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Philip R. Harris: Management and space psychologist and is President of Harris International Ltd, in La Jolla, California, USA
Kevin G. Harris: Executive vice-president of Harris International in Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Team management
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A paternalistic organization where mediocrity is condoned, where personnel policy is very similar to civil service (with a rigid hierarchy and people of similar rank paid about equal regardless of results), where there is no incentive to be innovative, where there is a big emphasis on short-term profits at the expense of longer-term investment, where there is limited understanding of the difference between sales and marketing, and where the emphasis is on the tactical rather than strategic thinking[1]."
Sound familiar? Most readers are likely to have experienced that disappearing industrial-age work environment. What is remarkable is that this quotation is by James Weisler, vice-chairman of the Bank of America, describing the situation at his institution which cries out for organizational change. Having been exposed as a consultant to that creaking financial elephant, this writer can confirm the accuracy of the analysis. The bank's culture, as publicly reported above, is counter to almost every one of the eight strategies previously discussed as a means for ensuring high performance!
In contrast, consider First National Bank of Chicago featured in the same article on the transformation of international banking. First Chicago did not limit its renewal to new technology - like automated tellers, new financial systems, asset/liability management, or new marketing strategies, such as capitalizing on the consumer-oriented nature of their business. Instead, its top management did that and more to turn around a rather staid institution. First, Chicago executives committed themselves to alter their culture through team management. A task force group of senior managers was formed in 1982 and spent eight months studying how the existing organization functioned and how to build on what strengths it had. Middle management was involved in the group's mission and the strategy that emerged was directed towards first-line supervision, account officers. The approach centred on development of teamwork, because that was the staff's preferred style, along with more risk-taking and innovation. We have previously reviewed team management as a central feature of the meta-industrial work culture. Now we consider ways to apply it in matrix,...