The Fiefdom Syndrome: The Turf Battles That Undermine Careers and Companies - And How to Overcome Them

The Fiefdom Syndrome: The Turf Battles That Undermine Careers and Companies - And How to Overcome Them Author: Robert. J. Herbold Publisher: Doubleday: New York, 2004 ISBN: 0385510675

Many books in the popular press concerning management are likely either to express the idea that groups are a panacea or to utilize an analogy from the management 7.00 (e.g., sharks or elephants). Refreshingly, this book does not fall into that trap. Robert J. Herbold has done a competent job of categorizing and solving what he calls the fiefdom syndrome, which he defines as the problem that "individuals and groups tend to isolate themselves from the larger organization, and worry more about defending their turf and protecting the status quo than in moving the organization forward."

We would be remiss if we did not recognize the similarities between parts of the fiefdom syndrome and the original conceptualization of GroupThink, as proposed by Irving Janis. Herbold's "controlling the data" is reminiscent of Janis' Mind Guarding. "Independence" resembles the illusion of invulnerability that Janis believes influences groups that are experiencing GroupThink. Even though a number of these concepts have been discussed elsewhere, Herbold's approach packaging, analysis, and prescriptions for the fiefdom syndrome represent a novel approach.

Herbold illustrates a number of applications of the fiefdom syndrome and shows how this phenomenon has become the undoing of some of our greatest U.S. companies. Drawing on his experiences with Microsoft, he has applied, explained, and suggested remedies for this phenomenon. His illustrations are convincing, and his arguments are compelling. When we read this work, we were...