8A. How Decisiveness Pumped New Life into Procter & Gamble
Background: Alan G. Lafley was named CEO in June 2000, capping a 25-year career at P&G.

"I had to come up with something quickly to get people focused. I didn't want everyone sitting around worrying that our stock price had dropped in half," he says. Within days he set his plan....

"The fact that we were in crisis made it easier to make changes," he says. "In a crisis, people accept change faster."

So Lafley refocused the company on its big brands. He chose P&G's then ten best-sellers--the brands that each generated over $1 billion in sales and which combined made up more than half of total revenues.

Katrina Brooker, "The Un-CEO," Fortune (September 16, 2002): 92.

Questions: What would have happened if Lafley was not as decisive, preferring instead to thoroughly study the situation and patiently build broad support for P&G's turnaround strategy?

For further information about the interactive annotations in this chapter, visit our Web site (/business/kreitner/management/9e/students/annotations).

Author Notes 8-A: How Decisiveness Pumped New Life into Procter & Gamble A slow and steady approach could have been very demotivating for P&G's employees and a death knell for its stock. When a house is burning, it's not the time to study the situation. It's time to figure out what's important and run with it.

8B. Back to the Opening Case
How many of the eight sources of decision complexity are evident in this case? Explain.

Author Notes 8-B: Back to the Opening Case All eight are evident in this case. Checking out different cities and sources provides for multiple criteria. Looking at things and listening to conversations completely unrelated to greeting cards provides intangible ideas that can be used to generate new approaches. Poor decisions--such as bringing out divorce cards before their time--can be a costly mistake. As a trend-spotter, the long-term is an important part of the process, and interdisciplinary input enriches the information provided to the creative team. Having more than one trend-spotter helps with pooled decision making--no one person is deciding where the future is going. This also includes drawing on different people to get varying value judgments, such as when Marita listens to her teenage daughter. Unintended consequences could include creating a card that unintentionally offends religious or cultural sensibilities.

8C. Hmmm. You've Got Me!
Research finding:

It turns out that people working for managers who openly express uncertainty and who seek employee input in resolving ambiguous challenges are more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to and less cynical about their organizations, and more likely to identify with the companies they work for.

Kate Sweetman, "When in Doubt ..." Training, 39 (February 2002): 24.

Question: We are told over and over that employees hate uncertainty. So how do you explain this research finding?

Author Notes 8-C: Hmmm. You've Got Me! In various jobs you've had, how old did your boss treat you like you were? In some jobs, the age estimate would be about 6 or 7. You're told what to do, how to do it, and when. And then the boss hangs around and makes sure you listened. Other people move you up to 12-15. You still get told what to do, but then they leave and come back later to check and make sure you did it right. And then they never point out what's right, only what's wrong. A boss that openly expresses uncertainty and considers you capable of helping resolve ambiguous challenges is simply treating employees as adults. Who wouldn't prefer that environment? At least, what adults wouldn't prefer that environment?

8D. How Intuitive Are You? A Quiz
Rate yourself on each item with the following 1 to 5 scale. The higher your total score, the more intuitive you are.

Not at all like me 1--2--3--4--5 Very much like me

1. You can identify something you haven't seen clearly.
   
   
2. You can time three-minute eggs without a clock.
   
   
3. You are good at generating images spontaneously.
   
   
4. You look at a cloud and many images come to mind.
   
   
5. You always know when it's the ideal time to strike.
   
   
6. You're good at hunches.
   
   
7. You're good at detective work; you know what elements fit together.
   
   Total score: ______
   
   Questionnaire items excerpted from Daniel Cappon, "The Anatomy of Intuition," Psychology Today, 26 (May-June 1993): 42-43.
   
   

Questions: How intuitive are you? Would your close friends and relatives agree with your score? How do others tend to react to your level of intuition? How can your intuition (or lack of it) help or hinder you as a manager?

Author Notes 8-D: How Intuitive Are You? A Quiz There are no good or bad scores on this intuition quiz. The key learning point is to appreciate interpersonal differences among members of your class or team. Intuitive people seemingly jump to conclusions. They rely on spontaneous knowledge instead of on systematic problem solving, carefully reading directions, or the scientific method. Intuitive people push buttons first and ask questions later. They may seem less than logical to those who prefer more systematic approaches to gaining insight. Intuitive managers may become frustrated by coworkers who ask "why" or request supporting evidence. They just know, that's why!

8E. I Think I'll Sleep on It
It's good to be cautious, but mulling over a decision usually boosts confidence without actually improving accuracy. Unless you expect to get fresh information, it rarely helps to "sleep on it," particularly given the human tendencies to focus on confirming information and to discount contrary facts.

J. Wesley Hutchinson and Joseph W. Alba, "When Business Is a Confidence Game," Harvard Business Review, 79 (June 2001): 21.

Question: People in the United States have a reputation for hasty decision making. How can they strike the right balance between speed and the overconfidence trap described here?

Author Notes 8-E: I Think I'll Sleep on It Scientific studies have shown that even scientists have a strong tendency to overvalue data that matches their hypothesis and discount data that conflicts with it. It's no wonder that people working with much less quantifiable information show the same tendency. So what can you do to avoid this decision trap? The best suggestion is to get a different perspective. Ask the person in the next office to take a look at the situation and suggest something--but don't lead them to your decision. Run the pros and cons by your employees, or your boss. You could even call your Mother--she won't lie to you--you know she'll tell you if you're making a mistake.

8F. Back to the Opening Case
What evidence of programmed or nonprogrammed decision making can you detect in this case? Explain.

Author Notes 8-F: Back to the Opening Case Most of the decision making faced by Marita is, by the very nature of her job, nonprogrammed. If she programs her process too much, her capability to discover new things will be hampered. She does have a certain programmed pattern to her process, however. For example, she looks to port cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, and particularly New York. She also mentioned liking to visit a specific store in NYC when starting the process.

8G. Wow! What a Great Mistake!
Alberto Alessi, Italy's leading product designer:

"Revel in your glorious failures. Dance on the borderline between success and disaster. Because that's where your next big breakthrough will come from."

It's the duds that enjoy center stage in the company's private museum, where Alessi summons his designers weekly to discuss new projects.

As quoted in Ian Wylie, "Failure Is Glorious," Fast Company, no. 51 (October 2001): 36.

Question: How well does this perspective mesh with knowledge management? Explain.

Author Notes 8-G: Wow! What a Great Mistake! Failures are a great and sometimes embarrassing learning tool. By sweeping them under the rug, a great deal of potential shared knowledge is lost. Even if the lesson is just "don't be stupid," it's still a good lesson. Goodwill-building humor also is needed to deal with (and share) mistakes.

8H. What Does Consensus Mean?
A consensus requires unity but not unanimity and concurrence but not consistency....

A consensus is reached when all members can say they either agree with the decision or have had their "day in court" and were unable to convince the others of their viewpoint. In the final analysis, everyone agrees to support the outcome. It is not a majority because that implies a vote, and voting is verboten [taboo] for teams using the consensus method. Voting tends to split the group into winners and losers, thereby creating needless divisions. Consensus does not require unanimity since members may still disagree with the final result but are willing to work toward its success. This is the hallmark of a team player.

Glenn M. Parker, Team Players and Teamwork: The New Competitive Business Strategy (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990), p. 44.

Questions: Are you surprised by any of this information? Why is it so important not to submit an issue to a vote when trying to reach a consensus? In today's organizations, why is it often better to strive for a consensus rather than insist upon unanimous support? What are the major drawbacks of the consensus approach?

Author Notes 8-H: What Does Consensus Mean? The term consensus is widely and rather loosely used today. It does not mean unanimity. It means "you've had your say, but not necessarily your way." Others prefer to say that dissenters will "agree to disagree." The result, however, is that both those in favor and those against eventually get behind the group decision and try their best to make it work. As a procedural point, taking a vote can bring needed give-and-take discussion to a premature end. Like any form of participatory democracy, consensus building is slow and noisy, but it is a great way to generate understanding and build collective support.

8I. Back to the Opening Case
Which of the ten mental locks did Wesely-Clough successfully avoid? Explain.

Author Notes 8-I: Back to the Opening Case It looks like she avoided all of them. She seems perfectly suited to her job, and perfectly sure she is doing it "right." All of the mental blocks listed would also block her ability to move past the current and look toward the next thing--or things. Creativity is what her job is really all about. Just a quick question. Doesn't her job sound to you like the best job in the entire world? It sure does to me.

8J. Something to Think About
Joey Reiman, an Atlanta-based creativity consultant:

Coming up with an idea requires investigation, incubation, illumination and illustration. We always forget about incubation.... Business is full of people who are crashing and burning because there is a tremendous pressure to constantly be producing. If you're just sitting at your desk thinking when someone asks what you are doing, what do you say? 'I was just thinking.' People devalue themselves by apologizing for thinking....

Yet incubation is the most important step in the idea process. It's no surprise that great ideas come to us at unexpected times: when you go for a run, when you're in the shower. Those are some of the rare times in most people's busy days when their minds are free to explore. Great thinking is always simmering just below the surface.

As quoted in Echo Montgomery Garrett, "Joey Reiman, Idea Man," Management Review, 88 (October 1999): 64.

Questions: When and where do you usually do most of your creative thinking? How could you do a better job of "incubating" creative ideas?

ANNOTATION 8-J: Something to Think About I like to muse. Sometimes that means that my brain makes strange but workable connections. Sometimes it means that I waste time. But I never know which it will be. How much time do you have for incubating information? Many people today are really good at input--adding information to your personal mental database. Many more are big on output--telling you more than you wanted to know about what they know. But it's the pause in the middle that generates real progress. Give yourself permission to do nothing but let your brain run once in a while. You may be surprised by what you come up with.