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Alan P. Warnick was the Vice President of Organization Development and Training for Enron Operations and was an insider during the years leading up to the corporation's downfall. His previous experience also includes positions as Chief Human Resources Officer for Enron Chemical and Great Lakes Chemical Corporations, General Manager of Human Resources Strategy and Change at Reliant Energy, and a consultant with Chase Manhattan Bank and American Training. Al is a senior level human resources executive with broad experience in large, multidivisional and international corporate environments. He has initiated and led many large-scale organizational change projects focused on building organizational capability. He has substantial experience in reengineering critical HR processes, working with business units to develop high impact people strategies, and realigning the mission, role, and structure of the HR function. He has extensive background in mergers and acquisitions, business ethics, culture change, and organization development and learning. His corporate accomplishments have been widely published and cited in leading professional journals and magazines, and he has been a guest speaker at numerous management meetings and professional conferences. Al is currently the interim department head and executive-in-residence in the Department of Management and Human Resources at Utah State University.
Interview
Authors
We are very pleased to be able to get your valuable insider's perspective on the individual and organizational dynamics involved in the Enron experience.
Al Warnick
I'm happy to share my experiences, observations, and learning from that experience. But based on our recent devastation in the financial services industry, we certainly haven't learned much from Enron. When I see what has gone on at AIG and other financial services organizations, it sure reminds me of what went on at Enron: a relaxation of regulations that allows people to take risks that ultimately lead to greed and corruption - but this time it is on a vastly greater, industry-wide, global scale. The huge economic pain that we currently are feeling is to a great extent likely due to systemic similar conditions that led to the Enron catastrophe.
Authors
To help us begin to better understand - and hopefully finally learn from - those similar conditions that contributed to today's global economic plight, please give us a little background on the organizational culture and management practices leading...