Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a much needed book. The rise of the "individual" above the organization or team has caused more companies to fail to reach their potential than perhaps anything else. The book starts with the premise that there are three basic human tendencies that seem to result in fiefdoms:

1. We have an innate need to control the data or information that reflects on our work.
2. We have a natural desire to be independent and in control of our destiny.
3. We have a natural tendency to exaggerate the quality of our work and its importance to the organization.

I have no reason to doubt these basics of the human condition, and certainly both see this in practice and experience it myself. The rest of the book is then about how to solve for these tendencies and create an organization that is more effective.

He outlines seven disciplines of the well-run corporation:

1. The discipline of creating lean global processes and accessible data company-wide
2. The discipline of standard templates and data
3. The discipline of inspection
4. The discipline of avoiding over confidence
5. The discipline of avoiding fragmentation
6. The discipline of constantly learning new skills
7. The discipline of avoiding bottlenecks

Each of these is described in detail, including examples and pitfalls, and suggestions for improvement. He also discusses 6 disciplines of people development, critical to ensure that the problems that result in fiefdoms are overcome. His comments on the often poor differentiation and reward systems among employees in regards to performance are well documented and laid out.

Overall, the book can be read quickly, and is full of good ideas and suggestions, and most importantly a way to think about the people and the organization that may help create an environment that can lead to better execution and success.

I deducted one star because the book is often dry. The author is a former COO of Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble, and therefore most of the examples come from these two companies. The book was often too academic in its prose, which is not to say that the content is not meaningful or relevant, but that it is a more studied approach as opposed to inspirational. Good material and a good message for leaders.

I recently picked up a book at the library titled The Fiefdom Syndrome by Robert J. Herbold. This is an excellent book on understanding and eliminating corporate turf battles.

Chapter list: Introduction; The Problem With Fiefdoms; Fiefdoms And Human Nature; The Seven Disciplines Of The Well-Run Corporation; The Six People Disciplines; Creativity And Fiefdoms; Balancing Discipline And Creativity; Achieving Discipline; Fostering Creativity; How Fiefdoms Affect Strategy And Execution; How Fiefdoms Hamstring Mergers And Acquisitions; Communication As A Tool To Fight Fiefdoms; Beating The Fiefdom Syndrome; Index

If you've worked in corporate America for any length of time, you've experienced the fiefdom syndrome. A manager runs their department as if they were a wholly separate company, and decisions are made to benefit the department, not the corporation. This type of behavior, if not confronted and eliminated, leads to less than optimal performance for the organization. In extreme cases, it can kill the department AND the corporation. Herbold does a great job of both cataloging the behaviors that indicate the existence of fiefdoms, as well as the steps of well-run organizations that prevent them from forming.

This book should be required reading for management in large corporations, regardless of whether they think they have problems or not (and you probably do have them). Smaller companies would do well to take these lessons to heart in order to successfully grow without sabotaging one's success.

Well-written, from the standpoint of a well-known COO, Robert Herbold's book is vital for organizations, governments, as well as small-business owners. The temptation to control the flow of information can happen to anyone and it's important to recognize it when it begins to take shape. It's a wonderful tool for people who want to work well with others, overcome the obstacle of fiefdoms, and be successful in almost any job that requires teamwork.

Fiefdoms are an organizational disease afflicting all types of organizations at all levels; fiefdoms can even be found withing fiefdoms. It's a human tendency. Herbold shows how to fight fiefdoms using process, behavior and people disciplines balanced with fostering creativity and innovation to better serve customers (a chapter is devoted to how to foster creativity).

Leadership is highlighted as a central factor for success. Herbold also provides guidelines and illustrations of how to make the process, behavior and people disciplines a reality. Additionally, he discusses how fiefdoms affect strategy and execution and hinder mergers and acquisitions. A solid chapter is devoted to communication as a tool to fight fiefdoms. The book wraps up with a summary of the advantages of a fiefdomless organization and the benefits to individuals.

This book is loaded with specific actions and guidelines. It is deep but not dense. It is written in a to-the-point style, using interesting-to-read cases woven into the text to make and enrich the message. This is a practical and well written book. Very highly recommended!

There is a lot you can learn from this book and enjoy doing so. Having 15 years of IT experience, I agree with many aspects of what the author calls a "Fiefdom" (eg, individuals or groups that tend to isolate themselves from the larger organization under the cover of seemingly-superior management styles leading to the decline and end of an otherwise-good company). The author's experience (especially his tenure at Microsoft) is very interesting, but I somehow was not totally satisfied with his suggestions on how to overcome this problems. What sometimes the author sees as a fiefdom is actually not so if you take into consideration that not all countries go about doing business like an Western corporation. However, if you are an Western business and don't want to let your organizations structure and dynamics isolate you from the rest of the world outside (were a larger percentage of customers live) then this book is a great guide.

"The Fiefdom Syndrom" is a good book on bad work habits, organized by different kinds of "fiefdoms," which are political cadres that fight change to retain control. There are some good stories from the author's days at Microsoft and P&G, but this book doesn't hold big insights and it will likely not change your thinking about business. The bad behaviors demonstrated are obviously bad, easy to spot, and fought the same way whether you understand the author's classification of fiefdoms or not.

The author's steps to fight fiefdoms are useful, but I think Larry Bossidy's model in "Confronting Reality" is more universal and a better way to focus business decisions. This book is definitely a cut above John C. Maxwell's stuff, and may be just the thing for some readers. Definitely worth reading, but is too pedestrian to be the keystone of your operational business strategy.

Great book! Every company I know, including my own, has little fiefdoms which are truly a problem and, bottom line, a real drain on money. This book is very helpful in understanding fiefdoms on a much deeper level and it tells the reader what to do about them. Thank you Mr. Herbold for shedding light on this daunting, real problem.

The chosen subtitle for this work indicates that Herbold's goal was to discuss "the turf battles that undermine careers and companies, and how to overcome them", but the author actually concentrates on how the "fiefdom syndrome" undermines corporate entities rather than individuals. What Herbold deems a "fiefdom" is typically a unit of a company often controlled by a small group of people who has decided that it will act as a separate entity, frequently to the detriment of the rest of the firm. The book offers numerous examples of such fiefdoms, some of which consist of single individuals. Providing examples can have a positive effect when trying to explain a concept, but in my opinion the number of examples is a bit excessive here. However, Herbold's numerous examples have the positive effect of showing readers that they are not alone in this arena in much the same way that Edward Yourdon's "Death March" (see my review for that book) brings to light experiences of professionals that are often common within the technology services industry. Because Herbold was the former COO of Microsoft, his discussion on more than several occasions reverts back to his experiences at Microsoft, but he also delves into his experiences at other firms. Interestingly enough, Herbold defends fiefdom behavior to some extent within the first part of the book, not by condoning it but by recognizing that in some sense it is part of human nature to act in such a manner. The second and third parts of the book discuss what the author views as effective corporate disciplines to help avert the behavior that stifles the creativity especially vital to such areas as marketing, sales, and R&D. The fourth and last part of the book focuses on how fiefdoms can negatively affect firms at a corporate rather than departmental level, such as during mergers and acquisitions. Unfortunately, the benefits to individuals of conquering fiefdoms is limited to the last four pages of the book. My recommendation to the author is that his next book concentrate on an elaboration of these pages.

Herbold is a genius for describing problems with a growing organization: whether a for profit or non-profit. I assigned this book to all my top managers to help fight the bureaurcratic instinct to just "hire your own people" and "do things the way they're done around here." If you manage multiple work sites then Herbold's book is a "must" read.

There is a lot you can learn from this book and enjoy doing so. Having 15 years of IT experience, I agree with many aspects of what the author calls a "Fiefdom" (eg, individuals or groups that tend to isolate themselves from the larger organization under the cover of seemingly-superior management styles leading to the decline and end of an otherwise-good company). The author's experience (especially his tenure at Microsoft) is very interesting, but I somehow was not totally satisfied with his suggestions on how to overcome this problems. What sometimes the author sees as a fiefdom is actually not so if you take into consideration that not all countries go about doing business like an Western corporation. However, if you are an Western business and don't want to let your organizations structure and dynamics isolate you from the rest of the world outside (were a larger percentage of customers live) then this book is a great guide.