Columbia Business School · Web viewTop Management Process (TMP) is about the job of the Chief...

Top Management Processes Professor Barry SalzbergFall 2016 Office: Uris 711Syllabus Office Hours: by email appointmentMondays, 9:00am-12:15pm 9 [email protected] 142 [email protected]

Course Overview

Top Management Processes (TMP) is about the job of the Chief Executive Officer

(CEO)/General Manager, the leader of an organization who is ultimately responsible for the

organization (design & success), strategy (development & execution), operations (P&L

responsibility) and results. This job is quite different from an individual producer’s job, such

as a trader, or the head of a function such as marketing or finance, or the head of a business

unit. All the functions report directly or indirectly to the CEO/GM (hereinafter referred to

for simplicity sake as “CEO”). It is the CEO’s job to ensure that these interdependent units

are coordinated and integrated and executing a common strategy that is continually

responsive to a continuously changing market place.

CEOs succeed or fail based upon their ability to develop and articulate a beneficial strategy

and on how well they are able to design organizations, lead people within the organization,

influence parties outside of the organization and make effective business decisions to

operationalize strategy. How are people selected, developed and appraised? How do CEO’s

provide leadership? How are good working relationships promoted? How is strategy actually

decided? And then how is it executed? How are budgets set? How are these decisions made

in a world that is continuously changing, where multiple forces are at work and interacting

with each other, where data is often woefully incomplete, or just plain wrong, and

executives’ prior experience with the issues their organization faces is often limited? The

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challenges are daunting. The course is one in which you will have a chance to study the

challenges that confront CEOs and to formulate approaches to those challenges so that you

will not be as daunted when you face them.

Good decisions (whether with regard to strategy, organization, operations or people) are

more likely if CEO’s appreciate that everything is connected to, and affects everything else

(“system”). And, people, events, issues and situations evolve and interrelate over time in

complex ways (“process”). In this latter regard, in TMP we will study three kinds of

process: leadership, organizational and group, and how they interact. This diagram below

illustrates how these three interact.

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Leadership Process

-actions over time that shape the work environment and lead people to create, contribute and achieve organizational purpose

Organizational Processes

- Decision making- Strategy- Resource allocation- People- Change

Group Process

-ways in which relationships develop

when people interact as they work

on company issues in groups

CEO

Leadership Process: Leadership is a process because it is a series of choices, actions and

decisions over time that shapes the organization in which people work. It is about how

CEO’s bring people together and influence them to align efforts for the collective good of

the organization.

Of particular import is the relationship between a CEO and his/her leadership team because

they are connected in a reciprocal way: they influence each other’s feelings, thoughts and

actions. A hallmark of leadership is the ability of CEO’s to calmly encourage trust,

participation, and collaboration, and maintain good relationships in order to help their

organization work through tough issues and situations.

Organizational Processes: Much of a CEO’s decision-making is accomplished through

organizational processes such as strategic planning, performance reviews, business

development, programming of operations and budgeting. These organizational processes are

sequences of activities and tasks that unfold throughout the year and that are always

interacting with each other and on-going events. Every company uses these organizational

processes to plan what they are going to do, link all the different departments together in,

hopefully, common action, and, monitor progress. They are the principle ways through

which organizations do their work.

Group Process: The CEO’s top team needs to be involved in these organizational

processes. Increasingly, as markets and organizations have become more complex and

dynamic, successful CEO’s work with and through their top team. They have learned that

no one person can possibly possess the experience and expertise needed to create and

implement strategy, lead people and coordinate operations alone. When their team works

well, CEO’s gain diversity of viewpoint and perspective. Realizing these benefits though is

not easy. Group process is about the multitude of ways in which people interact with each

other and the quality of their working relationships when they are working on company

challenges.

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Getting these three processes right is in fact quite difficult. It’s not just that markets are

difficult to read and unpredictable. Organizations, made up of people, are also

unpredictable. Anxiety is more commonplace in our organizations then we typically like to

think. While anxiety can motivate people, it can lead to stress and impaired functioning.

Work relationships can break down. Inter and intra group conflict can break out.

Information may not get to the right people. Functional and business silos can develop and

impede discussion and coordination. Decision-making deteriorates. The interaction of these

processes, in light of the above, makes leading a complex organization among the most

challenging of callings.

The objective of TMP is to improve your capabilities to lead complex organizations at the

highest levels. The course is organized into six modules, of which the first two focus on

values based leadership, what it “takes” to become a CEO and transition issues; the next

three modules study systemic thinking, “the process mindset” and study a specific general

management responsibilitiesy and the last provides time for reflection and analysis regarding

your personal values, leadership style, and lessons from the course. In each of the first five

modules we study, simultaneously, the leadership process, the organizational process and the

group process. Our discussions illustrate, however, that organizational processes and group

process can only be as effective as the leadership process and the resulting work

environment that the CEO has created. In other words, leadership process is primary.

Module 1: Values based CEO leadership and desired attributes and experiences to be CEO

Module 2: Making the transition to CEO

Module 3: Systemic thinking and the process mindset

Module 4: Decision-making processes , resource allocation processes and people processes

Module 5: Strategic, resource allocation and people processes

Module 6: Reflections of personal values, leadership philosophy, and course takeaways

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In Module I we will first explore the whole concept of “values” and the importance values

have in becoming a successful CEO. We will explore the use of values to navigate to

success (including the creation of your own values tree hierarchy) and discuss both the

Operation Tomodachi case and the Man Jit Singh case. We will then set the stage for the

balance of the course and discuss what organizations are looking for when they select a

CEO.

In Module II, we will discuss the challenges in making the transition from an individual

producer to a CEO. Almost one in two CEO’s fail, usually within the first 18 months. The

major “derailers” are poor working relationships, inability to build and lead a team and

difficulty in adapting to the broad scope of the job. We will explore the challenges of

succeeding as CEO through discussing the experiences of Silvio Napoli-a former corporate

planner in his first assignment as a CEO, and, Paul Levy emphasizing the challenges he

faced in the turnaround situation he found himself in. The focus will be on the challenges,

opportunities and potential pitfalls of making the CEO transition.

In Module III we will introduce systemic thinking and the process mindset and explore how

they can help new CEO’s handle the challenges of their job. Systemic thinking helps CEO’s

start with the total situation and learn all the many factors at work in a situation and how

they might be influencing each other. It lessens the tendency to focus only on an individual

or a single department to understand poor performance. Systemic thinking also helps CEO’s

move from largely a technical orientation to a leadership orientation.

The process mindset facilitates systems thinking. Process is inherently dynamic and

comprehensive-it helps identify interactions, how situations are evolving and the broad

scope of action needed for effective operations. We will discuss the Friendly Fire and

Challenger launch cases.

In Module IV, we study decision-making processes. These processes deal with how CEOs

and their top team create and consider alternatives, handle conflict, build on different

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viewpoints and decide. Usually, decisions at the level of a CEO, such as future strategy,

people or technology choices, are important and controversial. Members can get over-

invested in their opinions. Anxiety can rise which leads members into protective behavior.

Power struggles can emerge. Top teams can become polarized. “Win-lose” behavior erupts.

Alternatively, particularly if the CEO’s approach to leadership is unilateral, members get

intimidated, refrain from speaking-up and go into a state known as “group think.”

Either way, leaders and members don’t see that their working relationships have in fact

broken down. Their communication with each other is not open, honest and trusting. Their

differences are not explored. They don’t actually understand the situation enough to make a

good decision. What’s worse is that leaders and members are often unaware (or unwilling to

admit to themselves) that their relationships have broken down and impaired their decision-

making.

We will discuss how CEO’s can design and lead decision-making processes so that

relationships within their top team enable open, honest, candid discussion. Topics include

how CEO’s can access the talent in their top team, surface conflict, help members build on

each other’s experience and change attitudes and behaviors, including their own. We will

discuss the the Bay of Pigs/Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Mount Everest case.

In Module V we focus on strategic processes. It’s through these processes that the decisions

are made on the company’s future direction and goals, how it will satisfy customers better

than competitors, how all the functions, geographic units and levels will be aligned to

implement the strategy and how progress will be monitored. We will discuss the design and

leadership of strategic planning processes, scenario planning, crisis management and new

business creation.

We will study the challenges in resource allocation processes. Here is where companies

identify and budget specific actions and projects that are needed to execute the strategy.

Budgeting surfaces conflicts which is useful. It can also deteriorate into a zero sum game in

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the absence of good relationships and leadership process. We will experience the challenges

of budgeting, and discuss ways of handling them.

We will also discuss the important responsibility of developing people and building

organizational culture. Many strategic and performance failures come from people and

teams not being led in a way that helps to actualize the company’s strategy. Part of our

discussion here will be on the performance management process in helping to build

appropriate organizational capability. We will debate the parameters of an effective review

process for CEOs, and engage in a role play around the Board review and evaluation process

of its company CEO.

In this module we will further discuss The Deloitte University case, the Joyus case, strategic

planning at UPS, engage in a role play around the BCPC Internet strategy, and, and engage

in a role play around and discuss the Chocolate Cordon Rouge case.

Finally, in Module VI, the very last class of the semester, we will focus on your own

leadership values and emphasize what you leverage after this course, and what you need to

rethink, and instill in what you do to improve your qualifications to become CEO. We will

review the journal entries you prepared throughout the course and provide a classroom

opportunity to summarize the most significant course takeaways.

Throughout the course, we will invite guest speakers to share experiences with you on the

topics we are discussing. Most often these Individuals will be CEOs or Board Chairman,

but we might have other titled individuals as well.

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Course pedagogy

Classroom discussion is the primary pedagogy. So it will be key that you thoroughly

prepare the cases, watch the videos and movies, as appropriate, and engage in frequent and

high quality participation in class discussion. This also means staying off electronic

distractions, participating with enthusiasm in simulations and exercises, and avoiding any

comments or behaviors that take away from the learning environment. Participation will be

judged in each class, and it is quality over quantity that I am looking for. However, there are

three written assignments (one with two parts), and you will be using a learning journal to

document contemporaneously some of your learnings.

The graded components of your final grade is as follows:

Class participation 40%

Individual assignment #1 on values 15%

Individual assignment #2-CEO interview 15%

Learning Journal entries 15%

Individual assignment #3 15%

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Individual Assignment 1

Values, values hierarchy and leadership philosophy

Ddue 9/19/16…. TIMELINESS COUNTS IN DETERMINING YOUR GRADE. ANY SUBMISSION BEYOND ONE WEEK AFTER THE DUE DATE WILL RECEIVE ZERO POINTS.

My Leadership Philosophy and Values Hierarchy.

This assignment is worth 15% of your grade. The recommended length of the assignment is 1500-1800 words exclusive of a pictorial representation of your values hierarchy which is also required as part of this assignment.

For this assignment, you are to create your own “value tree” and then explain it-in the context of how you would apply those values in the workplace. The explanation is in essence, your leadership philosophy. In writing your philosophy you should keep in mind that the ultimate audience for it is you, even though I will grade it. Articulating your leadership philosophy forces you to come to grips with the realities of your stated values. It is reasonably easy to articulate your values in the abstract, but much harder when you are forced to explain precisely what applying those values will likely mean in the workplace.

For this paper:

1. CORE- Who you are is more important than who you think you should be.2. ASPIRATIONAL- Who you want to be may be unavoidable to discuss. If you do

discuss this, please be honest and talk about the “gaps” from who you are to who you want to be.

3. Tell stories. Give examples. Do not make this an academic technical paper.4. Clarify anything you need to with me before you put the first word on the paper.

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CONSIDER WELL BEFORE SESSION 1Individual Assignment 2The CEO interview

Due 11/4/16 (complete the interview as early as possibley). TIMELINESS COUNTS IN DETERMINING YOUR GRADE. ANY SUBMISSION BEYOND ONE WEEK AFTER THE DUE DATE WILL RECEIVE ZERO POINTS

This assignment is worth 15% of your grade.

The recommended length of the assignment is 1500-1800 words.

This assignment requires that you identify a CEO-past or present- (could be the CEO of your most recent or soon to be employer), interview the selected CEO, provide a summary of the interview, and provide a narrative of your reflections from the interview.

The summary of the interview is fairly straightforward. It should, of course, reflect the conversation you have. This summary could be about 1/4 of the length of the paper. The other 3/4 should include your reflections of the value you derived from the interview. This part is not so straightforward. Here, I am asking you to think of the implications of what you were able to derive from the interview. For some of you, the interview might provide more understanding of what strategic thinking is. For some, the interview might give you some insight about the values of the leader, or about the leader’s leadership philosophy (whether or not the leader even is cognizant of having a philosophy). For still others, the interview might alert you to the difficulties or rewards of the transition from a functional or channel leadership role to a general leadership role in a complex organization. All of you are asked to reflect and convey those reflections using thoughtful, carefully constructed and presented narrative. Please summarize these reflections at the end of the paper.

Please ensure that the person you are interviewing is in fact a CEO/general manager, as we are discussing in this course. Avoid interviewing heads of functions such as CFOs, leaders of HR, IT etc., however superb their leadership practices may be.

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How you conduct the interview is up to you. However, consider the following introduction to the interview.

“I am a participant in a course about making the transition to general management-the leader of an organization with P&L responsibility. The professor of the course, Barry Salzberg, has asked each of us to interview a CEO to learn about the challenges, opportunities, and potential pitfalls of making the transition from a functional or specialist’s job to CEO. I’m interested in learning how you coped with the transition and what makes a CEO’s job different from previous jobs—particularly if you perceived the intellectual and emotional challenges to be different.”

As a general rule, you might want to anticipate crafting an interview that will require no more than 30-45 minutes. Also, please emphasize that, if desired, we will maintain the CEO’s anonymity. You can advise the CEO that neither you nor Professor Salzberg will identify the name of the interviewee in the body of the class assignment or while discussing the interview, if this is important to the CEO.

IF YOU CANNOT ABSOLUTELY IDENTIFY A CEO TO INTERVIEW, please discuss with me. I will help you find one suitable for the interview.

Some possible questions for you to consider while crafting your interview:

1. At what point in your career did you move from a functional or specialist’s job to CEO?2. Are you still in transition? How long does the transition process take?3. Did you-explicitly or implicitly-take into your account your values when you were

making the decision to transition to CEO?4. How would you describe, briefly, the context in which you became CEO? Prompt with

questions like: How competitive was the market? Were customer requirements changing? Was technology changing? Was the performance of the organization improving or declining? What was the state of the morale of the various stakeholders? Was the organization healthy?

5. What did the people who appointed you reveal to you regarding the challenges or goals of the organization that was new to you? How accurate were these revelations? What

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qualities do you possess that you feel contributed positively to the decision making process to choose you as CEO?

6. What work and personal challenges did you face as you were making the transition?7. What did you find you had to be sensitive to that you had not had to be sensitive to in

your prior role?8. How did you have to change your approach to work and to people?9. What was the most difficult part of the transition?10.How comfortable are you working in areas where you perceive there to be a high level of

ambiguity and uncertainty?11.What advice would you offer others about to make a similar transition as you did?12.What leadership lessons regarding decision-making and/or team effectiveness can you

share?

GROUP REFLECTIONS

To be completed in April as below:

Assignment #3Course Reflections

Due December 19, 2016 TIMELINESS COUNTS IN DETERMINING YOUR GRADE. ANY SUBMISSION BEYOND ONE WEEK AFTER THE DUE DATE WILL RECEIVE ZERO POINTS


The recommended length of the assignment is 1500-1800 words.

Recollect your professional experiences and select a situation whereby your firm (or an organization with which you have some—preferably intimate—familiarity) had to make a critical decision that involved deliberation of group members (or some type of consultative decision-making process). The experience might or might not directly involve you.

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Describe the context (size of firm, culture, leadership philosophies) and the stakes of the decision (i.e., what was to be potentially gained or lost based on the decision). This should be no more than ¼ of the paper’s length.

Considering the course learnings, explain also: the method the firm used to make the decision, the outcome, whether and why you believe the mechanism was excellent, or if not, how you would improve upon it. In your response, consider the impact of systemic thinking and process orientation. Refer to some of the key TMP slides we explored during the semester. Identify at least 5 learnings from our course that are relevant to your discussion. This should be no less then ½ the paper’s length.

Please explain in detail, whether the process and decisions made paralleled or was contrary to your values and why.

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LEARNING JOURNAL

This assignment, which is throughout the course, is 15% of your final grade. I will review your journal entries twice a year, however, a journal entry is required to be submitted on canvas for each class session in accordance with the due date identified on canvas for it. TIMELINESS COUNTS IN DETERMINING YOUR GRADE. My The first review will be in the middle of October and the second will be at the very end of the semester. The first review will be to provide you feedback on the quality of what you entered so far and pointers to improve your entries for the balance of the semester. The essence of this assignment is twofold: to help you reflect upon what you have read and what you heard in class AND to be a reference book of sorts for you in the future to remind you of some important leadership concepts. The second review, combined with the first, will be part of assessing your final grade.

Capture key learning points-and apply them in a way that is abstract from the case/exercise we discussed in class. For example, record insights about leadership and top management processes of the leaders we study, not about the specifics of the case itself.

Translate what you learn into a form that works for you. Make them your own so they stick with you. For example, translate how the learning from a case would translate into the specific industry or type of company you anticipate joining upon graduation. Tell a story.

I would expect each entry that you make to take no more than 30 minutes. You may use any method to record in your journal: drawings, written notes—anything that works for you to maximize your learning, reflections and recall. In grading your journal entries, I will be looking for demonstration of learnings from the class, quality of insights, and relevance/customization to you personally.

There will be a total of 12 journal entries required for the semester, one for each week. Remember each one is due by midnight three days following the class to which it relates.

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SESSION 1 (First half)9/12/16

[1.] Individual Assignment due January 31, 2016 My Leadership Philosophy and Values HierarchThis assignment is worth 15% of your grade. The recommended length of the assignment is 1500-1800 words exclusive of a pictorial representation of your values hierarchy which is also required as part of this assignmenFor this assignment, you are to create your own “value tree” and then explain it-in the context of how you would apply those values in the workplace. The explanation is in essence, your leadership philosophy. In writing your philosophy you should keep in mind that the ultimate audience for it is you, even though I will grade it. Articulating your leadership philosophy forces you to come to grips with the realities of your stated values. It is reasonably easy to articulate your values in the abstract, but much harder when you are forced to explain precisely what applying those values will likely mean in the worTo assist you in A this assignment 1, and, in both thinking through the concept of values based leadership and what a values tree looks like:

Read the article “Living Your Values, Part I ”, and optionally “Part II.” It will provide you a good and reasonably easy to understand perspective regarding building your values hierarchy and tree. Take a look at the values tree construction slide provided on canvas, as an example of such a tree and the interaction of values with goals and operationalizing actions related thereto.

Read the article “Make Your Values Mean Something” by Patrick Lencioni.

2. Readings and Preparation for Session 1

In our first session, we will introduce, and set the context for the course. Following this discussion we will discuss our first case, Man Jit Singh at Sony Entertainment Television, Rev. January 2014, 9-414-028. Please read it in its entirety and be prepared to discuss the case in class. We will discuss this case in the context of the Lencioni article with the objective of both a) understanding values as a key component of effective CEO/General Manager leadership and b) assessing the need of integrating core values into every corporate process.

As you prepare your thinking of the Singh case, please consider the following:

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1. What was the culture of the organization before Man Jit Singh arrived as CEO?2. What was Man Jit Singh’s leadership philosophy? What impact did his relentless

demonstration of that philosophy have?3. What did Man Jit Singh do to begin the turnaround of the company?4. How effective was the MC? What was Man Jit’s explanation of that effectiveness and

what did he believe needed to be done to address the issues he saw?5. Were the corporate “values” introduced by Smriti and Man Jit, organizational core

values or aspirations? How successful would you anticipate this approach to be and why?

6. Do you view the performance management linkage to values as a good thing? Provocative?

7. Why do you suppose Man Jit didn’t seek to introduce the values weighting in the performance management system sooner?

8. What do you make of the relative silence by the MC in the reactions to Man Jit’s proposal?

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Session 1 (Second Half)9/12/16

OPERATION TOMODACHI

Readings:

Bach, C.A., Major, United States Army, “Know Your Men…Know Your Business…Know Yourself,” naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 100, Number 4/854, April, 1974

Feely, Matthew S. “Using Values to Navigate to Leadership success,” 2011 (A Commanding Officer’s Leadership Philosophy)

Ingram, Paul and Matthew S.A. Feely. “Operation Tomodachi: Managing Complex Operations in Conditions of Uncertainty,” Columbia Case Works, Columbia Business School, Columbia University, ID# 130401, January 29, 2013

View four of the videos that tell the Tomodachi story that are posted on Canvas. While some of the material in the video is duplicative of the case verbiage, please experience both. It should not take a huge amount of time.

Preparation:

1. Read the case and watch the videos. At the end of each video segment there are questions for your consideration. Please consider them, BUT DO NOT PREPARE written responses for any of them for submission. They are posed for you to assist you in being ready for the discussion in class. At the end of the written case, on page 8, please consider the questions outlined there as well, BUT DO NOT complete the assignment in question 2 regarding the making of a plan. Additionally please consider the following:

a. What would you do, upon learning of the tragic circumstances in Japan, if you were Captain Feely?

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b. Do you agree with Captain Feely’s approach of one on one contact and discussion by Captain Feely, in dealing with the Japanese work force? Why or why not?

c. Discuss the conflict that appears between values and law as highlighted in the case. What would you do?

d. Upon receiving the order to evacuate, what would you tell your audiences? How complete would you be?

2. Please note the case preparation question 3 on page 8. Each student is to think about what his or her speech would be if asked to deliver it. Immediately prior to our first class on September 12, I will randomly pick two students who each will deliver his or her speech to the class in session 2. I will advise the two students during the week right before. SO BE PREPARED, AS YOU MAY BE THE ONE CHOSEN!

Irrespective of the suggested time suggestions indicated, feel free to make the speech as long as you like, but no more than 5 minutes.

3. Read the articles and consider the following questions/suggestions, and be ready to discuss in class. How might the Bach article have influenced Captain Feely’s command

(leadership) philosophy? Think as to whether, and if so how, Bach’s advice applies in today’s world and to

the private sector, profit-seeking firms. Is his advice ageless or merely a sign of his time? Might Bach’s advice be applicable to only military organizations? To

organizations that have a singular, explicit and rather extreme mission or sets of goals?

Is it realistic to think that a CEO could or should understand his or her job in the way Bach suggests? Why or why not?

How might a modern day CEO, working within the complexities of a modern organization live by the spirit of the article with respect to “knowing your business?”

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SESSION 2 (First Half)

9/19/16

CEO attributes, experiences

Readings:

In Touch With the BoardMaking it to the Top

Nine attributes that differentiate CEOs

Russell Reynolds Associates

The Seven Skills You Need to Thrive in the C-Suite By Boris Groysberg, March 18, 2014, Harvard Business Review

Preparation:

Prior to class, and as an assignment in preparation for class due three days before class, please identify your top two or three attributes and experiences that you believe should weigh heavily in selecting a CEO from among highly qualified candidates. As a nudge to get thinking, please read the above two articles.

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SESSION 2 (Second Half)9/19/16

Silvio Napoli case

Reading: Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (A) 9-303-086; Rev. November, 2006

Preparation:

In preparation for the class be prepared to discuss the following questions about the case:

1. Was Silvio Napoli the right choice for general manager of Schindler’s India operations?

2. What personal and professional experience’s in Silvio’s earlier life might help or hinder his successful transition to general management?

3. What is your assessment of Silvio’s attempts to date to transition from a staff position as his first time as a general manager? Cite some examples to illustrate this assessment.

4. What do you see in the group process involving Silvio and his senior managers as they worked on creating this new company that you find helpful and what do you see that troubles you?

5. Put yourself in Silvio’s place: How would you handle the situation that has arisen over the order for a nonstandard glass rear wall elevator? How would you deal with the issues of the revised transfer prices and limited technical cooperation from the European plants?

6. What does Mr. Schindler mean, “The emotions start when you have to build what you have written.” (page 11) What emotions, if any, is Silvio experiencing? If you think he is experiencing them, what is your assessment of how he is handling them?

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SESSION 3 (First Half)

9/26/16

Guest Speaker

SESSION 3 (SECOND HALF)9/26/16

Paul Levy Taking Charge

Reading: Paul Levy Takes Charge (A) case, Rev. 1/14/2003

Paul Levy Takes Charge CD-ROM, Rev. 4/23/2009, product No. 303-058 (which will be handed out in class in a prior class)

Preparation:

In the aggregate, reading the case (first) and then watching the video, and finally reflecting upon it, will take about three hours. The video has multiple story lines that are organized in three ways: chronologically, activity and theme. I recommend that you first concentrate your preparation on the “calendar of events.” The calendar covers the entire nine month period allowing you to see what he was doing month by month. Critical activities are listed on individual, monthly calendars according to the day that they occurred; each is further hot linked to the relevant video clips, emails, reports and press articles.

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After getting the time line of his actions in your mind, then select according to your interest from the topics under “activity threads” and “themes.”

In further preparation for class consider the following questions:

1. How would you describe the situation Levy inherited at the BIDMC? What challenges did he face? What led previous turnaround efforts to fail?

2. How did Levy get started in his new job? In particular, what were his objectives and what did he accomplish?

a. Prior to his first day at work?b. On his first day?c. During his first week?

3. What, if anything, was distinctive about the way Levy went about formulating, announcing, and implementing the recovery plan? How did he overcome resistance?

4. How did Levy tackle the problem of the BIDMC’s “curious inability to decide?”5. How would you compare process in BIDMC before and after Levy’s arrival?6. In describing his approach to organizational leadership, Levy speaks of the “CEO as

teacher.” What is your view of defining the CEO’s job in this way under these circumstances?

7. How do you think his transition went? For him? For BIDMC? For the staff?

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SESSION 4 (First Half)10/10/16

Friendly Fire

Reading: Friendly Fire case, 9-404-083, Rev. June 7, 2004; ABC news video clip regarding the incident

Preparation:

Read the case first, and then watch the Friendly Fire ABC news clip. Be prepared to discuss the following questions about the case:

1. How did this tragedy occur?2. How can CEO’s best think about causality when facing poor performance?3. If one takes a systemic view where does a CEO best invest his or her time and on

what activities should they focus?4. How would you describe the Operation Provide Comfort-Combined Task Force

system? 5. What is the organizational process by which the OPC-Combined Task Force is

coordinated and integrated?6. How would you assess inter-group relations in the OPC-Combined Task Force?7. How did Brigadier General Pilkington perceive his job as Commander, Combined

Task Force? 8. Brigadier General Pilkington has concluded, “This kind of thing (the shoot-down)

could not be permitted to happen again.” He has resolved to write “tighter regulations, lots of them.” (Case, page 12). Is he on the right track?

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Group Process in the Challenger Launch Decision (A)

Reading: Group Process in the Challenger Launch Decision (A), Rev. October 21, 2002, 9-603-068

Preparation:

Consider the following questions to help you get ready for class discussion:

1. How would you characterize the broader context surrounding the January 1986 teleconference? What impact might that have on the group's decision-making process? If you were a GM leading such a meeting, what would you have to be careful about?

2. The teleconference is scheduled for tonight-the eve of the launch of Challenger. There are three principle executives in the teleconference-Roger Boisjoly, Member of the Seal Task Force and O-ring expert, Robert K. Lund, VP Engineering and Boisjoly's boss, both of whom work for Morton Thiokol and Larry Mulloy, Manager, Solid Rocket Booster Project, NASA. What issues might each of these three executives be facing?

We will read and watch a video re-enactment of this teleconference.

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SESSION 5-Second Half

10/17/16

GUEST SPEAKER

SESSION 5 –First Half

and

SESSION 6- First half10/17/16 and 10/31/16

Thousand Days and Thirteen Days

Readings:

Thousand Days (excerpts)

Thirteen Days (excerpts)

Short briefing on the movie timeline

Thirteen Days movie

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Preparation:

1. Using these first hand reports of two major crises faced by the Kennedy administration, please compare the way that the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis task forces operated. In particular, what distinguishes:

a. The two task forces’ procedures for decision-making (especially to problem solving, exchanging information, and handling conflict)?

b. “Below the surface” issues in the two task forces?c. Kennedy’s leadership of the Bay of Pigs group and the Cuban Missile Crisis

ExCom group? What parts of JFK do we see in action in the Bay of Pigs group and the Cuban Missile group?

d. Systemic forces such as in the two contexts, the predispositions and values of the members of the two groups and how they might have influenced the group process?

2. Can you think of a phrase that describes for you the Bay of Pigs group and their approach to decision-making?

3. What are the implications of your analysis for leading problem solving and decision-making groups?

It is important that you identify any past events, experiences, and relationships listed in the “briefing” document or from your own or family experiences of these times (it’s possible that your parents might recall school practices about what to do in the case of a nuclear attack-crouch under their school desks!) that you think could influence how President Kennedy will conduct himself in leading the ExCom BEFORE you watch the movie. What do you think might be going on above and below the surface? What pressures are on President Kennedy?

Then think about what you want to observe in a group’s micro-behavior (mode of communication within the group, relationships among the participants, body language, facial expressions, phrasing, tone, etc.) and what you want to observe in JFK’s behavior (his overall stance-think where he is on a continuum running from authoritative to catalyst at different points as the movie unfolds, how he handles differences, his emotional state, to what extent is he affected by the ExCom group and so forth).

DURING the movie:

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Take notes during the movie about scenes that you think are particularly meaningful and also note your own feelings at different points in the movie. Your senses, your feelings IN THE MOMENT can be very good indicators of what might be going on in a group meeting.

Questions to consider:

1. What was going on systemically, inside and outside the President and his ExCom group? Did you detect any thoughts or expressions of feelings that indicated to you that there were powerful forces at work below the surface?

2. What are your speculations about the pressures on President Kennedy as he faces decisions about the USSR missiles in Cuba?

3. To what extent do you speculate that President Kennedy understood the system that he was in? How do you think President Kennedy perceived his role within that system?

4. What conclusions can you make about how President Kennedy was thinking and how this thinking guided him through the Cuban Missile experience? To what extent did events, people, and relationships influence his thinking and his actions in his past?

5. Focus on President Kennedy’s micro-behavior: a. What do you see him doing? Make a note of specific actions that caught your

attention.b. To what extent is he differentiated from the “below the surface” issues in the

ExCom and to what extent does he get hooked by them? In your opinion, is he aware of when he has been hooked or an attempt has been made to hook him?

c. How would you characterize his question asking? More specifically, please bring to class an example of a closed question and an example of an open question and please bring an example of a systems question.

d. To what extent does he listen and how would you characterize his listening?e. How and when does he express his views? Are his statements declarative or

hypothetical?f. What do you estimate is President Kennedy’s balance between leadership

process (focusing on how the decision will be made) and content (focusing on what the decision should be)?

6. How, if at all, was President Kennedy aware of his own behavior and his impact on the ExCom’s group process?

7. Can you think of a phrase that describes for you the ExCom group and another phrase that captures President Kennedy’s approach to leadership?Examples of micro behaviors in the movie:

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JFK, Bobby Kennedy and Kenny O’Donnell on the patio outside the White House setting up the group membership and process

Bobby Kennedy to Kenny O’Donnell: “All agree, the diplomatic option wont work.” JFK “…something immoral about abandoning your own judgment” JFK “…is this the Jt. Chief’s recommendation?” RFK “give it to me, no matter how crazy” JFK to General LeMay, “What will the Soviets do when we attack?” KO’D “I’ve got a bad feeling,” JFK “I’m taking charge” JFK “Do not second guess me into WWIII” JFK “I’m not taking that bait” JFK and RFK conversation on Jupiter missiles in Turkey after asking KO’D to leave

the oval office. R. McNamara: “new language”

SESSION 6 (Second Half)29

10/31/16

Mount Everest 1996

Reading:

Mount Everest -1996 case, Rev. 1/6/2003, 9-303-061.

It is also recommended that you view the Miramax movie, Everest, filmed during the 1996 tragedy. David Breashears, the #1 mountaineer/cinematographer in the world, directs the movie, Liam Neeson narrates…. and the soundtrack is good! And/or view last year’s movie remake of the Everest disaster.

Preparation:

Please be prepared to answer the following questions:

1. What led to this tragedy?2. How did Fischer and Hall perceive their roles?3. What is your evaluation of Fischer & Hall as leaders of organizations? Identify their

strengths and weaknesses, in your opinion. What is their theory of being a general manager?

4. What are the lessons from this case for general managers in businesses?

Session 7 (First Half)11/14/16

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BCPC Internet Strategy Team

Reading:

1. BCPC Internet Strategy Team case, October, 2003, 9-604035

2. Your individual role description. Roles are selected randomly, and will be distributed to you in advance of class to give you time to prepare. Please do not share information about your role with other role players.

Preparation:

Read the case as well as your individual role description that is meant to familiarize you with the views and experiences of your character. There are 6 executive roles- each of whom is a participant in a simulated, senior management, multi-functional group involved in developing recommendations for a new service (which will occur in class):

1. VP Business Development and leader of the Internet Strategy Team, Chris Berkowitz2. Director of Operations Management, Leslie Rhee3. VP Finance, Dana Jones4. VP Marketing, Kim Wilson5. Senior Project Director of Information Services, Jan Trow6. Director of Human Resources, Terry Maneri

When teams meet there will also be an observer (7).

Think carefully about what your recommendation might be and how you will play your role during the classroom simulation.

SESSION 7 (Second Half)

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11/14/16

Guest Speaker


CEO Interview Discussion

Preparation:

Review your notes and paper submitted prior to our first class. Be familiar with the content and prepare to discuss elements of the interview, your “aha” moments from the interview and your personal reflections.

Please consider the following to stimulate our class discussion:

o How does “your” CEO/General Manager compare to the leaders we have discussed thus far? What are the similarities? What were the approaches taken by him and how do they compare to these leaders?

o How do you think they made the transition from content to process? From individual producer to a systemic thinker?

o If you were able to provide the CEO/GM advice before transition, knowing what you know today, what would you say?

o What role if any did “values” play in connection with “your” CEO/GM’s transition? What two or three values resonated in what your CEO/GM did in transition?

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Building a Developmental Culture: The Birth of Deloitte University

Readings: Building a Developmental Culture: The Birth of Deloitte University, N9-123-456, June 4, 2010

Preparation: Please read the Deloitte University case. As I am in essence the protagonist in the case, it’ll be an interesting read, and class discussion!!!

For class discussion, please come prepared having considered the following questions:

What defines culture in a firm like Deloitte? Where do cultures come from in organizations?

If you were me, would you have made the call to build DU? Why? What are pros and cons of doing so under the facts of the case?

What were the unique external environmental factors at work throughout the period that did affect or could have affected the decision-making? How do you factor such external consequences into the decision-making?

What were the internal obstacles to getting to a yes? After identifying the obstacles, what alternatives do you see for overcoming them?

With the various external and internal factors coming together, with imperfect facts, CEO decision-making becomes very complex. Have you ever faced a challenge like this in your career? What did you do?

What were some of the approaches taken to drive cultural change...during the decision making process and afterwards?

After the decision to go ahead, what do you think were the key steps that were needed in order to drive an effective execution?

How would you measure the effectiveness of the decision/ROI?

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Performance Management as a Top Management Process

Readings:

1. Formal Performance Appraisal: Improving Results through Feedback; Excerpted from Performance Management: Measure and Improve the effectiveness of your employees, HBS Press; Harvard Business School Press, 2006; ISBN-10: 1-4221-0745-0 ISBN-13: 978-1-4221-0745-4; 7454BC

2. HBR article: Reinventing Performance ManagementMarcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall, April 2015, Reprint R1504B

3. Kelley School of Business, BH 548, Business Horizons (2013) 56, 503-512; Avoiding a “me” versus “we” dilemma: Using performance Management to turn teams into a source of competitive advantage, Aguinis, Gottfredon, Joo

4. In big move, Accenture will get rid of annual performance reviews and rankings; By Lillian Cunningham; Washington Post July 21, 2015

5. Accenture too drops bell-curve appraisals; By TNN | 27 Jul, 20156. ‘An excuse not to have a discussion at all’: Ernst & Young pushes back on plans to

dump performance reviews; 19 August 2015, Agnes

Preparation:

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During class we will engage in one “great debate”. Four students will form a team. Prior to class we will identify 2 teams to engage in the debate in class. The debate will focus on two topics, generally:

I. One will be on the subject of goal setting of the CEO/General Manager. The specific debate should focus on what should be included in the goals of the CEO/General Manager (how many, how broad or narrow, prioritization of them, individual vs. team performance, financial vs intangible performance criteria, among others as identified by the team).

II. One will be on the subject of choosing the proper process for the performance management activities of an organization. The specific debate should focus on whether bell shaped curves should be used; whether performance management systems if deployed should be forward looking only; and, on whether feedback only systems should be employed.

The instructions for each debate will be distributed to the debating teams one week prior to class to insure appropriate preparation time.


ZIOTICS CASE

Specific Questions for consideration TBD

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SESSION 10-First Half

12/5/16

GUEST SPEAKER

SESSION 10-Second Half12/5/16

BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE FOR SCALE

Readings:

Joyus-building an organizational structure for scale. IVEY publishing, W16005/9B16M003, Version 2016-01-28

Please read the case in its entirety and be prepared to discuss the following, in class. No written submission is required.

1. Describe the scale opportunity and challenge facing Joyus.2. Imagine you are Sukhinder Singh Cassidy. Thinking about your organization’s

strategy, what are you looking for in your senior management team?a. What skills, abilities and experiences do you thin k are most relevant? b. What positions do you think your team requires? Why?

3. Describe and evaluate Joyus’s culture and value system.4. Thinking about Singh Cassidy as CEO:

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a. How should she think about her own role in the firm and what she should focus on?

b. How do you think her personality fits into the equation?c. Knowing her background, what can she do to make Joyus more successful as

the organization scales?

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Strategic Planning at UPS

Readings:

Strategic Planning at UPS case, June 19, 2006, 9-306-002

A Note on Scenario Planning, Rev. July 3, 2006, 9-306-003

Read the case and the note and be prepared to answer the following questions during class discussion:

Preparation:

Questions to consider:

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of scenario planning?2. What is your evaluation of UPS’s 1997 scenario planning exercise? The Horizon 2017

planning exercise? How do the two efforts compare?3. What are the other key elements of UPS’s approach to strategic planning? In

particular, what is your evaluation of:a. The UPS charter?b. The Centennial plan?c. The Strategy Roadmap?

4. What led CEO Mike Eskew to put John McDevitt in charge of “strategic integration”? Should he remain in that role?

5. How does UPS’s strategic planning process compare with the approach at other organizations you might be familiar with?

6. What’s a Black Swan? How does it compare to scenario planning?

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Chocolat Cordon Rouge: A Capital Budgeting Review

Reading:

Chocolat Cordon Rouge:

A Capital Budgeting Review, March, 2014 Columbia Caseworks ID#140301

Roles are selected randomly, and will be distributed directly to you in a prior class. Please do not share information about your role with any others; the information in the role description is considered confidential.

Preparation:

Read the case as well as your individual role description, which is meant to familiarize you with the views and experiences of your character. There are 6 executives who are members of the top management team and one team observer. Each member is expected to participate in a capital budgeting meeting PRIOR to class (budget 90 Minutes) to analyze each of seven proposed investment possibilities and to select the one that is most advantageous for Chocolat Cordon Rouge. As you familiarize yourself with the issues facing Chocolat Cordon Rouge, you may discuss company matters with other playing the same role or people in your group playing other roles. You have to decide what you want to share, if anything. Simply, behave before the meeting, and during the meeting, in a way that seems useful to you.


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MAKE UP The recommended length of the assignment is 1500-1800 wordRecollect your professional experiences and select a situation whereby your firm (or an organization with which you have some—preferably intimate—familiarity) had to make a critical decision that involved deliberation of group members (or some type of consultative decision-making process). The experience might or might not directly involve you. Describe the context (size of firm, culture, leadership philosophies) and the stakes of the decision (i.e., what was to be potentially gained or lost based on the decisionConsidering the course learnings, explain also: the method

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the firm used to make the decision, the outcome, whether and why you believe the mechanism was excellent, or if not, how you would improve upon it. In your response, consider the impact of systemic thinking and process orientation. Refer to some of the key TMP slides we explored during the semestePlease explain in detail, whether the process and decisions made paralleled or was contrary to your valuesSESSION (following the last day of class, and before the final paper is due)DATE TBD, duration 1 ½ hours

1. Prior to class, review and reflect upon your learning journal, notes, assignments, guest speakers, and any other material that will help you recollect or recognize the key course takeaways: that the Top Management Processes course provided.

2. In class, we will break out into small groups and each student will be asked to explain briefly to the other group members what he or she found to be most beneficial or most

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important regarding the material presented throughout the course. The group will then designate one (and only one) spokesperson to provide a narrative to the whole class---with no visual aides—that encapsulates what the group thinks are the most significant messages to convey to the entire class.

Top Management Process

Fall 2016

Class Scheduling

Class time is 9:00 am-12:00 pm

Date Subject of Class and comments

9/12/16 (1) 1/2: Intro; values based leadership; Singh case

2/2: Values based leadership-Tomodachi case

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9/19/16 (2) 1/2: Attributes and Experiences of becoming CEO

2/2: Transition to CEO-NAPOLI case

9/26/16 (3) 1/2: Frank D’Souza-guest speaker

2/2: Transition to CEO-LEVY case

10/3/16 CLASS CANCELLED

10/10/16 (4) 1/2: Discuss the FRIENDLY FIRE case

2/2: Discuss the CHALLENGER LAUNCH case

10/17/16 (5) 1/2: Discuss THOUSAND DAYS and THIRTEEN DAYS

2/2: Sheila Bair-guest speaker

10/31/16 (6) 1/2: Discuss THOUSAND DAYS AND THIRTEEN DAYS

2/2: Discuss MT EVEREST case

11/14/16 (7) 1/2: Discuss the BCPC Internet Strategy

2/2: Filippo Passerini - Guest Speaker

11/21/16 (8) 1/2: Discuss the CEO interview completed before class

2/2: Discuss the DELOITTE UNIVERSITY case

11/28/16 (9) 1/2: Discuss performance management-classroom debate Guest

2/2: Discuss Ziotics case and role play

12/5/16 (10) 1/2: Matt Salzberg-guest speaker

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2/2: Discuss Joyus case

12/12/16 (11) 1/2: Discuss the UPS case

2/2: Discuss the Chocolate Cordon Rouge case

MAKE UP CLASS Divided as follows:

1/2: Self Reflection; review of journal entries, course closing

DATE TBD 90 minutes

2/2: 90 minutes role play out of class for CCR

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Columbia Business School · Web viewTop Management Process (TMP) is about the job of the Chief...

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