The
associated videos highlight leadership in times of transformational change. Jim
"Mattress Mack" McIngvale and Stanley McChrystal discuss the
challenges they faced in contrast to the programs they instituted regarding change.
Jim McIngvale lead a furniture company during the housing crash and subsequent
warehouse fire that nearly devastated their company. However, he instituted a
vision for the company that otherwise kept the doors open. He focused inward on
processes and his people, instituting a work-life balance program with fitness capability
and improving overall customer service. Mack’s vision included customer service
professionals that aimed to “established customers for life” (Mack, 2013). This
directly compares with information found within our text such as “The
development of a vision is an important element in organizational and cultural
change” (Brown, 2011, p. 404).
I served
under former General McChrystal in Afghanistan and can relate to the vast
difficulties presented to him as a leader. He was challenged to provide
leadership across a myriad of spectrums. This TED video allowed me to further
understand the immense gravity to the challenges he faced as a leader. He was
forced to implement change about the modern battlefield with leadership across various
mediums such as video teleconferencing, email, satellite, ect. He expressed the
difficulties as a leader “not being able to put a hands on one’s shoulder.”
McChrystal used whatever means available in order to “build their faith through
leadership” and “build a sense of shared purpose” (McChrystal, 2011). This
directly links to the messages within our text whereas “Organizational culture
refers to a system of shared values held by all members the distinguishes one
organization from another (Brown, 2011, p. 404). I recall the time serving
under McChrystal to be vastly rewarding.
Both
leaders, McIngvale and McChrystal, were faced with challenges that mandated
change. Although their programs were vastly different, each leader proved to be
capable and successful in implementing change. Our text refers to the process
these men directed as strategic change management that encompasses the
technical, political, and cultural systems (Brown, 2011, p. 408-409). Jim
McIngvale conquered the cultural system with incentive pay and established
procedures such that employees could not game the systems (Mack, 2011). He also
instituted a process that followed up with customers that lead to future sales.
McChrystal recognized and placed a lot of emphasis on his subordinate leaders.
He illustrated in his speech that “organizational relationships are incredibly
powerful bonds” and that “leaders can let you fail, but not let you be a
failure” (McChrystal, 2011).
In relation
to the strength about the corporate cultures, I think that McChrystal had an edge;
the military has a much stronger sense of member commitment to values and
equality shared amongst those values. The furniture store employees have much
more flexibility to walk away if they are not content. Regarding the strategy to
culture matrix, both leaders were relatively forced to implement change. They
equally had a strong need for change but also shared compatibility issues with
existing cultural norms. While both leaders were successful, the process was
hardly easy. However this is a testament to leaders as illustrated by
McChrystal (2011) in that “If you’re a leader the people you countered on you
will help you up, and if you’re a leader the people who count on you will need
you on your feet.”
References
Brown, D. R.
(2011). Organization Transformation and Strategic Change. In An experiential
approach to organization development (8th ed., pp. 398-410).
Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Mack , J.
(2013). Gallery Furniture - Case Studies.
Retrieved November 29, 2013, from
http://www.vitalsmarts.com/casestudies/gallery-furniture/
McChrystal, S.
(2011, March). Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead | Video on
TED.com [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal.html
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