the system to push for changes to
break those dysfunctional cycles. Of course, leaders and managers have
more responsibility because they are the ones who actually must support the
implementation of new ways...
-- Ivan,
--*************************************************************** R. IVAN BLANCO, Ph.D. Voice 305 899-3515 Assoc. Prof. & Director Fax 305 892-6412 International Business Programs Andreas School of Business _________E-Mail Addresses________ Barry University Bitnet: Blanco%bu4090@Barryu Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695 Internet: Blanco@bu4090.barry.edu <<<<< ---------------- >>>>> "Si un hombre fuera necesario para sostener el Estado, este Estado no deberia existir." "If one man were necessary to sustain a Nation, this Nation should not exist." Simon Bolivar ===============================================================
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