14A. An Uphill Battle?
Max De Pree, former CEO of Herman Miller, the Michigan office furniture maker:

In our group activities, intimacy is betrayed by such things as politics, short-term measurements, arrogance, superficiality, and an orientation toward self rather than toward the good of the group.

Max De Pree, Leadership Is an Art (New York: Dell, 1989), p. 56.

Questions: Which of the various barriers to effective group action mentioned by De Pree is the most difficult for managers to overcome? Why? Is De Pree being too negative, or just being realistic? Explain.

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

Author Notes 14-A: An Uphill Battle? Which of these barriers does a manager have some control over? Politics and short-term measurements are external barriers, and a manager may find a way to mitigate these. Arrogance and superficiality are internally generated, although a manager can encourage or discourage arrogance by how he or she treats the team and the individuals on it. A self-centered outlook is the hardest--the only way to get past this is to build individual rewards around group success. The barriers De Pree discusses are characteristics of dysfunctional groups. If an organization is dysfunctional, chances are the teams will be also. Is De Pree too negative? It depends on your environment.

14B. Toward a Sense of Community in the Workplace
Carolyn Schaffer and Kristin Anundsen, authors of the book, Creating Community Anywhere: Finding Support and Connection in a Fragmented World:

Community is a dynamic whole that emerges when a group of people:

• Participate in common practices;
  
  
• Depend upon one another;
  
  
• Make decisions together;
  
  
• Identify themselves as part of something larger than the sum of their individual relationships; and
  
  
• Commit themselves for the long term to their own, one another's, and the group's well-being.
  
  

Quoted in Ron Zemke, "The Call of Community," Training, 33 (March 1996): 27.

Questions: How important is it to build this sense of community in today's work groups and organizations? Explain. What is your personal experience with a genuine feeling of community? Are we naive to expect a sense of community in today's hurried and rapidly changing workplace? Explain.

Author Notes 14-B: Toward a Sense of Community in the Workplace In past years, community was developed through neighborhoods, extended families, and religious organizations. Today, those avenues of community are often no longer available. Instead, we create temporary communities to meet that need. One example is the community that develops among students and professors in a classroom environment. Another is the community that can be created in a work environment. Not every work situation evolves into a community. Some are too tenuous to evolve to that extent. Others are so tense and competitive that the feeling of community is destroyed by politics and conflict. But at its best, the community feeling that can be created at work enhances and enriches the workday. The community created at the first job I had, at WGTE-FM public radio in Toledo, Ohio, still lasts twenty-two years later--even though only two of the original employees still work there. An "alumni" reunion led to 95 percent of the original group returning to Ohio, from as far away as Seattle, Boston, and Phoenix. Where are your communities? At work? At school? Through friends? How do they contribute to your life?

14C. Back to the Opening Case
What role expectations and norms paved the way for Enron's failure?

Author Notes 14-C: Back to the Opening Case Cutthroat competition and spying demonstrate the worst side of power without considering the responsibility that comes with it. Ken Lay liked playing public relations CEO and allowed Skilling--and his warped sense of how the world works--to overrun Enron, and Skilling's hubris killed a once-viable company. Mark made bad decisions, but her work did only minor damage compared to Skilling's. The first job I had out of an MBA program was selling custom training to corporations. The other program director, Ralph, who specialized in public training programs, didn't approve of me being hired (he had his own choice for the job). He went to the top boss and tried to get me fired after I had been there a month. Fortunately for me, I had access to the organization's financial information. During that first month, I had sold some $30,000 in training. Not great, but not bad for a first month on the job. However, my "colleague" had lost $90,000 on failed public programs. When my manager called me--on a Sunday night--and told me I had to make a case for staying on Monday morning, I brought the numbers to him and told him I could make money for the organization, but not as fast as Ralph could lose it. I kept my job, but Ralph's behavior cost him his. If Ken Lay had been as on top of his organization as my old boss, Enron's disaster wouldn't have happened. Big or small, organizations can be taken down by the actions of one person, if everyone else isn't paying attention.

14D. The Business of Golf
Ask people why they golf with business associates, and the answer is always the same: It's a great way to build relationships. They say this far more about golf than about going to dinner or attending a baseball game, and for good reason. Indeed, this may be the central fact about corporate golf, though it's rarely said: When people golf together, they see one another humiliated. At least 95% of all golfers are terrible, which means that in 18 holes everyone in the foursome will hit a tree, take three strokes in one bunker, or four-putt, with everyone else watching. Bonding is simply a matter of people jointly going through adversity, and a round of golf will furnish plenty of it.

Geoffrey Colvin, "Why Execs Love Golf," Fortune (April 30, 2001): 46.

Questions: Why does shared adversity foster strong relationships and bonding? How can managers get task group members to bond like this without playing golf?

Author Notes 14-D: The Business of Golf We all have facades or shells that we present to the public. Part of that shell is the communication of "I know what I'm doing." Let that shell slip, and others get closer to the real you. In times of adversity, with humiliation and trauma, the shell slips, and even after it's back up, the inner you has been exposed to others. Since everyone has one of those shells, people connect better when they see other shells slip too. You can admit worries, acknowledge defeats, and show your true strength--not the supposed power of always getting it right, but the real power of getting it wrong, falling, and getting up and trying again. Showing vulnerabilities encourages bonding. If managers can get task groups in environments where they are vulnerable, a stronger bond will occur. That's one secret to the success of "outward bound" programs where people climb poles and jump off, etc. We draw closer to others in times of adversity, and the connection stays even when the adversity is over.

14E. Is TV's Survivor a Metaphor for Worklife?
"The same games are being played in the office,"... says Rutgers University anthropologist Helen Fisher. "That is why we like the show. We are trying to figure out if we could play the game."

"People are built to constantly size up the costs and benefits of their behavior, to decide when to be the good Samaritan and when to cheat, when to form coalitions and when to be honest and when to be dishonest." says Fisher. "This is part of the survival of the fittest."

Karen S. Peterson, "'Survivor' Tactics Could Become Norm," USA Today (February 8, 2001): 1D.

Questions: Is it really that brutal in today's workplace? Explain. How do you plan to be a survivor in the organizational jungle?

Author Notes 14-E: Is TV's Survivor a Metaphor for Work Life? I would hate to be part of a workplace that operates the way Survivor does. On the other hand, elements of the program are certainly part of many organizations. In Abnormal Psychology, I remember the professor saying that everyone may have some characteristics of various syndromes. You may have a tendency to re-check locks without being obsessive-compulsive, worry when someone is walking behind you on the street at night without being paranoid, etc. Abnormality is just a question of degree. I think the same is true in this case. An organization that is good to work for may have some slight Survivor characteristics. On the other hand, a dysfunctional organization could be taped and played in place of the next show. I think it's up to you whether or not you will work in a Survivor atmosphere. Personally, I wouldn't, even for a million dollars. I have more respect for myself than that.

14F. Back to the Opening Case
Which political tactics are most evident in the Enron case? Explain. How could the destructive political infighting been avoided or minimized at Enron?

Author Notes 14-F: Back to the Opening Case Empire building: Mark exhibited that tactic with her plant buying, and Skilling with his trading drive. Creating power and loyalty cliques: Skilling was very good at that, to Mark's disadvantage. Destructive competition: Skilling did everything he could to take Mark down. And he succeeded--lucky for her.

14G. Back to the Opening Case
Did blind conformity and groupthink contribute to Enron's fall? Explain. What could have been done at Enron to prevent groupthink?

Author Notes 14-G: Back to the Opening Case My main response to the Enron case is, "why didn't someone blow the whistle a long time ago?" Yet it's obvious from this case that these people had created a culture where they thought they were impervious to the rules everyone else plays by. In terms of how to treat other people, sexual mores, basic values and standards, this group abandoned the rules most people believe in living by. If asked, I'm sure these people all thought they were in touch with the world around them. In reality, they had spent so long in the "rarified air" of Skilling's Enron that they hadn't a clue. Enron needed a breath of fresh air. I tend to blame Ken Lay for these problems. It was his job--and the job of the board--to watch out for these problems and kill them at their source. Instead, he fostered them by giving Skilling more and more power. Kind of like Kudzu--you think you're doing the right thing until you discover that you've introduced and supported an element that is choking the life out of your organization the way Kudzu is choking the life out of wilderness areas in the South.

Author Notes 14-H: No Team Is an Island It starts at the top. Is the top manager willing to pitch in? Does he or she trust the employees? Does the boss believe that if someone wins, someone else is going to lose? Or is one person's win everyone's win? Is the focus on rewarding or blaming? Are mistakes corrected without reprisal, or is your first mistake your last? Is nastiness tolerated or corrected? When it comes to culture, the boss is definitely in charge by virtue of setting the tone. If management is supportive and trusting, the rank-and-file will follow.

Author Notes 14-I: The Truth About Trust All adults have a kindergartner inside them. This kid is the one who says, "You shouldn't be here, you're really just a little kid, and sooner or later everyone will know, and then you'll be gone." For some people, that kindergartner is so loud that they are afraid of doing anything. In others, they've completely shut down the kindergartner, and they really believe they can do anything without penalty--like Skilling in the opening case. His kindergartner ran away and hid a long time ago. One of the toughest battles we face with that kindergartner inside is the tendency to want to lie rather than admit responsibility. Whether it's a secret friend who "did it" or just saying "I don't know," it's tempting to avoid responsibility. When you really were a kindergartner, if you're lucky, your mom made you return that gum you stole to the store and apologize to the manager. If you're even luckier, the manager handled it well, so you discovered that admitting to doing something wrong isn't as bad as you were afraid it would be. In an organization, our willingness to tell the truth is dependent on whether the organization is focused on throwing blame or solving problems. Not telling the truth is a way for that kindergartner inside us to avoid hearing that "shame shame" we're always afraid is coming. However, as some of us learned early and others, like Skilling, learn too late, not telling the truth doesn't solve a problem, it postpones it. And the cost in trust isn't worth the supposed advantage. NOTE TO INSTRUCTOR: See the Cooperative Learning Tool, "Whom Do You Trust" for more on this topic.