MBA 765 - Reflections on Module 2

What are some of the most critical decisions leaders must make during the closure stage of the organizational lifecycle?

The leader must keep everything in perceptive for the sake of the company and the employees. Critical decisions include whether to revive the company, merge or become acquired by another company, to shut down and liquidate, or file bankruptcy.

Other decisions are how open should the leader be to the employees and other stakeholder in times of decline. This depends mainly on the trust between the leadership and the stakeholders. Open dialogue is a good way to open up the communication channels. The leader must ensure that the culture of the company does not become overly politicized and fiefdoms do not spring up within the company.

The leader must also identify what is causing the decline of the company. Once these have been identified through scoping out the emerging trends and the current as well as the future market place, the leader must decide how to attack these issues. The leader must also be able to understand what organizational pathologies plague the company and decide how to restore trust and creditability.

Under what conditions do rational logical decision making methods appear to work best?

These methods work well when the problem or dilemma is complex and inputs from various stakeholders are needed to make the final decision. The rational logical allows all of the facts to be gathered and critical questions asked about the facts, assumptions made, and possible solutions. These methods allows everyone to be heard and facilitates creative and innovations solutions to be discovered through open dialogue.

Under what circumstances do more intuitive approaches work best?

Intuitive approached work best when there are not many facts. This deals with the uncertainty and chaos of the future and how to react to it. This is also useful when a decision must be made quickly with a limited amount of information. The decisions are best guesses and reactions to the market environments. They are based on trends and patterns that have been identified.

Leaders that are attuned to emerging trends and the uncertainties in the markets can use this approach to seize opportunities that other wise would go undetected by the organization. The dangers are making decisions too quick and with emotion or bias. This may lead to not making the best decision or choice.

Which of the tools presented in the module has a particular appeal to you? Why?

The six facet approach seems to be the best tool for complex decisions. It allows one to drill down to what the facts, assumptions, bias, and solutions are in order to make the best decision. This tool allows a combination of rational logical and intuitive approaches to be used.

The regression equation and decisional balance tool would probably be good to use with intuitive approaches, since the pros and cons need to be reviewed.

How might you apply the tools presented during the module to a situation that you are now facing at work?
Cause and effect tools are used more on the manufacturing floor than any other tool. Problems are common and repetitive in nature. Additionally, most people are not worried about the real root cause of the problem. All they want to happen is trouble shoot the problem and have it go away, so they can get their job done before they go home. The six facet approach should be used for complex and repetitive problems, so a long-term solution can be found for the issues at hand.

Applying the six facet approach at work would take a team effort and the tackling of long standing and complex problems that have plagued the company. This would require cross-functional teams and rules to allow everyone to be heard and listened to by everyone. Open dialogue leads to great solutions, because every perspective is covered, assuming representation from all departments are included in the team. The intent is not for any one person to be right and every else wrong, but the stimulation of creative solutions from the free flowing of conversation.

At home?
Most of the problems are going to be simple and quick to solve - so cause and effect. Others are more complex and are decisional on which direction to go based on several scenarios, so the decisional balance sheet tool would work well. The six facet approach would also work at home, but would have to be a complex problems where a life changing solution must be arrived at.

MBA 765 - Reflections on Module 1

What appears to unique about the closure stage of the organizational lifecycle?
The closure stage is about the leadership of a company waking up out of their hubris dream and having to face reality. Companies start to re-invent themselves and create a winning culture. It appears, based on the reading assignments, new leadership must be brought in during this stage and maybe even a new board of directors.

What closure stage issues appear to warrant particular attention from company leaders?
Addressing and getting rid of all of the organizational pathologies. This is necessary for the company to become successful again and for the employees to regain their motivation - also allows respect to be built.

What critical ethical issues need to be dealt with at this stage?
The leader must allows weigh the economic and social consequences of a decision. The leader is typically torn between maximizing the profit and increasing shareholder value and doing what is morally right for the other stakeholder and the environment.

This stage is about exploring the company's values and standards for doing business. Looking to see if the current ethical standards have strayed from these values and beliefs. Have the employees started to take the moral high ground and become righteous and devoid of any action.

How might I creatively express what I have learned in the MBA program to an audience of my peers?
I have learned that leadership is the most important skill a person can continually develop. As we enter deeper into the knowledge wave, people and their experience will be very valuable. Present and future leadership needs to exploit every employees knowledge through effective communication channels. Also the leader needs to continually explore the global markets for continued success and a means to stretch the employees' knowledge. Continually challenging the workforce and using education, mentoring, and coaching will sustain a company.

Many companies have leaders of the industrial age and no ability to think or manage pass this wave. The MBA have taught me that open dialogue and communication, especially bottom - up is very important. It helps to stop denial and hubris. Arrogance and "boss mentality" still dominate the styles of today.