“Leadership and Self-Deception”
The Arbinger Institite
Berret-Koehler Publishers Inc.
When I saw this book from a shelf, the first word, “leadership,” served as a magnet – as all thoughtful books on leadership.
“Self-Deception,” the word-phrase attached to Leadership, was both intriguing and puzzling. I jumped to conclusion: “Ah, this must be one of those ‘psychology’ types – speaking of leaders with illusions of grandeur, chameleon-like characters, and creatures of assiduously nurtured image of strength and virtue.”
A friend, a bibliophile, said: “This is a good book.” That was an understatement. The book has stirred a revolution – where all revolutions start: from the heart.
Once a rare while, a book comes to momentarily lead us away from the corporate world of numbers and statistics, tactics and strategies, mergers and acquisitions, skills and technologies, logistics and resources.
A book comes to remind us corporations are actually made of people – not as human resources (in the same breath that there are machines and materials) – in the deepest sense of the word.
You will say, what else is new? CEOs and human resource managers have been singing praises to people as “heroes in the corporate world.” This book asks: Do we mean it?
The question is asked, not because it is fashionable to jolt non-human resource people from their confining mindsets toward realizing the value of people – but because such question, the book says, is “fundamental to the survival of the company.”
For a book authored not by an individual but by a nameless group in the Arbinger Institute – it is refreshingly personal, warm and full of insights. The authors have wisely decided to deliver the gems of truth in a narrative. And, so much like in a gripping novel, you find yourself listening to the dialogue – even the silences. Before you know it, you are hooked.
The begins with Tom Callum, a fictional character and a two-month old executive of Zagrum, also a fictional outstanding firm. Then he meets Bud Jefferson, the executive vice president, who gives Tom and earth-shaking, self-worth shattering evaluation:
“You have a problem. The people at work know it;; your spouse knows it; your mother-in-law knows it. I bet even your neighbors know it.” And then the bombshell: “The problem is that you don’t know it.”
Only into page seven of the book, and you read this dialogue – and you’re hooked! That’s justifiably so, because at different levels, you will find yourself in Tom. Or you can identify yourself with the only three other characters in the essay narrative, who guide Tom through a journey of discovery, self-assessment, mindset liberation and transformation.
This is not a romanticized view of people in the corporate world. “Getting out of the box,” as the author puts it, is “deeper than changing behavior.” The book confronts an all-too-familiar situation where executives are non-productive and such “germ” of non-productivity infects his people. A true story of doctors – serving as carriers of a germ that led to high mortality rates a month mothers giving birth – illuminates the point, frighteningly so.
The point of the book is this: If you are in a box – you are imprisoned by your own high regard of yourself and your unsatisfactory view of others. And since you are in a box of self-deception, you don’t know that the people around you find you “not fun to work with.” And you are surprised!
Samples of interesting dialogue:
“You can’t focus on results because in the box you’re focused on yourself”
“ I saw in myself a leader who was so sure of the brilliance of his own ideas that he couldn’t allow brilliance in anyone else’s.”
“When I’m in the box, I need people to cause trouble for me – I need problems.”
“Success in an organization is a function of whether we’re in the box or not and that our influence as leaders depends on the same thing.”
This point is raised from the first pages of the book, but is enriched, expanded and deepened as you read about self-betrayal, blaming others – and ultimately in “questioning your own virtue.” It sounds religious. It sounds like repentance or realizing how unworthy you are, but the authors manage to steer clear of deep religious or philosophical talk.
The reason the book avoids the usual turn-offs – pontification and pedantry – is that these truths are delivered in a story whose plot thickens along the way and the dialog keeps you waiting with bated breath for what happens next.
The insights are expressed in confessions by a venerable former CEO, a mentor-philosopher and the current CEO, who also share their own problems. Result: A deeply human account that can have a dramatic impact on a human institution – the corporation.
If you continue to be puzzled why your people are not delivering excellence as you expect them to, this book might be useful. You can stumble upon once startling truth. As one writer puts it: We have discovered the enemy – and the enemy is us. The good thing about it is this: you don’t have to slay the enemy. You transform him – I mean yourself.
Sunday, January 28, 2001
Key to excellence: Bolt prison of self-betrayal
“Leadership and Self-Deception”
The Arbinger Institute
Berrette-Koehler Publishers Inc.
When I saw this book from a shelf, the first word, “Leadership,” served as a magnet—as all thoughtful books on leadership.
“Self-Deception,” the word phrase attached to Leadership, was both intriguing and puzzling. I jumped to conclusion: “Ah, this must be one of those ‘psychology’ types—speaking of leaders with illusions of grandeur, chameleon-like characters, and creatures of assiduously nurtured image of strength and virtue.”
A friend, a bibliophile, said: “This is a good book,” That was an understatement. The book has stirred a revolution—when all revolutions start: from the heart.
Once a rare while, a book comes to momentarily lead as away from a corporate world of numbers and statistics, tactics and strategies, mergers and acquisitions, skills and technologies, logistics and resources.
A book comes to remind us corporations are actually made of people—not as human resources (in the same breath that there are machines and materials)—in the deepest sense of the word.
You will say, what else is new? CEOs and human resource managers have been singing praise to the people as “heroes in the corporate world.” This book asks: Do we mean it?
The question is asked, not because it is fashionable to jolt non-human resource people from their confining mindsets toward realizing the value of people—but because such a question, the book says, is “fundamental to the survival of the company.
For a book authored not by an individual but by a nameless group in the Arbinger Institute—it is refreshing personal, warm and full of insights. The author have wisely decide to deliver the gems of truth in a narrative. And, so much like in a gripping novel, you find yourself listening to the dialogue—even the silences. Before you know it, you are hooked.
The book begins with Tom Callum, a fictional character and a two-month old executive of Zagrum, also a fictional outstanding firm. Then he meets Bud Jefferson, the executive vice president, who gives Tom an earth-shaking, self-worth shattering evaluation:
“You have a problem. The people at work know it; your spouse knows it; your mother-in-law knows it. I bet even your neighbors know it.” And then the bombshell: “The problem is that you don’t know it.”
Only into page seven of the book, and you read this dialogue—and you’re hooked! That’s justifiable so, because at different levels, you will find yourself in Tom. Or you can identify yourself with the only three other characters in the essay narrative, who guide Tom through a journey of discovery, self-assessment, mindset liberation and transformation.
This is not a romanticized view of people in the corporate world. “Getting out of the box,” as the authors put it, is “deeper than changing behavior.” The book confronts an all-too-familiar situation where executives are non-productive and such “germ” of non-productivity infects his people. A true story of doctors—serving as carriers of a germ that led to high mortality rates among mothers giving birth—illuminates the point, frighteningly so.
The point of the book is this: if you are in a box—you are imprisoned by your own high regard of yourself and your unsatisfactory view of others. And since you are in a box of self-deception, you don’t know that the people around you find you “not fun to work with.” And you are surprised!
Samples of interesting dialogue:
“You can’t focus on results because in the box you’re focused on yourself.”
“I saw in myself a leader who was so sure of the brilliance of his own ideas that couldn’t allow brilliance in anyone else’s.”
“When I’m in the box, I need people to cause trouble for me—I need problems.”
“Success in an organization is a function of whether we’re in the box or not and that our influence as leaders depends on the same thing.”
This point is raised from the first pages of the book, but is enriched, expanded and deepened as you read about self-betrayal, blaming others—and ultimately in “questioning your own virtue.” It sounds religious. It sounds like repentance or realizing how unworthy you are, but the authors manage to steer clear of deep religious or philosophical talk.
The reason the book avoids the usual turn-offs—pontification and pedantry—is that these truths are delivered in a story whose plot thickens along the way and the dialog keeps you waiting with bated breath for what happens next.
The insights are expressed in confessions by a venerable former CEO, a mentor-philosopher and the current CEO, who also share their own problems. Result: A deeply human account that can have a dramatic impact on a human institution—the corporation.
If you continue to be puzzled why your people are not delivering excellence as you expect them to, this book might be useful. You can stumble upon one startling truth. As one writer puts it: We have discovered the enemy—and the enemy is us. The good thing about it is this: You don’t have to slay the enemy. You transform him—I mean yourself.
The Arbinger Institute
Berrette-Koehler Publishers Inc.
When I saw this book from a shelf, the first word, “Leadership,” served as a magnet—as all thoughtful books on leadership.
“Self-Deception,” the word phrase attached to Leadership, was both intriguing and puzzling. I jumped to conclusion: “Ah, this must be one of those ‘psychology’ types—speaking of leaders with illusions of grandeur, chameleon-like characters, and creatures of assiduously nurtured image of strength and virtue.”
A friend, a bibliophile, said: “This is a good book,” That was an understatement. The book has stirred a revolution—when all revolutions start: from the heart.
Once a rare while, a book comes to momentarily lead as away from a corporate world of numbers and statistics, tactics and strategies, mergers and acquisitions, skills and technologies, logistics and resources.
A book comes to remind us corporations are actually made of people—not as human resources (in the same breath that there are machines and materials)—in the deepest sense of the word.
You will say, what else is new? CEOs and human resource managers have been singing praise to the people as “heroes in the corporate world.” This book asks: Do we mean it?
The question is asked, not because it is fashionable to jolt non-human resource people from their confining mindsets toward realizing the value of people—but because such a question, the book says, is “fundamental to the survival of the company.
For a book authored not by an individual but by a nameless group in the Arbinger Institute—it is refreshing personal, warm and full of insights. The author have wisely decide to deliver the gems of truth in a narrative. And, so much like in a gripping novel, you find yourself listening to the dialogue—even the silences. Before you know it, you are hooked.
The book begins with Tom Callum, a fictional character and a two-month old executive of Zagrum, also a fictional outstanding firm. Then he meets Bud Jefferson, the executive vice president, who gives Tom an earth-shaking, self-worth shattering evaluation:
“You have a problem. The people at work know it; your spouse knows it; your mother-in-law knows it. I bet even your neighbors know it.” And then the bombshell: “The problem is that you don’t know it.”
Only into page seven of the book, and you read this dialogue—and you’re hooked! That’s justifiable so, because at different levels, you will find yourself in Tom. Or you can identify yourself with the only three other characters in the essay narrative, who guide Tom through a journey of discovery, self-assessment, mindset liberation and transformation.
This is not a romanticized view of people in the corporate world. “Getting out of the box,” as the authors put it, is “deeper than changing behavior.” The book confronts an all-too-familiar situation where executives are non-productive and such “germ” of non-productivity infects his people. A true story of doctors—serving as carriers of a germ that led to high mortality rates among mothers giving birth—illuminates the point, frighteningly so.
The point of the book is this: if you are in a box—you are imprisoned by your own high regard of yourself and your unsatisfactory view of others. And since you are in a box of self-deception, you don’t know that the people around you find you “not fun to work with.” And you are surprised!
Samples of interesting dialogue:
“You can’t focus on results because in the box you’re focused on yourself.”
“I saw in myself a leader who was so sure of the brilliance of his own ideas that couldn’t allow brilliance in anyone else’s.”
“When I’m in the box, I need people to cause trouble for me—I need problems.”
“Success in an organization is a function of whether we’re in the box or not and that our influence as leaders depends on the same thing.”
This point is raised from the first pages of the book, but is enriched, expanded and deepened as you read about self-betrayal, blaming others—and ultimately in “questioning your own virtue.” It sounds religious. It sounds like repentance or realizing how unworthy you are, but the authors manage to steer clear of deep religious or philosophical talk.
The reason the book avoids the usual turn-offs—pontification and pedantry—is that these truths are delivered in a story whose plot thickens along the way and the dialog keeps you waiting with bated breath for what happens next.
The insights are expressed in confessions by a venerable former CEO, a mentor-philosopher and the current CEO, who also share their own problems. Result: A deeply human account that can have a dramatic impact on a human institution—the corporation.
If you continue to be puzzled why your people are not delivering excellence as you expect them to, this book might be useful. You can stumble upon one startling truth. As one writer puts it: We have discovered the enemy—and the enemy is us. The good thing about it is this: You don’t have to slay the enemy. You transform him—I mean yourself.
Sunday, January 21, 2001
The Revolution that began at the top
“Jack Welch and the GE Way”
Robert Slater
McGraw Hill
“If it ain’t broke, why fix it? This is a truism that’s already considered gospel truth by those who mistakenly feel that their success will go on and on or by those who are afraid they may fail if they try something new.
Well, Jack Welch did exactly that. He introduced radical changes in a company, General Electric, that seemed to be in the best of corporate health. But Welch, who still holds the distinction as the “gold standard of the world’s CEOs, though otherwise. He saw a company “in trouble.”
“By 1997, General Electric is a far different company from GE of a decade ago, or two decades ago,” said author Robert Slater, noting GE’s 1997 revenues of $90.84 billion, making it the fifth largest American company.
But that was only possible because Jack Welch, when he took over in the eighties, launched his own revolution in what appeared as a company that needed no fixing at all, according to the author.
The book, “Jack Welch and the GE Way,” narrates and analyzes for us how Mr. Welch waged his revolution, first by challenging traditional – and even time tested – concepts in management.
We learned in graduate school that we do not decide until we have “pushed the numbers.” Jack Welch tells us: “Don’t focus on the numbers!” A story told that a GE executive who concentrates on the numbers – and who rules out other factors in the equation – is a candidate for firing.
Also, our graduate school has underscored the role of management in getting results. The GE CEO would rather want us to “be leaders, not managers.” Every managerial layer, he says, is a bad layer. The world is moving at such a pace that control has become a limitation. It slows you down.
We were taught that we should not venture unto areas that are within out firm’s core competence. And yet, Jack Welch – CEO of the builder of aircraft engines, power systems, medical systems and electrical products – ventured into the broadcasting business!
Commenting on Mr. Welch’s successful adventure, NBC’s Don Ohlmeyer said: “People try to mythologize this business (broadcasting). They talk about the “men with the golden guts.” But, it’s no different from any other business. You pay attention to detail. You have good taste. You know what you’re doing. You get in business with the right people. You support them with the right assets. And you succeed.”
Ohlmeyer just summarized a formula for corporate success – in whatever field. It is so simple. It is revolutionary.
Another mindset in business – internal growth – is not in the vocabulary of Mr. Welch, although he truly placed the entire organization of GE in fighting form. We believed in sure and steady growth. But the GE CEO advises us to go for the quantum leap'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=quantum%20leap">quantum leap!
The author says: “Jack Welch believed in the surprise move. The bold play. Shaking his rivals. He loved the idea that he could shake things up.”
Proof: Annual sales at GE had increases from $27.24 billion in 1981 to $28.29 billion in 1985 – in only four years.
If you have learned the basics of business management in a specialized course or in graduate school, you will find this book very refreshing. While it challenges traditional concepts, you will recognize that he has actually proceeded from business fundamentals.
And yet, as you read along the way, you would feel that you are back to school, getting a refresher course, being updated on the new pace in decision making, and being ushered into a profoundly altered world where things are fast, and where old strategies no longer work.
You would also be introduced to new concepts, already popular in the US, but still being introduced in the country. The Six Sigma Quality concept is an interesting quality program worth reading about. The use of black belts and brown belts in the management hierarchy is an intriguing way of qualifying executes.
Overall, this book has its “weight in gold.” After all, the featured CEO is the “gold standard by which all CEOs will be measured.”
Don’t attempt top launch a corporate revolution until you have thoroughly read this book, page by page.
Robert Slater
McGraw Hill
“If it ain’t broke, why fix it? This is a truism that’s already considered gospel truth by those who mistakenly feel that their success will go on and on or by those who are afraid they may fail if they try something new.
Well, Jack Welch did exactly that. He introduced radical changes in a company, General Electric, that seemed to be in the best of corporate health. But Welch, who still holds the distinction as the “gold standard of the world’s CEOs, though otherwise. He saw a company “in trouble.”
“By 1997, General Electric is a far different company from GE of a decade ago, or two decades ago,” said author Robert Slater, noting GE’s 1997 revenues of $90.84 billion, making it the fifth largest American company.
But that was only possible because Jack Welch, when he took over in the eighties, launched his own revolution in what appeared as a company that needed no fixing at all, according to the author.
The book, “Jack Welch and the GE Way,” narrates and analyzes for us how Mr. Welch waged his revolution, first by challenging traditional – and even time tested – concepts in management.
We learned in graduate school that we do not decide until we have “pushed the numbers.” Jack Welch tells us: “Don’t focus on the numbers!” A story told that a GE executive who concentrates on the numbers – and who rules out other factors in the equation – is a candidate for firing.
Also, our graduate school has underscored the role of management in getting results. The GE CEO would rather want us to “be leaders, not managers.” Every managerial layer, he says, is a bad layer. The world is moving at such a pace that control has become a limitation. It slows you down.
We were taught that we should not venture unto areas that are within out firm’s core competence. And yet, Jack Welch – CEO of the builder of aircraft engines, power systems, medical systems and electrical products – ventured into the broadcasting business!
Commenting on Mr. Welch’s successful adventure, NBC’s Don Ohlmeyer said: “People try to mythologize this business (broadcasting). They talk about the “men with the golden guts.” But, it’s no different from any other business. You pay attention to detail. You have good taste. You know what you’re doing. You get in business with the right people. You support them with the right assets. And you succeed.”
Ohlmeyer just summarized a formula for corporate success – in whatever field. It is so simple. It is revolutionary.
Another mindset in business – internal growth – is not in the vocabulary of Mr. Welch, although he truly placed the entire organization of GE in fighting form. We believed in sure and steady growth. But the GE CEO advises us to go for the quantum leap'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=quantum%20leap">quantum leap!
The author says: “Jack Welch believed in the surprise move. The bold play. Shaking his rivals. He loved the idea that he could shake things up.”
Proof: Annual sales at GE had increases from $27.24 billion in 1981 to $28.29 billion in 1985 – in only four years.
If you have learned the basics of business management in a specialized course or in graduate school, you will find this book very refreshing. While it challenges traditional concepts, you will recognize that he has actually proceeded from business fundamentals.
And yet, as you read along the way, you would feel that you are back to school, getting a refresher course, being updated on the new pace in decision making, and being ushered into a profoundly altered world where things are fast, and where old strategies no longer work.
You would also be introduced to new concepts, already popular in the US, but still being introduced in the country. The Six Sigma Quality concept is an interesting quality program worth reading about. The use of black belts and brown belts in the management hierarchy is an intriguing way of qualifying executes.
Overall, this book has its “weight in gold.” After all, the featured CEO is the “gold standard by which all CEOs will be measured.”
Don’t attempt top launch a corporate revolution until you have thoroughly read this book, page by page.
The revolution that began at the top
“Jack Welch and the GE Way”
Robert Slater
McGraw Hill
If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” This is a truism that’s already considered gospel truth by those who mistakenly feel that their success will go on and on or by those who are afraid they may fail if they try something new.
Well, Jack Welch, did exactly that. He introduced radical changes in a company, General Electric, that seemed to be in the best of corporate health. But Welch, who still holds the distinction as the “gold standard of the world’s CEO’s, thought otherwise. He saw a company “in trouble.”
“By 1997, General Electric is a far different company from the GE of a decade ago, or two decades ago,” said author Robert Slater, nothing GE’s 1997 revenues of $90.84 billion, making it the fifth largest American company.
But that was only possible because Jack Welch, when he took over in the eighties, launched his own revolution in what appeared as a company that needed no fixing at all, according to the author.
The book, “Jack Welch and the GE Way,” narrates and analyzes for us how Mr. Welch waged his revolution, first by challenging traditional—and even time tested—concepts in management.
We learned in graduate school that we do not decide until we have “pushed the numbers.” Jack Welch tells us: “Don’t focus on the numbers!” A story is told that a GE executive who concentrates on the numbers—and who rules out other factors in the equation—is a candidate for firing.
Also, our graduate school has underscored the role of management in getting results. The GE CEO would rather want us to “be leaders, not managers.” Every managerial lawyer, he says, is a bad lawyer. The world is moving at such a pace that control has become a limitation. It slows you down.
We were taught that we should not venture into areas that are within our firm’s core competence. And yet, Jack Welch—CEO of the builder of aircraft engines, power systems, medical systems and electrical products—ventured into the broadcasting business!
Commenting on Mr. Welch’s successful adventure , NBC’s Don Ohlmeyer said: “People try to mythologize this business (broadcasting). They talk about the “men with the golden guts.” But, it’s no different from any other business. You pay attention to detail. You have good taste. You know what you’re doing. You get in business with the right people. You support them with the right assets. And you succeed.”
Ohlmeyer just summarized a formula for corporate success—in whatever field. It is so simple. It is revolutionary.
Another mindset in business—internal growth—is not in the vocabulary of Mr. Welch, although he truly placed the entire organization of GE in fighting form. We believe in sure and steady growth. But the GE CEO advises us to go for the quantum leap!
The author says: “Jack Welch believed in the surprise move. The bold play. Shaking his rivals. He loved the idea that he could shake things up.” Proof: Animal sales at GE had increased from $27.24 billion in 1981 to $28.29 billion in 1985—in only four years.
If you have learned the basics of business management in a specialized course or in graduate school, you will find this book very refreshing. While it challenges traditional concepts, you will recognize that he has actually proceeded from business fundamentals.
And yet, as you read along the way, you would feel that you are back to school, getting a refresher coarse, being updated on the pace in decision making, and being ushered into a profoundly altered world where things are fast, and where old strategies no longer work.
You would also be introduced to new concepts, already popular in the US, but still being introduced in the country. The Six Sigma Quality concept is an interesting quality program worth reading about. The use of black belts and brown belts in the management hierarchy is an intriguing way of qualifying executes.
Overall, this book has its “weight in gold.” After all, the featured CEO is the “gold standard by which all CEOs will be measured.”
Don’t attempt to launch a corporate revolution until you have thoroughly read this book, page by page.
Robert Slater
McGraw Hill
If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” This is a truism that’s already considered gospel truth by those who mistakenly feel that their success will go on and on or by those who are afraid they may fail if they try something new.
Well, Jack Welch, did exactly that. He introduced radical changes in a company, General Electric, that seemed to be in the best of corporate health. But Welch, who still holds the distinction as the “gold standard of the world’s CEO’s, thought otherwise. He saw a company “in trouble.”
“By 1997, General Electric is a far different company from the GE of a decade ago, or two decades ago,” said author Robert Slater, nothing GE’s 1997 revenues of $90.84 billion, making it the fifth largest American company.
But that was only possible because Jack Welch, when he took over in the eighties, launched his own revolution in what appeared as a company that needed no fixing at all, according to the author.
The book, “Jack Welch and the GE Way,” narrates and analyzes for us how Mr. Welch waged his revolution, first by challenging traditional—and even time tested—concepts in management.
We learned in graduate school that we do not decide until we have “pushed the numbers.” Jack Welch tells us: “Don’t focus on the numbers!” A story is told that a GE executive who concentrates on the numbers—and who rules out other factors in the equation—is a candidate for firing.
Also, our graduate school has underscored the role of management in getting results. The GE CEO would rather want us to “be leaders, not managers.” Every managerial lawyer, he says, is a bad lawyer. The world is moving at such a pace that control has become a limitation. It slows you down.
We were taught that we should not venture into areas that are within our firm’s core competence. And yet, Jack Welch—CEO of the builder of aircraft engines, power systems, medical systems and electrical products—ventured into the broadcasting business!
Commenting on Mr. Welch’s successful adventure , NBC’s Don Ohlmeyer said: “People try to mythologize this business (broadcasting). They talk about the “men with the golden guts.” But, it’s no different from any other business. You pay attention to detail. You have good taste. You know what you’re doing. You get in business with the right people. You support them with the right assets. And you succeed.”
Ohlmeyer just summarized a formula for corporate success—in whatever field. It is so simple. It is revolutionary.
Another mindset in business—internal growth—is not in the vocabulary of Mr. Welch, although he truly placed the entire organization of GE in fighting form. We believe in sure and steady growth. But the GE CEO advises us to go for the quantum leap!
The author says: “Jack Welch believed in the surprise move. The bold play. Shaking his rivals. He loved the idea that he could shake things up.” Proof: Animal sales at GE had increased from $27.24 billion in 1981 to $28.29 billion in 1985—in only four years.
If you have learned the basics of business management in a specialized course or in graduate school, you will find this book very refreshing. While it challenges traditional concepts, you will recognize that he has actually proceeded from business fundamentals.
And yet, as you read along the way, you would feel that you are back to school, getting a refresher coarse, being updated on the pace in decision making, and being ushered into a profoundly altered world where things are fast, and where old strategies no longer work.
You would also be introduced to new concepts, already popular in the US, but still being introduced in the country. The Six Sigma Quality concept is an interesting quality program worth reading about. The use of black belts and brown belts in the management hierarchy is an intriguing way of qualifying executes.
Overall, this book has its “weight in gold.” After all, the featured CEO is the “gold standard by which all CEOs will be measured.”
Don’t attempt to launch a corporate revolution until you have thoroughly read this book, page by page.
Sunday, January 07, 2001
Ethics: ‘One-size-fits-all' or a customized outfit?
“Ties That Bind”
Thomas Donaldson & Thomas W. Dunfee
Harvard Business School Press
A manager for an airplane manufacturer is considering a payment of $5 million to go personally to the minister of defense of a developing country to “win” a contract for jetfighters. Does this act of bribery become acceptable in a country that views it as part of “culture”?
One market research firm, hired by a client, falsely projects itself as an independent research group among respondents. The firm said that it was necessary to make use such deception so that it can get “unbiased” responses. Does the end justify the means?
Suppose Adolf Hitler won the war and now dominates the world. Will his anti-Semitic policy now become an acceptable social practice following the principle that he who has the gold (or gun) rules and that “might is right”?
These questions – and many more – are dealt with by this book, “Ties that Bind” subtitled “A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics.” Authorship of this tour de force study is shared by two faculty members of the Wharton School: Donaldson, legal studies professor and director of the Wharton School and Dunfee, social responsibility professor and director of the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research.
Their academic background and professional development explain the depth of scholarship and their intellectual and philosophical range – assuring the reader of a virtual walk-through into schools of though in ethics as applied to religious, social, political and economic fields.
Handled by less enlightened minds, business ethics could take one of two forms:
One, it could be a set of dogmas of immutable principles that should universally apply to business – never mind if they are irrelevant or unworkable. Two, ethics could be set of shifting codes of conduct or tentative agreements that spring from situational ethics of from a group consensus, never mind if it assaults universally accepted norms.
Apply these ethical issues to the world of business, and you and inevitable led to passionate debate on what is right and what is wrong – in the light of “business realities.” Discuss the ethical questions faced by global firms operating in different environments, and you get arguments as “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
“Corporate leaders face ethical dilemmas everywhere, but nowhere is their challenge greater that in the global stage,” the authors point out. They cite the case of a global oil firm which earned the ire of the people of one African nation simply because it remained silent over the execution of a noted environmental activist.
Should it take a stand on human rights issues? Shall it use its leverage on host governments to promote the ends of justice? In the past, these global firms were called names because they threw their weight around.
Beyond many business ethical dilemmas that are abundant in this book, this piece of work actually “takes the bull by the horns,” because it confronts the tension between “empirical” and “normative” ethics.
The former is a matter of group agreement, the latter a matter of universally accepted principles. Said plainly, an act becomes right or wrong either when the group decides one is “wrong”; or it is universally accepted to be intrinsically right (like murder).
However, the book says mere group consensus as an ethical basis would justify. For example, a neighborhood tacit agreement to oppose any colored family to enter its enclave.
And fundamental principles of dogmas of not “lying” cannot apply when one withholds the truth from a criminal looking for your father. Author Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book “Ethics” advances an arguable but helpful point: “You don’t give the truth to someone who will misuse it.”
“A one-size-fits-all” template for business morality is an illusion,” the author say. Thus out of this ethical predicament, the authors offer the “Integrative Social Contract Theory” – or ISCT.
They proceed from the principle that members of a certain community (including the business community) can enter into a “social contract” about how they can strengthen the “ties that bind” them, by agreeing to be governed by certain principles of living together. However, the authors emphasize that the same community must be governed by “hypernorms.” These are “higher principles” that govern other ethical codes of a community.
The book has the lucidity of clearly enunciated and explained theories, taking the reader back to philosophical thoughts from as far back as Plate to modern day theologians as Hans Kung.
And they construct tables for decision-making processes. We are used to schematic diagrams and process charts for production flows and organizational relationships – but these “ethical tables” invite corporations to confront moral issues systematically – using the social contract theory.
The question always remains. What is the leeway of an enterprise in deciding what is right or wrong? What are non-negotiable moral choices? How does one arrive at an ethical decision so that the enterprise reflects the moral code of the community where it operates? How do you keep alive the virtues of truth, freedom, honesty, integrity, fair play and caring – and reconcile them with the goals for efficiency, economic viability and market competition?
The authors are not giving the answers. But they sure are offering a menu of concepts, processes, experiences and examples – but leave the decision to the enterprise or the larger community.
The value of this book? It gives, only one – a way of constructing one’s ethical code. Beyond doing what is inherently right, the enterprise will-sooner, not later – realize that conducting business ethically makes good business sense.
Thomas Donaldson & Thomas W. Dunfee
Harvard Business School Press
A manager for an airplane manufacturer is considering a payment of $5 million to go personally to the minister of defense of a developing country to “win” a contract for jetfighters. Does this act of bribery become acceptable in a country that views it as part of “culture”?
One market research firm, hired by a client, falsely projects itself as an independent research group among respondents. The firm said that it was necessary to make use such deception so that it can get “unbiased” responses. Does the end justify the means?
Suppose Adolf Hitler won the war and now dominates the world. Will his anti-Semitic policy now become an acceptable social practice following the principle that he who has the gold (or gun) rules and that “might is right”?
These questions – and many more – are dealt with by this book, “Ties that Bind” subtitled “A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics.” Authorship of this tour de force study is shared by two faculty members of the Wharton School: Donaldson, legal studies professor and director of the Wharton School and Dunfee, social responsibility professor and director of the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research.
Their academic background and professional development explain the depth of scholarship and their intellectual and philosophical range – assuring the reader of a virtual walk-through into schools of though in ethics as applied to religious, social, political and economic fields.
Handled by less enlightened minds, business ethics could take one of two forms:
One, it could be a set of dogmas of immutable principles that should universally apply to business – never mind if they are irrelevant or unworkable. Two, ethics could be set of shifting codes of conduct or tentative agreements that spring from situational ethics of from a group consensus, never mind if it assaults universally accepted norms.
Apply these ethical issues to the world of business, and you and inevitable led to passionate debate on what is right and what is wrong – in the light of “business realities.” Discuss the ethical questions faced by global firms operating in different environments, and you get arguments as “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
“Corporate leaders face ethical dilemmas everywhere, but nowhere is their challenge greater that in the global stage,” the authors point out. They cite the case of a global oil firm which earned the ire of the people of one African nation simply because it remained silent over the execution of a noted environmental activist.
Should it take a stand on human rights issues? Shall it use its leverage on host governments to promote the ends of justice? In the past, these global firms were called names because they threw their weight around.
Beyond many business ethical dilemmas that are abundant in this book, this piece of work actually “takes the bull by the horns,” because it confronts the tension between “empirical” and “normative” ethics.
The former is a matter of group agreement, the latter a matter of universally accepted principles. Said plainly, an act becomes right or wrong either when the group decides one is “wrong”; or it is universally accepted to be intrinsically right (like murder).
However, the book says mere group consensus as an ethical basis would justify. For example, a neighborhood tacit agreement to oppose any colored family to enter its enclave.
And fundamental principles of dogmas of not “lying” cannot apply when one withholds the truth from a criminal looking for your father. Author Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book “Ethics” advances an arguable but helpful point: “You don’t give the truth to someone who will misuse it.”
“A one-size-fits-all” template for business morality is an illusion,” the author say. Thus out of this ethical predicament, the authors offer the “Integrative Social Contract Theory” – or ISCT.
They proceed from the principle that members of a certain community (including the business community) can enter into a “social contract” about how they can strengthen the “ties that bind” them, by agreeing to be governed by certain principles of living together. However, the authors emphasize that the same community must be governed by “hypernorms.” These are “higher principles” that govern other ethical codes of a community.
The book has the lucidity of clearly enunciated and explained theories, taking the reader back to philosophical thoughts from as far back as Plate to modern day theologians as Hans Kung.
And they construct tables for decision-making processes. We are used to schematic diagrams and process charts for production flows and organizational relationships – but these “ethical tables” invite corporations to confront moral issues systematically – using the social contract theory.
The question always remains. What is the leeway of an enterprise in deciding what is right or wrong? What are non-negotiable moral choices? How does one arrive at an ethical decision so that the enterprise reflects the moral code of the community where it operates? How do you keep alive the virtues of truth, freedom, honesty, integrity, fair play and caring – and reconcile them with the goals for efficiency, economic viability and market competition?
The authors are not giving the answers. But they sure are offering a menu of concepts, processes, experiences and examples – but leave the decision to the enterprise or the larger community.
The value of this book? It gives, only one – a way of constructing one’s ethical code. Beyond doing what is inherently right, the enterprise will-sooner, not later – realize that conducting business ethically makes good business sense.
Ethics: ‘One-size-fits-all’ or a customized outfit?
‘Tie that bind’
Thomas Donaldson & Thomas W. Dunfee
Harvard Business School Press
A manager for an airplane manufacturer is considering a payment of $5 million to personally to the minister of defense of a developing country to “win” a contract for jetfighters. Does this act of bribery become acceptable in a country that views it as parts of “culture”?
One market research firm, hired by a client, falsely projects itself as an independent research group among respondents. The firm said that it was necessary to make use such deception so that it can get “unbiased” responses. Does the end justify the means?
Suppose Adolf Hitler won the war and now dominates the world. Will his anti-Semitic policy now become an acceptable social practice following the principle that he who has the gold (or gun) rule and that “might is right”?
These questions—and many more—are dealt with this book, “Ties that Bind” subtitled “A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics.” Authorship of this tour de force study is shared by two faculty members of The Wharton School: Donaldson, legal studies professor and director of the Wharton Ethics Program at The Wharton School and Dunfee, social responsibility professor and director of the Zicklin Center for Business Etics Research.
Their academic background and professional development explain the depth of scholarship and their intellectual and philosophical range—assuring the reader of a vital walk-through into schools of thought in ethics as applied to religious, social, political and economic fields.
Handled by less enlightened mind, business ethics could take of two forms:
One, it could be a set of dogmas or immutable principles that should univerally apply to business—never mind if they are irrelevant or unworkable. Two, ethics cou;d be a set of shifting codes of conduct or tentative agreements that spring from situational ethics or from a group consensus, never mind if it assaults universally accepted norms.
Apply these ethical issues to the world of business, and you are inevitably led to a passionate debate on what is wrong—in the light of “business realitist.” Discuss the ethical questions faced by global firms operating in different environments, and you get arguments as “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
“Corporate leaders face ethical dilemmas everywhere, but nowhere is their challenge greater than on the global stage.” the authors point out. They cite the case of a global oil firm which earned the ire if the people of one African nation simply because it remained silent over the execution of a noted environmental activist.
Should it take a stand on human rights issues? Shall it use its leverage on host governments to promote the end of justice? In the past, these global firms were called names because they threw their weight around.
Beyond many business ethical dilemmas that are abundant in this book, this piece of work actually “takes the bull by the horns,” because it confronts the tension between “empirical” and “normative” ethics.
The former is a matter of group agreement, the latter a matter of universally accepted principles. Said plainly, an act becomes right or wrong either when the group decides one is “right” and the other is “wrong”, or it is universally accepted to be intrinsically right (like agape love) or wrong (like murder).
However, the book says mere group consensus as an ethical basis would justify. For example, a neighborhood tacit agreement to oppose any colored family to enter its enclave.
And fundamental principles of dogmas of not “lying” cannot apply when one withholds the truth from a criminal looking for your father. Author Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book “Ethics” advances an arguable but helpful point: “You don’t give the truth to someone who will misuse it.”
“A one-size-fits-all” template for business morality is an illusion,” the author say. Thus out of this ethical predicament, the authors offer the “Integrative Social Contact Theory”—or ISCT.
They proceed from the principle that members of a certain community (including the business community) can enter into a “social contract” about how they can strengthen the “ties that bind” them, by agreeing to be governed by certain principles of living together. However, the authors emphasize that the same community must be governed by “hypernorms.” These are “higher principles” that govern other ethical codes of a community.
The book has the lucidity of clearly enunciated and explained theories, taking the reader back to philosophical thoughts from as far back as Plato to modern day theologians as Hans Kung.
And they construct tables for decision-making process. We are used to schematic diagrams and process charts for production flows and organizational relationships—but these “ethical tables” invite corporations to confront moral issues systematically—using the social contract theory.
The question always remains. What is the leeway of an enterprise in deciding what is right or wrong? What are non-negotiable moral choices? How does one arrive at an ethical decision so that the enterprise reflects the moral code of the community where it operates? How do you keep alive the virtues of truth, freedom, honesty, integrity, fair play and caring—and reconcile them with the goals for efficiency, economic viability and market competition?
The authors are not giving the answers. But they sure are offering a menu of concepts, processes, experiences and examples—but leave the decision to the enterprise or the larger community.
The value of this book? It gives only one—a way of constructing one’s own ethic code. Beyond doing what is inherently right, the enterprise will—sooner, not later—realize that conducting business ethically makes good business sense.
Thomas Donaldson & Thomas W. Dunfee
Harvard Business School Press
A manager for an airplane manufacturer is considering a payment of $5 million to personally to the minister of defense of a developing country to “win” a contract for jetfighters. Does this act of bribery become acceptable in a country that views it as parts of “culture”?
One market research firm, hired by a client, falsely projects itself as an independent research group among respondents. The firm said that it was necessary to make use such deception so that it can get “unbiased” responses. Does the end justify the means?
Suppose Adolf Hitler won the war and now dominates the world. Will his anti-Semitic policy now become an acceptable social practice following the principle that he who has the gold (or gun) rule and that “might is right”?
These questions—and many more—are dealt with this book, “Ties that Bind” subtitled “A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics.” Authorship of this tour de force study is shared by two faculty members of The Wharton School: Donaldson, legal studies professor and director of the Wharton Ethics Program at The Wharton School and Dunfee, social responsibility professor and director of the Zicklin Center for Business Etics Research.
Their academic background and professional development explain the depth of scholarship and their intellectual and philosophical range—assuring the reader of a vital walk-through into schools of thought in ethics as applied to religious, social, political and economic fields.
Handled by less enlightened mind, business ethics could take of two forms:
One, it could be a set of dogmas or immutable principles that should univerally apply to business—never mind if they are irrelevant or unworkable. Two, ethics cou;d be a set of shifting codes of conduct or tentative agreements that spring from situational ethics or from a group consensus, never mind if it assaults universally accepted norms.
Apply these ethical issues to the world of business, and you are inevitably led to a passionate debate on what is wrong—in the light of “business realitist.” Discuss the ethical questions faced by global firms operating in different environments, and you get arguments as “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
“Corporate leaders face ethical dilemmas everywhere, but nowhere is their challenge greater than on the global stage.” the authors point out. They cite the case of a global oil firm which earned the ire if the people of one African nation simply because it remained silent over the execution of a noted environmental activist.
Should it take a stand on human rights issues? Shall it use its leverage on host governments to promote the end of justice? In the past, these global firms were called names because they threw their weight around.
Beyond many business ethical dilemmas that are abundant in this book, this piece of work actually “takes the bull by the horns,” because it confronts the tension between “empirical” and “normative” ethics.
The former is a matter of group agreement, the latter a matter of universally accepted principles. Said plainly, an act becomes right or wrong either when the group decides one is “right” and the other is “wrong”, or it is universally accepted to be intrinsically right (like agape love) or wrong (like murder).
However, the book says mere group consensus as an ethical basis would justify. For example, a neighborhood tacit agreement to oppose any colored family to enter its enclave.
And fundamental principles of dogmas of not “lying” cannot apply when one withholds the truth from a criminal looking for your father. Author Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book “Ethics” advances an arguable but helpful point: “You don’t give the truth to someone who will misuse it.”
“A one-size-fits-all” template for business morality is an illusion,” the author say. Thus out of this ethical predicament, the authors offer the “Integrative Social Contact Theory”—or ISCT.
They proceed from the principle that members of a certain community (including the business community) can enter into a “social contract” about how they can strengthen the “ties that bind” them, by agreeing to be governed by certain principles of living together. However, the authors emphasize that the same community must be governed by “hypernorms.” These are “higher principles” that govern other ethical codes of a community.
The book has the lucidity of clearly enunciated and explained theories, taking the reader back to philosophical thoughts from as far back as Plato to modern day theologians as Hans Kung.
And they construct tables for decision-making process. We are used to schematic diagrams and process charts for production flows and organizational relationships—but these “ethical tables” invite corporations to confront moral issues systematically—using the social contract theory.
The question always remains. What is the leeway of an enterprise in deciding what is right or wrong? What are non-negotiable moral choices? How does one arrive at an ethical decision so that the enterprise reflects the moral code of the community where it operates? How do you keep alive the virtues of truth, freedom, honesty, integrity, fair play and caring—and reconcile them with the goals for efficiency, economic viability and market competition?
The authors are not giving the answers. But they sure are offering a menu of concepts, processes, experiences and examples—but leave the decision to the enterprise or the larger community.
The value of this book? It gives only one—a way of constructing one’s own ethic code. Beyond doing what is inherently right, the enterprise will—sooner, not later—realize that conducting business ethically makes good business sense.
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