Organizational behavior coursework
Joseph Lynn
Organisational Behaviour
A4006828
Joseph Lynn
A4006828
LSBF – MBA4
Organisational Behaviour:
Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather
How did Charlotte Beers gain support and trust at Ogilvy and Mather and how did she use networking to sustain her powerful position? 1
Joseph Lynn
Organisational Behaviour
Contents
A4006828
Page
Introduction
3
Structural Sources of Power and Support
3
Decision Making Process Building Support and Trust
4
Personal Sources of Power and Leadership
6
Networking and Sustaining her Powerful Position
7
Conclusion
10
Appendix A
11
Table 1: Phases of the Judgement Process
Appendix B
Table 2: Personal Sources of Power
Appendix C
Table 3: Leadership Styles
Bibliography
11
12
12
13
13
14
2
Joseph Lynn
Organisational Behaviour
A4006828
Introduction
In 1992, Charlotte Beers was appointed as CEO of the world famous but struggling marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather (Sackley, 1999). During the first years of her tenure, she strove to turn around Ogilvy’s declining performance and develop a new path for Ogilvy, building an organisational culture centred on a vision and core values with a strong focus on brands. In order to achieve this, she had to deal with many challenges, including a traditional and conservative culture, an adverse organisational structure, and power-based political conflicts. Despite these issues, she managed to gain support and trust within the organisation through awareness of structural and personal sources of power, leadership skills and sensitivity and legitimacy in her implementation of the decision process which allowed her to gain supportive consensus for her vision.
David Ogilvy had created a strong and well-defined organisational culture, which was internalised in the traditions and habitus of the company. By embedding catchy slogans and mantras, such as “We sell – or else”, “The consumer is not a
Organisational Behaviour
A4006828
Joseph Lynn
A4006828
LSBF – MBA4
Organisational Behaviour:
Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather
How did Charlotte Beers gain support and trust at Ogilvy and Mather and how did she use networking to sustain her powerful position? 1
Joseph Lynn
Organisational Behaviour
Contents
A4006828
Page
Introduction
3
Structural Sources of Power and Support
3
Decision Making Process Building Support and Trust
4
Personal Sources of Power and Leadership
6
Networking and Sustaining her Powerful Position
7
Conclusion
10
Appendix A
11
Table 1: Phases of the Judgement Process
Appendix B
Table 2: Personal Sources of Power
Appendix C
Table 3: Leadership Styles
Bibliography
11
12
12
13
13
14
2
Joseph Lynn
Organisational Behaviour
A4006828
Introduction
In 1992, Charlotte Beers was appointed as CEO of the world famous but struggling marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather (Sackley, 1999). During the first years of her tenure, she strove to turn around Ogilvy’s declining performance and develop a new path for Ogilvy, building an organisational culture centred on a vision and core values with a strong focus on brands. In order to achieve this, she had to deal with many challenges, including a traditional and conservative culture, an adverse organisational structure, and power-based political conflicts. Despite these issues, she managed to gain support and trust within the organisation through awareness of structural and personal sources of power, leadership skills and sensitivity and legitimacy in her implementation of the decision process which allowed her to gain supportive consensus for her vision.
David Ogilvy had created a strong and well-defined organisational culture, which was internalised in the traditions and habitus of the company. By embedding catchy slogans and mantras, such as “We sell – or else”, “The consumer is not a
Bibliography: Allison, G. T. (1972). Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis Charan, R. (2006). Conquering a culture of indecision, Harvard Business Review, January, pp Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp Harris, T. G. (1993). Updates from the editor: Networking: Men’s Superficial Ties Don’t Work for Women, Harvard Business Review, January-February, Ibarra, H. & Hunter, M. (2007). How Leaders Create and Use Networks, Harvard Business Review, Janurary, pp Ibarra, H. & Lineback, K. (2005). What’s Your Story? Harvard Business Review, January, pp Lewin, K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science. New York: Harper and Row. March, J. G. (1991). How Decisions Happen in Organizations, HumanComputer Interaction, Vol. 6, pp. 95-117. Mayo, A. J. & Nohria, N. (2005). Zeitgeist Leadership, Harvard Business Review, October, pp Pfeffer, J. (1992). Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations Reason, J. (1987). The Chernobyl errors, Bulletin of The British Psychological Society, Vol 40, pp Sackley, N. (1999). Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A), Harvard Business School Publishing: Boston. Staber, U. (2004). Networking Beyond Organizational Boundaries: The Case of Project Organizations, Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol 13 Tichy, N. M. and Bennis, W. G. (2007). Making Judgement Calls: The ultimate act of leadership, Harvard Business Review, October, pp.94-104. Zaleznik, A. (1970). Power and politics in organizational life, Harvard Business Review, May-June 1970, pp.47-60. Zaleznik, A. (2004). Manager and Leaders: Are they different?, Harvard Business Review, January, pp74-81.