Organizations
Author: admin / Category: Reference
In some organizations there is a certain inherent constraint in the way people talk about each other and their leadership. That constraint is partly a product of the personalities of the individuals involved and partly a product of organizational values and behavior. There wasn’t much we could do about that circumspection and, short of living in the organization itself over an extended period of time, it would be difficult to achieve the freedom of expression that ideally would provide us greater detail. In general, despite our pledge of confidentiality and anonymity, our observers were cautious in their direct or implied criticism of the CEO. This was especially the case in General Electric.
The questions we asked are spelled out. They were intended to provide the chief executive interviewee with an opportunity to tell us something about his ego ideal, that never quite attainable goal that each of us constantly pursues and that for some becomes the basis for organizational goals. Subsequent questions helped to illuminate the relationship of the leader and his board, the potential gap between them, and the degree to which the leader, coming into his role, anticipated what he had to do to achieve his goals for the corporation. We also needed to know how the leader saw himself and how he regarded the company from a psychological viewpoint. The leader’s self-image would also reveal his degree of insight about himself and his own behavior and about the feedback that he would get from other people about himself. The leader could tell us how he tried to establish operating modes in his organization, with what success and what lessons; he could also tell us what changes he could not effect. We expected our questions to illuminate some of the bases of the leader’s striving and the limits of his attainment.
From these many interviews, from the annual reports and many books written on the respective companies, as well as what has appeared in the managerial literature, we distilled the material to its present size. As much as possible, we tried to avoid repetition and to still maintain our focus on the CEO’s behavior and his impact on his organization. Necessarily, much has been left out, much that would have been interesting and sometimes even amusing, but we believe that the essence of the individual leader’s behavior is contained in these pages.