LIFE AND CARRER
Christopher Barlett is Thomas D. Casserly Jr. professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Before joining the faculty of Harvard, he was a marketing manager with Alcoa in Australia, a management consultant in Mckinsey and company’s London office, and general manager at Baxter Laboratories’ subsidiary company in France.
His research interests have focused on the strategic and organizational challenges which managers face in running multinational corporations, and these interests have been reflected in his most successful books.
Managing across Borders was cited by the Financial Times as one of the50 most influential business books of the country.
CONTRIBUTION
Managing across borders
Ghoshal and Bartlett’s thinking begins with two fundamental questions:
· What does strategy mean?
· Why do the time-honored business models-exemplified by Alfred Sloan’s General Motors-no longer work?
Their initial search involved asking over 250 managers in nine multinational companies how their companies were facing up to the complexities of international competition and the growing global marketplace. They identified a pervasive organizational inability to cope, survive and succeed in the face of growing diversity and accelerating change.
They found three types of organizational model in operation:
· The multinational model, exemplified by Philip or Unilever – a decentralized federation of local firms held together by posting key people from the centre.
· The global model, exemplified by Ford and Matsuishita – benefiting from large scale economies and conduits into new market opportunities
· A more widespread international model – focusing on technology and the transfer of knowledge to less advanced environments.
They concluded that a fourth model was necessary – the transnational – which would combine all the element of the other three and in addition, exploit local know-how as a key weapon in identifying opportunities and not operate overseas sites as outposts of the centre.
EFFICIENCY VERSUS ECONOMIC PROGRESS
To understand why the old model no longer worked, Ghoshal examined Alfred Sloan’s General Motors, the pioneer of the three Ss (Strategy-structure-system) emulated by other companies for decades.
The three Ss were designed to make the management of complex organizations systematic and predictable. The top people in the organization crafted the strategy, and then designed the structure that enabled it to unfold and the system that made it operational. The information system they relied on dealt with facts and reduced the human element to a minimum. Employees on Ford’s assembly lines, for example, were viewed as replaceable parts; ITT under Harold Geneen, abolished the possibility of surprise by constantly establishing unshakeable facts
For years the systematic approach worked. It started to break down only in the 1980s, when converging technologies, fluctuation markets, overnight competition, and technological innovation combined to make its control systems cumbersome, unresponsive and ultimately a risk to the survival of the organization itself. An article by Ghoshal Christopher Barlett and Peter Moran in the Sloan Management Review, Spring 1999 (A new manifesto for management pp 9-20) pointed out that criticisms of these systems for stifling initiative, creativity and diversity were valid. They were designed for an organization man who has turned out to be an evolutionary dead end (p. 11)
In the same article, the author implicitly attacked Michael Porter’s work. Porter had influenced strategic thinking for over a decade by arguing that organizations must beat the competition by gaining a stronghold on value, that is, by either reducing competitions’ value (perhaps through competitive incremental cost or quality improvements) or buying them out Ghoshal wrote: ‘’Porter’s theory is static in that it focuses strategic thinking on getting the largest possible share of a fixed economic pie (p 12) FOR Ghoshal companies exist not to appropriate value but to create it – and they get themselves into a position to be able create value by changing the smell of the place .
FONTAINEBLEAU AND CALCUTTA: THE SPRINGTIME THEORY
Ghoshal developed his “springtime theory” while teaching business policy at INSEAD in the forest of Fontainebleau, south of Paris. During a summer visit to his home city of Calcutta, he found the humidity oppressive and draining and likened this to the stultifying atmosphere in control- and system-oriented corporate climates. Later, walking in the woods at Fontainebleau, he realized that the fresh, energizing forest reminded him of the cultural atmosphere of more open and dynamic organizations .From this he went on to propound his springtime theory, arguing that managers and approaches to management strongly affect cultures and can create or change the organizational context, “the smell of the place” But how.
THE THREE Ps
Ghoshal considered that today’s leading companies are built around the three Ps. Purpose, Process and People. In an interview in management skill and development, he claimed that, as shapers of purpose, senior managers need to create a shared ambition among their staff, instill organizational values and provide personal meaning for the work their staff do. Creating that shared ambition is an active management process that challenges poor performance, establishes a common goal, demonstrates managers commitment and self-discipline and provide meaning for everyone’s effort (P 40)
In the same interview, Ghoshal also stressed the need for organizations to:
· Start thinking outside the strategic planning box examining how they actually learn.
· Complement vertical information flows with horizontal personal relationships
· Build a trust-based culture by spreading a message of genuine openness
· Share all the information that has traditionally been a source of power
He said: you cannot have faith in people unless you take action to improve and develop them. The success of businesses depends now more than ever on the talent of people working for them (P.39) in short, organizations need to forge a new moral contract with their people.
THE NEW MORAL CONTRACT
In the past, the contract between organizations and employees promised relative security in return for conformity. In the 1990s, however, this changed; job security was undermined by downsizing and re-engineering, while managerial approaches such as total quality management and customer focus demanded more involvement and initiative from employees. The new contract Ghoshal proposed is based on developing employability and providing challenging jobs rather than functional boxes. It should be neither viewed neither as altruism on the company’s part nor as something imposed on employees. It is rather, a new management philosophy that recognizes that personal development both improves employees’ performance and make them more employable in their future working lives, and that market performance stems from the initiative, creativity and skills of all employees and not just the wisdom of senior management.
Such a contract involves a great leap for both organizations and employees. Employers must create a working environment with opportunities
For personal and professional growth, within a management environment in which it is understood must make greater commitment to continuous learning and development and the only hedge against a changing market.
COMPANIES AS VALUE CREATORS
Ghoshal felt strongly that organization must stop focusing on squeezing out every last cost saving waste reduction or improvement in quality or efficiency. That may seem like the ultimate goal of TQM and continuous improvement, but organizations with that sole aim are only good at improving existing activities. Their emphasis is wholly on conservation, which, as Ghoshal pointed out, jack Welch of GE described as a ‘ticket to the bonyyard’
The main message of Ghoshal and Bartlett’s most recent book, The individualized Corporation (1998) was a key to competitive advantage in a turbulent economy is a company’s ability to innovate its way out of relentless market pressure. As companies shift emphasis from acquiring value to creating it, managers should shift their focus away from obedience, control and conformity to initiative, relationship building and continuous challenge of the status quo. Instead of being cogs in a system, they should become facilitators and people developers, drawing creativity from others.
CONTEXT AND CONCLUSIONS
Doing the time that Ghoshal came to prominence, his focus shifted from international strategy to the importance of putting people, creativity and innovation at the top of the agenda and of emphasizing high-quality management as a social and moral value-creating force.
THE BEST SOUCES OF HELP
BOOKS
Bartlett, Christopher, and Sumantra Ghoshal. Managing Across Borders. 2nd edition.
London: Hutchinson Business, 1989
Bartlett, Christopher, and Sumantra Ghoshal: The individualized Corporation: A fundamental New approach to management. London: Heinemann 1998
GO FORTH AND DECLARE GOD’S SALVATION (LUKE 8:27-29)
To proclaim the good news is to publicly and officially declare the love of Jesus to many who believe in Him and His death on the cross just to save mankind
The best miracle that can ever happen to man is the miracle of salvation. Jesus therefore commands everyone in Mark 16:15-19 to go forth and tell about the good news of salvation. You need to declare the saving grace of Jesus. Proclaim it, speak it to all and sundry.
And they went out and preached everywhere, the lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs! Amen (Mark 16:20)
The disciples of Jesus went and preached everywhere after the command of Jesus. Having obeyed that command, what followed that obedience were signs and wonders.
Your primary assignment as a Christian is to be effective in proclaiming the good news. In John 4:28-29, 39, the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus. Many of the Samaritans came to the knowledge Jesus Christ because of the saying of the woman.
As a Christian who has encountered Christ you need to tell others your experience. Your life must preach Jesus even in silence. This means that your character must preach the good news.
How will you be effective in proclaiming the good news if you have no character? You must know that there is no charisma or integrity without character.
The beautiful attitude that Jesus expects from you are recorded in Matthew 5:1-16. You must be a peace maker and be at peace with your neighbours. As a Christian you can also proclaim the good news through the manifestation of the power of God in you. Consider the account of the layman at the beautiful gate. Peter spoke the word in the name of Jesus and he was healed (Acts 3:1-9). You can also allow God to use you.
Brethren can preach the good news by their relationship with one another. When the love of Christ radiates among God’s people, it will win many souls to God. Therefore, Christians are to truly love one another so as to show the love of Christ.
Are you dependable and honest? Are you still salt, can you still season the world and make the life around you sweet? Are you still light, can you still shine as the light that Jesus made you to be? Read Matthew 5:13-16. If your answer is no, rededicate your life to God today and ask for His Grace.
Are you yet to know Jesus? Then it is impossible to proclaim the one you do not know. But you have an opportunity now to encounter Him so that you can also share this good news of salvation with others.
Acknowledge that you are a sinner and confess your sins to Jesus. Truly repent of them and determine in your heart to forsake them. Pray to Him come into your life. If you have honestly and wholeheartedly done these things, begin to serve Him and proclaim the good news of salvation which you have just received
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