The New Boss
Case: “The New Boss”
-------------------------------------------------
The case “The new boss” (Daft, 2011) describes a situation within a large medical products company where employees share a different mental model from their boss. The company, Century Medical had multiple information systems projects developed by the chief information officer Sam Nolan. His projects were aimed to save time and money for the company. The projects were further designed to support team based work, improved purchasing processes and give employees of Century Medical more control over their respective jobs. Initially the projects were supported by the Human Resource team of the company and the executive vice president Sandra Ivey. As the executive vice president resigned from her position, an individual by the name of Tom Carr took her position. The new executive VP did not share the same opinion of other employees when it came to supporting the newly developed information systems projects. Carr saw the projects as a waste of time and money for the company. During his first meeting on information systems, Carr disapproved several new features suggested by the company’s internal recruiters, even though the project team argued that the features could double internal hiring and save money (Daft, 2011).
A mental model is defined as theories people hold about specific systems in the world and their respective behaviors. In the “the new boss” case, the two individuals discussed, Sam Nolan and Tom Carr, both had two different mental models. Sam Nolan displayed a shared mental model of leadership, whereas Tom Carr portrayed a more classical/hierarchical mental model. Leaders that share similar mental model as Tom Carr generally believe that they should provide solutions to problems within a company. Individuals with a shared mental model believe that all individuals working within a company can be part of the leadership process and provide solutions that may benefit the company. Carr
-------------------------------------------------
The case “The new boss” (Daft, 2011) describes a situation within a large medical products company where employees share a different mental model from their boss. The company, Century Medical had multiple information systems projects developed by the chief information officer Sam Nolan. His projects were aimed to save time and money for the company. The projects were further designed to support team based work, improved purchasing processes and give employees of Century Medical more control over their respective jobs. Initially the projects were supported by the Human Resource team of the company and the executive vice president Sandra Ivey. As the executive vice president resigned from her position, an individual by the name of Tom Carr took her position. The new executive VP did not share the same opinion of other employees when it came to supporting the newly developed information systems projects. Carr saw the projects as a waste of time and money for the company. During his first meeting on information systems, Carr disapproved several new features suggested by the company’s internal recruiters, even though the project team argued that the features could double internal hiring and save money (Daft, 2011).
A mental model is defined as theories people hold about specific systems in the world and their respective behaviors. In the “the new boss” case, the two individuals discussed, Sam Nolan and Tom Carr, both had two different mental models. Sam Nolan displayed a shared mental model of leadership, whereas Tom Carr portrayed a more classical/hierarchical mental model. Leaders that share similar mental model as Tom Carr generally believe that they should provide solutions to problems within a company. Individuals with a shared mental model believe that all individuals working within a company can be part of the leadership process and provide solutions that may benefit the company. Carr
References: Daft, R. L. (2011). The Leadership Experience. .