Jacks MBA Journey Blog

Today's topic is to write about influential leaders in our lives. I don't think I have had an all out perfect leader that I have admired, but there are many leaders that I have admired that have created a patchwork of great leadership. If I had to narrow it down to one leader, then first and foremost to me would be Theodore Roosevelt. From what I read about this man, he was one of the last great presidents our country has had. I admire the dichotomies of his personality and relationships. Researching his life on the internet, he is a hero of conservatives and liberals, international world order and separatists, integrationists and segregationists. A man of war who charged San Juan hill, killing an enemy with vengefulness using a gun recovered from the bombed and sunken U.S.S Maine, yet receiving the Nobel Peace Prize several years later ending Japans relentless assault on Russia.

Fiercely passionate about his causes, he was tireless in just about any fight (Seems about the only person to get to him was my great, great, great uncle, Frank Frantz, Roosevelt's Company A Captain on the charge of San Juan Hill and last territorial governor of Oklahoma, who had knocked Roosevelt out 3 times boxing with him at the White House). At one point, when attempting to run for a third term, an assassin shot him, yet he continued his speech, as fierce as ever. Since I started studying his life, I admired how he turned his life around. Set backs did not phase him. A sickly and asethmatic child, he fought to gain strength. As a young adult, he lost his mother and wife on the same day, but remained strong and was able to rebuild his life. I admire the life he led as a positive (although sometimes overbearing father) role model to his children. I admire how he was able to negotiate major changes in government, from anti-trust legislation, to breaking up of the political machines that dominated New York. I also admire his scientific mind. I would love to have a photographic memory and book smarts that he had. As a child, he created his own scientific drawings of wildlife and a keen sense of strategy. At 21, he was able to write a landmark book on the strategy of Naval Warfare of 1812. A book that was regarded one of the top in the field even 40 years later. Another area was break from the status quo. He did not like to be a member of the old political machines of the time. Tammany Hall, noted in Scorcese's "Gangs of New York" was a major target of Roosevelts throughout his career, but even the Republican machine did not fair much better. Also, I admire his ability to seek both sides of a story. Although he publicly dismissed Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" as socialist propaganda, Roosevelt still requested private investigations into the claims that lead to sweeping regulations in the meat packing industry.
Lastly underneath it all, I admire his ethics and morals. Although I do not have the same moral fiber as him, I think his underlying foundations made him the strongest of the modern presidents. Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, even Bill Clinton did some great things in their time, but their underlying moral and ethical issues played against them in the overall scheme of things. I am fascinated that Scorcese will be directing the "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt". I think this will give a modern audience a view into a legendary man and leader that time was hiding his great impact on this country.

3 of the chapters were very motivating and 1 was a little dark. Non-Verbal Communication was the topic I had the most interest in. In our offsite, I was able to get our team to come up with a good amount of material for the presentation, although our ending was awkward, the topics were well received. I think I found that I had to be a more empathetic listener. The decoding and concentration have been hard parts for me. Sometimes I still wander, but I am trying to build a better habit of understanding what the other person is trying to get across. I still think I have issues trying to restate my point if I don't say it clearly, but I continue to work at it. I have taken a notion similar to the construction mantra "Measure Twice, Cut Once" In communication, I am trying "Think Twice, Act Once".

For Trait and Behavior Leadership, I have always felt that leadership can be behavioral. I have seen people reset their priorities and ascend into leadership positions. Some through focusing on talent and others through coercive behavior that resulted in achieving results. Although the result was achieved, I can't see how it can be rewarding. I think the character and ethics of those sorts of people are challenged and sometimes even compromised. I think a leader that is compelling and authoritative must work harder but the long term results are much greater.

Power and politics was a much darker chapter. Consulting for a large bureaucratic corporation. I always run into people that hoard information power and the politics behind it. I have always tried to share what I know and what I don't know. I think that has made me a stronger person that has more trust and better relationships that trying to lie about my knowledge. I also think that responsibility plays better in the big picture. Ownership of issues has always been something I strive for. It been interesting though watching some of the coercive power struggles going on in the organization I consult for. One leader has threatened security actions to get a problem resolved rather than just requesting a plan of action to close the issue. He had an interesting statement when we were communicating one day "If I can walk through this place one day and not find any problems, I know things are working well", I responded with "If you can walk through this place without finding any problems, it probably means you are not looking hard enough and nobody wants to tell you what they know." With his acts of coercive leadership, no one wants to identify issues because they will probably receive the brunt of the repercussion. This individual took over from a very person oriented leader, people were free to bring their issues to them and he would help guide them to the correct path. He easily shared his experience. His successor is definitely process oriented and it appears to be a shock to the organizational culture. I still think he can have process oriented goals, but should follow a more authoritative and approachable personality to achieve his results.

Last weekend we went on our retreat to do the Myers Briggs assessment and teaming exercises. The content was thoroughly enjoyable, but the facilities and logistics were a let down. Lets get the 'housekeeping' out of the way first. The facility lended absolutely no value to the content. The room was 10 miles from our usual campus location and within 20 miles from most of our houses. It was not as though we were at some retreat, we were at a camp wedding lounge, the place reeked of smoke and the rooms were not that great. The room we had to meet in was half the size of our classroom and boasted even worse ventilation. If we truly went somewhere, like San Diego, or Lake Arrowhead, maybe there would be a reason to stay at a hotel. Maybe someone who argue that it was to keep things punctual. All I can say is don't go there.

OK, all of that is now out of my system, back to the content. It was very good. I took the Myers Briggs test with a little skepticism thinking it would match up, and I was pleasantly surprised how it fit where I wanted to go. I do have some things that I still practice that fall out of my norm for being an ENTJ, but according to Dr. Lynn, I will find out more about that when I do my personal development interview. Anyway, I think the meeting was effective. I have a strong bond with the class. You could see the difference in our quant class where the common students between quant and OB contrast pretty deeply. The quant only students seem distant and there is more of a bond with the OB folks. It will be hard to leave this group when I go to West LA next term.

Some of the exercises were tough. There was one exercise where we had to pick a partner to do an exercise explaining a high and low point in our lives and pick a person we admire. I picked Claudia to meet someone I had not talked to before. I probably spilled to much about my fathers death, but I think with Ralph Cleary, a former neighbor, and, Scott Bliefer, Karen Bleifer's brother tragically killed by circumstance on his bike on PCH near the main campus, just hit me. I had been strong for Bonnie and Karen, like I had never been before. But taking myself back again to where they were now just seemed to open a wound for a little bit. But everytime it opens, it seems to heal a little better and life goes on.

In the end, I did come out energized, but probably came out too strong. I don't know if its because of the class, but I seem to be seeing people acting with a different character. So that first day was great, but I was mentally burnt on the second day, a bit up on Wednesday, then crashing on Thursday and back up today. Each swing in my mood and thinking not as far as the day prior. Good stuff and I am wanting to compile all my data for the professional development piece.

The Psychological Contract

I have always felt there are some sort of psychological contract at my last two employers, but it was never apparent until I read this chapter. The interesting thing is I have had some difficulties that have been pinches, but like my current employer, they started down a path of Sharing information and "planned" to negotiate, but then let the issue fall to the wayside and the manager hoped the contract fell back into the stability zone. What appears missing to me is that there is no point where pinches eventually become crunch points. As in the employee feels that multiple issues have not been resolved to the point they tip over into a choke point may turn into a resentful termination.

At a previous employer, benefits and satisfaction were being eroded away, year by year. There were many pinches, but I don't think all were adequately negotiated and clarified. When another pinch point happened, downsizing dictated by finance, but not communicated between organizations, it caused a crunch and eventually a resentful termination. It almost seems like there needs to be some sort of scale of satisfaction coming out of negotiation and clarity commitment. The scale would represent the emotional balance of the employee and employer. This sort of indicator could be used as an alert if the next pinch could cause a disruption of shared expectations more easily than if the balance was zero.

Individual and Organizational Learning

I had to crack open the packet we waited so long for today, it was a disappointment. The only clear page was the one not to copy the document (Unlike what the school did). Page numbers are missing, the assignments do not correspond the syllabus, and the quality of the print was so poor, the assignments were not clear. I made fun of my Eastern Economy Edition version of the class text for it's quality, and I take it back now. It is far superior to this package.

But I trudged forward anyway. This chapter has brought me back to all my ideas on how to improve learning in Internet Virtual Organizations. I used my experiences from my consulting company experience where everyone is pulled from the field for a week and put through a training program that is not necessarily relevant or timely for them. Great expense is taken to get all these people in a central location and the depth of the training is usually pretty shallow. I think that this sort of training could be greatly improved if it was only done online, broken up into roles, functions and processes and could be used just in time for engagements or phases of a project where they are practical. Getting the groups together is still a good idea, but it can be done over a shorter time period. Use that time for communicating the state and vision of the company and allow people to celebrate their successes and network with their employee contemporaries. The online training should be done through the year keeping the first Friday of the month for every month except January and August to learn new applications or dive deeper into existing ones. This keeps the training fresh, constant and more relevant.

Depending if I did the Learning Style inventory assessment correctly (The print quality was so bad, I was unsure if I was supposed to add up all the columns because the shading was gone), but it appeared I was Active Experimentation focused and a converger. I think I pretty much agree with the assessment. I was semi-centric in the converger quadrant, so I think it showed my leaning accurately. Many of the other exercises required group activity, so I did not perform them except answer individual questions.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture has been interesting to watch between my old company with about 600 employees and my current employer of 6,000. When I joined my old company, there were about 300 employees. The company was very nimble and responsive. During the waning days of the internet bubble, we grew close to 800 employees. The feel and characteristics of the company changed. It still moved quickly, but you could feel the bureaucracy grow through the company. At the new, larger employer I work for, they have gone through major changes, being spun off one of the major information service providers, but still have not shook their culture very far from them. Things move painfully slow internally. Upside is not trickled down to the lower levels of the organization and the emphasis feels like it is more on maintaining a position than trying to aggressively grow a business. The culture of this organization may not be able to meet the culture of the competitive landscape.
I am looking at this issue as an opportunity, either by being able to show that we as a company, should provide a better response, or by branching out on my own and providing the response. I just lack the financial resources to make it happen. I also thought it was interesting about what the book talked about how the ultimate source of a culture is with its founders. With mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs, there is no founder to this organization. Business in this day and age is kind of like trying to piece together hamburger with my current organization, the business has been sliced and diced so much, I don't think anyone would know.

Its also interesting seeing the culture in my customer. Two major aerospace companies that merged 10 years ago, one a major player in the western US, the other in the Easter US. Both have been integrated tightly in information systems, but the processes are deeply rooted in their founding companies. Both are trying to find common ground, but when the rubber meets the road, previous culture takes precedence.

I am also liking the socialization model in this chapter and have applied it to the admissions process. Pre-arrival is the introduction, application process, GMAT, etc. Encounter was our orientation and first couple of nights in class, Now the metamorphosis begins. We work to start to encounter assignments and tests and accept our place at Pepperdine. It will be interesting to see how the Productivity, Commitment and Turnover turn out.

Work spitritualization is something I will take to heart. I think having an manager that can motivate and provide meaning to work is important. Jobs become less trivial and there is more ownership . I liked in Steven Covey's book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, how the one hotel he stayed at, he got superior service. That service was found from ownership of the mission at all levels. The company had a mission statement, the hotel had a mission statement and each function had a mission statement. Ownership in what you are working on provides a lot of pride and satisfaction, whether the job is complex or menial.

Organizational Structure - Well, I am happy to say that I have lived through just about all of them and some sorts of hybrids. Consulting over the last 6 years has blurred the lines of organization, but I really liked the picture Professor Newman put on the whiteboard "Make those below you, alongside you and above you successful, and you too will be successful". I work in a mostly bureaucratic, decentralized, virtual organization. I am with a software company providing services to a customer. I have not had a desk or an office at my employer for over 6 years. I travel with my bag and cell phone. Many customers give me a home. From a hardwall office to the edge of a printer table, usually some sort of cubicle, but I rely mostly on technology for my office. I was kind of surprised about the answer the book gave on virtual organizations. Which were more about outsourcing and off shoring than about lack of physical interaction and location. Many people in my profession are simply people. No office, no central location, constantly on the road. Connected occasionally, but usually comingled in organizations as subject matter experts. None of the organization definitions in the book discussed this, which was kind of odd. The boundaryless organization sounded like it was the closest to it, but appears to have a lot of holes in its technique as well. In time of crisis, a chain of command giving clear orders is essential. The organic structure like we saw in New Orleans for the response to Hurricane Katrina did not work. Should federal authorities handle the problem? should the municipalities? mayor gives one order, the chief of police another conflicting order, National guard another, the govenor another.... Each structure finds its fit through size, market, competitive forces and evolution. I've seen too many companies try to do things based on another companies success and touting. I imagine we must try on each one to see how it fits, but I think for my 4 options, my structure would be an updated definition of the virtual organization based on the technical employee's environment and needs to collaborate effectively.

Chapter 1 was an intriduction to the topic. More of a definition than anything else. It may not be the easiest subject to comment about, but it gives a sense of the roots to HR issues that come through the channel. Performance reviews, goal setting, ethics and harrasment training. I find it kind of interesting how many of these topics are practiced by companies since they have been burned by them in the past. Either through a lawsuit or being outperformed by a competitor. Also it is interesting how some of the skills or techniques taught through OB are practiced. I am in a unique situation where I can watch how 4 companies operate daily. My employer, who is a software and service provider, two of the largest aerospace firms and a small services company that is managin our project. The aerospace companies are very large and bureacratic, point systems and square footage of an office or cubicle has a very distinct presence in this environment. My company is a large company for its niche and somewhat resembles the aerospace companies, except it is a lot younger. The project management company is very successful, but small and shows lots of potential. I see the impact of organizational behavior as strong in my first career choice with the software company and weaker as I compare each of the following choices, primarily because each of the other choices has fewer people involved, groups become less diverse. Also, as poliically incorrect as it sounds, I am not a strong believer of diversity training. I believe in equal rights and I am against racial, sexual and religious discrimination. But fostering an awareness in differences only seems to validate divides in the workplace. We are asked frequently today to team, to act as one, to be a good corporate citizen. But the book makes it appear like we come to work to express our family values, sexual preferences, and cultural differences. I don't think that is was I get paid for, I get paid to provide a superior product or service, not to spout my spiritual beliefs into my product. It could be possible to use diversity training to recognize the diversity of my customer, but I have problems trying to right the wrongs of the past by swinging the pendulum against prior generations of oppressors.
That was about my only hard point with that chapter, other areas like improving customer service has always been a personal mission. I have worked 38 hours straight at a customer's site to meet an objective on time and on budget. I am glad to see books like this, and Steven Covey's recognize this type of behavior.

OK, I finally have everything in place and I am ready to start my journal. I think this is an insteresting assignment for my behavior in organizations class, so I will take the effort to continue updating this throughout my studies at Pepperdine.

So here I am, I am finally in the door. It seems like its been a few year since I felt that I had a goal and objective, but I am finally doing something for myself again. My previous employer was a great company, but really absorbed my time. Although I miss some of the intensity in my new position, my new employer has given me a chance to catch up with myself.

My goal is to improve my career aspirations with this program. There are several options I have for the future that I am looking toward:

1. Is to continue up the management path at my current employer using the skills I learn in this program.
2. Build my own services company providing assistance for PLM solutions
3. Build a practice for a third party service provider that recognizes the opportunities available in this line of software and can provide the resources to build the practice.
4. Build my own company providing a completely different product or service outside of my area of expertise.

My plan is to study each new topic in my classes through these paradigms. Apply what is taught in each subject and use this time as a research project. To find which goal makes the most sense or if a new opportunity exposes itself. "Nothing fades as fast as future -- Nothing clings like the past"

For the journaling, I have a little bit of make up to do. I was able to use a cunning tactic to get my Sharepoint community site up and sponsored by the company by becoming the Sales Manager for the Pepperdine account. Tonight I moved my Teamcenter Community site out of its shadow location and into its new domain. Hopefully, I can use it for teaming once we get into our projects.

The class demographics are pretty interesting, a real mix of diferent types of people and backgrounds, I am one of the older people in the class, but not by very much. I was afraid the composition was going to be like a casting call for "The Apprentice", but most of the folks are pretty down to earth and intelligent. The competition does not appear intense and the teaming appears like it might work pretty well. It will be interesting weighing what I am learning against what I have been reading recently in "Good to Great", "The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership", "7 habits of highly effective people" against this course and it's literature.

As chapter 14 points out, I think I am in the encounter phase, a little surprised of the logistics issues and level of technology being pretty far behind, but I am sure I can adapt to this environment pretty well.

This blog will be used (to start) for my journaling in my Behavior in Organizations Class.