Managing the Unexpected

Most of our organizational life is scripted and the members play their roles accordingly with approved dress code within the rules of conduct. This theory exhibits how some organizations keep up perception of innovativeness and confidence in management rather than how an organization is doing and how their performance can be effective. This concept makes me think of the cultural aspect of my organization. Within my organization, the administrators worry more about keeping up appearance of being considered successful organizations rather

During the year 2000, Enron was exceeding all expectations, its stock was through the roof, and the company seemed to be on top of the world. The next year Enron declared bankruptcy. So how did a company rise and fall so quickly? The key in analysing this question lies in Enron’s organizational culture, which is defined as “a shared meaning held by members distinguishing an organization” (Robbins and Judge, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 269). During its prime, Enron appeared to be a successful and innovative company, but in reality was a company rooted in an organizational culture of corruption and greed. The five culture dimensions of stability, risk taking and innovation, attention to detail, outcome orientation, and aggressiveness are key to understanding how unethical behavior became such a problem at Enron.

In the book The Invisible Spotlight, Craig Wasserman and Doug Katz write that all managers work in the danger of an invisible spotlight, where actions are scrutinized by their own employees. What is more fascinating, the managers do not even suspect this is really happening. Consequently, future leaders underestimate the influence of the particular events that are in the core of the structure of the business. The book is easy to read and understand, as Wasserman and Katz present their own examples, which make the ideas clearer. The unrevealed spotlight of their weaknesses and strengths are revealed in the book. Every single situation may be found in the realities of management.

Lueneburger, Christoph (2014). Lessons from Chrysler: how to rev up a purpose-driven corporate culture. Retrieved from

The contingency theory (Browning, 2007, p. 190) suggests that leader’s effectiveness depends on how well the leader’s style fits the context. This means effective leaders in this era have the ability to distill their complex messages into accessible ones. In other words, an effective leader is aware of his/ her client’s informational needs and values and thus, creates information to suit their needs. Therefore, leaders tend to regulate and control expressive activity in and around the workplace from legal, managerial, and ethical perspectives (Barry B, 2007). This trend tends to work for organizations that try to cover massive change by creating as little impact on their employees as possible without doing anything ethically wrong in their business.

Patrick Lencioni is an American writer, who focuses on writing books particularly in relation to business and team management. He is best known for ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’, an allegory following the journey of DecisionTech’s new CEO, Katheryn Peterson. In this tale, Lencioni revels the basics of teamwork by creating a fictional business, in which is struggling to grow as a company, due to lack of commitment by its employees. The company fails to accept responsibilities and to come to any agreements, ultimately, resulting a plummeting disposition. Furthermore, throughout the fable, the five dysfunctions of a team become more evident, in which are, absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment avoidance of accountability and

McCoy’s Building Supply Centers and Chick-fil-A are two 70 years old, successful companies withstanding the test of time. They continue to sustain growth and longevity through economic turbulence, and remain competitive with new and upcoming companies. What is the secret to their success one might wonder? As we examine each company, we begin to recognize the existence of a strong organizational culture. The organizational culture of a company is the anchoring core values, which permeates throughout the company and its employees (Schermerhorn, Osborn & Uhl-Bien, 2012, pp. 9).

Quicken Loans has been successful in creating a corporate culture that is “an exceptional and rewarding place to work”. (Salinger, 2007) In the case of “Fun plus hard work equals success for Quicken Loans” the corporate culture is investigated. The study highlights the fact that the “corporate culture mixes causal with high energy”. (Gallagher & Reindl 2013) Quicken employees either “adapt to this high-energy culture or work can seem a high-pressure chamber where leaders extol workers to sell, sell, sell”. (Gallagher & Reindl 2013) This analysis will take into consideration case studies, theses, and interviews to dissect and apply cultural theory to the corporate environment at the Detroit office of Quicken.

We can safely state that no single theory of management is universally accepted today. To provide a useful historical perspective that will guide our study of modern management, we shall discuss five different approaches to management : (1) the universal process approach, (2) the operational approach, (3) the behavioral approach, (4) the systems approach, and (5) the contingency approach. Understanding these general approaches to the theory and practice of management can help you appreciate how management has evolved, where it is today, and where it appears to be headed. Each of the five approaches to management represents a different conceptual framework for better understanding the practice of management.

Prior to the terror attacks in 2001, the predominant thought processes for businesses in the private and local sectors was to continue generating money. By having this narrow-minded approach, these establishments were placing themselves in danger by not being prepared for a disaster, whether that would be man-made, weather or another type. According to Fisher (2004) in our attend section this week, after the 9/11/01 attacks, many businesses were left in dier need of assistance as they had not planned for such a catastrophe. There were several businesses that ended up going out of business. One in particular, lost its entire workforce in the attacks and had to start over, from nothing. Following the old adage that “hindsight is 20/20”,

I would like my reader and audience to take away the three basic principles in business. Do not over expand, plan for the worst- have capital reserves, and make connections. Over fast moving world won’t forgive mistakes if you do not plan carefully for these delicate business

People are resistant to change. They fear uncertainty and loss of control (Kanter, 2012) therefore changing corporate culture can be a difficult and lengthy task. In Peter Bragman’s article, ‘A Good Way to Change a Corporate Culture’ he discusses how corporate culture begins with its ‘invisible culture’ – a companies deeper values held by organisation members – and to change, an organisation must first create new stories to instil new beliefs into the minds of employees.

As Thompson (2015) has discussed, the world is changing fast and organizations must be flexible in handling changes to be able to thrive well or they may experience dilemmas. In 1997, Apple Company, which almost reached bankruptcy ousted its that time CEO, Gil Amelio, where Steve Jobs replaced him and declared himself interim CEO. Apple that time is experiencing a disruptive change, a change that is radical and immediately happening, in other words unexpected. However, they were able to response to it quickly and prevented the company to hit the very bottom by bringing back Steve Jobs. Jobs had so much idea with him, which the company needed most at that time (Time, 2016).

Successful management requires an understanding of the fundamental concepts of effective management techniques and principles. In order to gain such insight, and manage effectively and efficiently, managers must develop an awareness of past management principles, models and theories. From the turn of the 20th Century, the

In today’s ever changing economy, society’s idea of management is becoming increasingly more difficult to sustain with the continuous demands of the position. A successful manager must have a certain level of expertise and problem solving techniques to carry out the daily tasks required. Over the years, there have been various ideas on what management is, such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling.