#ookManagement,11thEdition.Nopartofanybookmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyform by-Eny means without the publishe/s prior written permission. Use (other than pursuant to the qualified fair use privilege) in violation of the law or these Terms of Service is prohibited. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. ill ., renr r $ An lntrodudion to Management Management at Work Jumpin'Jack Flash f ack Armstrorrg doesn't har,e the cutest little babv face. I but lrc has other qualificatioas for getting ahe*d despite ;/ the fact that he's still relativelv .voung. I{e's smart and creative, i.rnd he cornbjues a high-errerg,';rpproach to getting things dorre rvith aggressive rnarkeiing iustiucts. I-Ie's iust j6 nos., but |ack cal alreadv boast a rvealth of urrnagement experience, Iargely because he 's beer: qrite adept at rnoving around in order to urot'e lp. I{e started out in sales for a teclrnology cornpan),, outsold his colleagtes by n'ide m*rgins for tr.r,o r.ears, aud rvas promoted to regional saies director. After a vear, he began arrgling for a position as nrarketing manager, bnt nhen ihe ioh werrt to a senior sales director, lack left for a iotr as a marketing marager rvith a conrpanv specializing in travel prodncts- 'I'houglr a little inrpatient u'itlr the tedious process of sifting through market-research data, he detoted his consideratrle energv ald creatir,itf io planning rrerv prodrcts, His very first pet proiect * a srrl>erJ ightlr.eigh t corn pact folding chair - o rrt- shipped all sales proiections and provided just the irrrpehls he needed io rsk for a pronrotiolr to vice president ofnrarketing. When the cor:lpanv took tno much time to rnake a tlecision, Jlck moved ol again, having found a suitable l'ice presidencv at a corrsumer-prod*cts finn. Llere, his abilitv to spot prornising iterns in the cornpan-v's r1s$-product pipeline - notably * cornbination oral-h1gieue and te;th-r,hi6ni,rg rir',se for dogs.*brouglrt hirt to the attention of upper rnanagement. ]ack expected to gc to the top of the list of candidates for presi- dent of sorne ditision *,ithin the compally! but instead the president of overse*s operations called fack into his office and offered hirn a yearlong special assignnrerrt: IIoB,u.ould |ock lile to head up a tearn to develop sfuategies for adapting exis! itrg c<-rrnpany products as nerv prodrcts for s*les irr der.eloping countries? lt t as the perfect opportuni$,, he suggesied, for fack to broaden his skills by working nith rnanagers fiom every area of the cornpi:n1'. L{oreor.er, there'd he a siguificani bonus if lre succeeded, ald promotion to a divisional presidencv rvolrld be next. It n'as certainlv an irrteresting r:pporhrnitr', but it rvould sidetrack fack's projected ascent to CEO status belore ihe ;rge of 40. lle asked fur a little tirne ta thirk over the offer, u,hich, as he rvell knew, rvonld also be a sketch for hirn. fu luck rvould Case Questions What nrcnagement skills did |ack dem ...

1. #ookManagement,11thEdition.Nopartofanybookmaybereproduce
dortransmittedinanyform
by-Eny means without the publishe/s prior written permission.
Use (other than pursuant to the qualified fair use privilege) in
violation of the law or these Terms of Service is prohibited.
Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
ill
., renr r $ An lntrodudion to Management
Management at Work
Jumpin'Jack Flash
f ack Armstrorrg doesn't har,e the cutest little babv face.
I but lrc has other qualificatioas for getting ahe*d despite
;/ the fact that he's still relativelv .voung. I{e's smart and
creative, i.rnd he cornbjues a high-errerg,';rpproach to getting
things dorre rvith aggressive rnarkeiing iustiucts.
I-Ie's iust j6 nos., but |ack cal alreadv boast a rvealth of
urrnagement experience, Iargely because he 's beer: qrite
adept at rnoving around in order to urot'e lp. I{e started out
in sales for a teclrnology cornpan),, outsold his colleagtes by
n'ide m*rgins for tr.r,o r.ears, aud rvas promoted to regional
saies director. After a vear, he began arrgling for a position
as nrarketing manager, bnt nhen ihe ioh werrt to a senior
sales director, lack left for a iotr as a marketing marager
rvith a conrpanv specializing in travel prodncts- 'I'houglr a
little inrpatient u'itlr the tedious process of sifting through
market-research data, he detoted his consideratrle energv
ald creatir,itf io planning rrerv prodrcts, His very first pet

2. proiect * a srrl>erJ ightlr.eigh t corn pact folding chair - o rrt-
shipped all sales proiections and provided just the irrrpehls he
needed io rsk for a pronrotiolr to vice president ofnrarketing.
When the cor:lpanv took tno much time to rnake a
tlecision, Jlck moved ol again, having found a suitable l'ice
presidencv at a corrsumer-prod*cts finn. Llere, his abilitv to
spot prornising iterns in the cornpan-v's r1s$-product pipeline -
notably * cornbination oral-h1gieue and te;th-r,hi6ni,rg rir',se
for dogs.*brouglrt hirt to the attention of upper rnanagement.
]ack expected to gc to the top of the list of candidates for presi-
dent of sorne ditision *,ithin the compally! but instead the
president of overse*s operations called fack into his office and
offered hirn a yearlong special assignnrerrt: IIoB,u.ould |ock
lile to head up a tearn to develop sfuategies for adapting exis!
itrg c<-rrnpany products as nerv prodrcts for s*les irr
der.eloping
countries? lt t as the perfect opportuni$,, he suggesied, for fack
to broaden his skills by working nith rnanagers fiom every area
of the cornpi:n1'. L{oreor.er, there'd he a siguificani bonus if
lre
succeeded, ald promotion to a divisional presidencv rvolrld be
next. It n'as certainlv an irrteresting r:pporhrnitr', but it rvould
sidetrack fack's projected ascent to CEO status belore ihe ;rge
of 40. lle asked fur a little tirne ta thirk over the offer, u,hich,
as he rvell knew, rvonld also be a sketch for hirn. fu luck rvould
Case Questions
What nrcnagement skills did |ack demonshate as a mar,
keting rnanager at the travei-products compalv? Wlrat
managernent skills did he demonstrate as a VP at the
consurner-products fi nn?
Should |ack have taken the special assignrnent offered
hinr by the consuiler-products firru? lYhat kinds of skills

3. hate it. ho*.ever, he didn't lrave to make the troubleson, e deci-
sion, because it il.*s then that he r,r-as offered his cunelt job as
divisional presideni at a rising consuner-elechonici finn.
And that's t'here x.e find |ack r:on*n'ith his iob on the
line. rhat happened? fack had beel in his ueu'comer office
for about six months u.hen his nrarketilg deparhrrent came
to hirn witlr an idea for a sleek high-fashion combinatiou
celfuhorre-rnusic and video play,er. It xas lr"rst the kind of
prod-
uct ihat Jack had heen looking for, and he orderd his n'rarket-
ilg people to dra*, up somr perf<rrmance specs and get thenr
to the design deparhnent. IIis f for nrarketing suggested that
]ack assemhle a proiect tea*r to sheplrerd the product frorn
urarketing through the design, engineering, ar.rd production
stages, but |ack had lreard too mauv stories atrcut projects
getting bogged down in the endless process oftearn decision
rnaki*g, and if tlrere tvils one thing tlrat lre krrerr' [ronr his
ou,n
expcriencr, it u.as that tlre key to a successfrrl neu'product uas
getting it to market as quicklv as possibie. Besides, he had a
reputation for aggressiveness to upbold.
Iletennined to take the bull by the homs, he put ihe proi-
ect or ar accrler:rted eight-rrrorrth schedule frorri design to
roilout- He hirnself iook charge of nr*rketing antl launched
an aggressir,e promotional carrrpaign desigred to capture the
atterrtion not only sf the rna*et but of the cornpan.y's irives-
tors. Ilverythilg went according to plan until the nriddle of
morth seven, ri.hen |ack got some bad ner.r.s fronr the produc-
tion facilifu in ,Iaiaysia. Tbsts orr prelirninarv r,ersiols of the
prodlct revealed that the placement ofthe cellphone antenna
ir.rside the rnouthpieee uas producing a rveak ceilulir signal.
l'he onlv solutions" it seems, rvere either to redesign lor an
external antenua or to pror,ide a kit containing an arrtenna and
adapter. hr either case, the prcduct design u-ould be cornpro-

4. rnised ard the rollout delayed by nro:rths. Electrorrics cngi-
neers had rr,anred rnechanical engineers ofthe potential glitch
at an earl,v stage of the proiect, but u'hen news of the prob-
lem got back to nrarketing, managf,Tr had decided to proc'eed
beeause the project was such a high prioritv rvith Jack.
As it tunrs out, thousands o[ orders tere delavcd, cus-
tomers got rrad, and rvhel tl"re nerts got out" the cnrrpanv's
stock price began to slip.
rras the president ofoverseas operations thinking about
rvherr lre ofiered the assignrnerrt to |ack?
3. Vhat rnanagemert skills s,ould have helped ]ack
at'oid the catastrophe ihat befell his proiect at the
consumer-electronics lrrm?
I.
llr
?
Management at Work
How 6E Manages to Do lt
T-tounded hv J'hotlas Edison ir: 1E78, GE is tlre onli- ole
H uf the original Dos )ones lndrrstrial Auerage l2 - tlre
I dozerr finrts that urade up tlre first DllA in 1896-that's
still on tlrat verrerable list. In fact, while *ll the otlrer origi-
nal firms have been acquired or gotre out of btrsitress, GE is
still ane of tl.re most consistentlv profitable companies in the
rr'orld. It doesr-r't boast the fastest growth or the highest

5. rnarket
value, but it's cousistently atnong the q'orld's rnost higlriy re'
garded firms, gan.rering high marks year after year in sun'evs o[
the worldt "rnost adrtired" atd "nrost innovative" conrpanies.
Indeed, from ik earliest days, GE has been a leader in de-
r,,elr:ping not only nerv products atrd manufachrring processes,
brrt nerv nrauagenretrt techniqrtes and practices as rvell' ltlan1'
ofthese lrave beetr dui:licated hy other firrns, hrrt rarely does
a furn beat GE to a neu.developnrent or $urpass GEs skill in
iurplenrentation.'I'he cotrpany's first organizational itruola-
liorr n'as the creation of a corporate research arrd developneut
lab, established in 1900, and in the 1930s, GE *as the first
U.S. finn to offer pension and profit-sharing plans.
G[ also centraiized decision n.raking in the 1910s,
producing the unique "Blrte Books" tlrai governed rnanag-
ers'everv move turtil the 1980s. Iu the 1960s, the cornpanl,
pioneered the application of *rategic management as an
approaclr to handling busirress opportunities arrd challenges,
and today the prir.rcil>les of strategic nr4nagemetrt ate so
Ihoroughlv ingrairred iu nrauagemetrt thirrking and practice
lhat tlrey're oftea the capstone course for undergradtrare de-
grees in business. At ahout the same tirne, the company lent
its name to the CE Business Sueen*a process, developed
iointly u,ith the consulting firnt lt{cKilsey, for identifring
a corporationt optirnal portfolio of business units. By the
1980s and 1990s, G[ was hrrilding an effective global cultrrre
rvhile pioneering such prograrns as Six Sigrna qualitv initia-
tives aud trrork Out, a reergineering progranr designed ta
simplifu u.'r:rk and emporler ernployees.
CE also has a reputatiou for reconfigrrring or even aban-
donir.rg lorrg-standing progranrs u,hen they no longer serve

6. their
orighral purposes. "lv{ost people inside GE," sa},s crrrrent CEO
feff Imrnelt, "leam from the past but hare a healthy disrespeet
for history.'ffie.v lral'e an ability to live in the motnent and not
be
flrrdened by the past." $ince taking ol'er in 2001, lor exanrple,
Inrmelt has pushed hard for irrnovation to cornplertent the
L
username: Ali AlnasirBook Management, 11th Edition. No part
of any book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
by any means witho* tn" puuriiireis priorwntten permissiol- .u:r
{otirer than
pursuant to the qualified fair use privilege} in
violation of the law or rreie i"rms of Service is priniriteo.
violators will be prosecuted to the
full extent of the law'
CHAPTEi z S traditional and Contemporary tssues and
Challenges
tendency nf Six Sigma to pronlote cfticierrcl'' or''er creattvt$'
I{e's also u'orked to-give the cornpanl"s haditional ir.rternal
ori-
entatiou a sharper "erterual focns" ott its custcmers'

7. In 20t)8" iE Res"arch rvas at'arded the INFORIIIS prize'
n'hich is given annually to a fin.n ihat effectively uses the
techriiqnei of manageinenf scisnce - mathenr atical rn odel i n g
and other analytical methods-to make better managenreut
decisions. h{anagenrett science is irtportant to GE, says YP
for Clobal Reseircl N{ark Little, "becarrse it's so relevanl to
lrow rve perfomr fr:r our customers"; at GE, he adds, the ul-
tirnate airn of rnanagement science teclrnology is
"to create
more custonter value at lower risk."
Today, CE is also focusing on innovatious itr environ-
rnental technolog,v. Launched in 2005' its "Ecomagina-
tion" initiatir.e, rcio.dir,g to Imrlelt, reftects the courparryt
"cor.ntnittnent to addresi chrllenges such as the need for
cleaner, more efficient sources of errergy, reduced etnis-
sions, and abutrdant $ources of clean rvater'" In |uly Z0l0'
ior example, GE antrounced a $?00 rnilliorr "Ecomagirra-
tion Challenge"-a contest to fund promising ideas for
in.rpror.in g America's el ectrici$ ilrfrastn:ctrrre' In Noveur-
ber, ro,rrrd orre etded witlr l2 start-up colr:panies rsceiving-
a total of $55 lrillion in investments, plus the prospect of

8. Case Questions
l. Does the pattern n[ tuarragement developrnerrts at
CI', over fhe last centut,v seern to reflect the ir*t-
tern suggested by n"ranage*rer.rt theor,v? blxplain your
allslr'er.
2, Which of CIi's matragetltelt innor''ations seetn to drax-
on a clcssiccl ntla*gement penpective? Which seem to
drarr, on a behavioral fianagctnent psrspectiva? i{olr' does
the contingenc,t perspective explain the tnanagen:ent
accelerated product development arrd pronrotiotr frorn CE's
arm-v o[ engineers and marketers. Accordirig to Inrnrelt, the
coniest an{other initiatives demoustrate CE! itiilingncss to
seek innovatiot outside tlre company: "A lot of these errerry
ideirs," he explaitrs, "are ltel'er going to-see the light of day
because [staitupsl don't have the inuscle to comrnercialize
thern. . . . ltift ti"a of rvin-r'hr," he adds' "Selfislr'ly for CE'
u'e can be the goto player to get more good ideas faster'"
Finall,v, CE x'orks hard to develop ieaders.-Every 1'ear,
for instarrce, about 9,000 GE ernployees take classes at tl.re
company's legendary inJrouse tnanagetrent scho-ol in Cro-
tonville, NetlYork. The current curriculunr at Crotonville

9. revolves around rvhat hnrnelt characterizes as "a 'lrllole
new set of leadership trait-s," i:rcluding "external focus'and
"iuragitration aud courage"-traits, according to Imrnelt,
that lay "tlre foundation of how ;i-ou becorne innovative' ' ' '
What i tell pecple is that rve have tc develop ne$' leaders
for grou'th-people lvho are passiorrate about customers and
innivation, [people] rvho real]y krrolv rnarkek and produets'
{ Iraditionall professiorral managemort isn't going to
give
i'ou the kind of grouth you need irra rlorv€routh
s'orld' ' ' '
Yo., h""e to change," Imrnelt corrcludes. "or else You don't
have a great future rvith this compar.ry."
changes tlrat Cll has nrade over tlre years? Iixplain eaeh
of ,vour tespoilses.
1. i'iry, in your opitliorl, lras CE been so successful in
integrating the management science nppradch s'ith less
quantitotive apProaclres?
4. In rthat *ryt do.t the change in CE's approach to lead-
ership reflect the same cor.rditior.rs as those that influence
its current approach to matragetnent?