Customer Reviews

Managing by Values

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In Managing by Values, Ken Blanchard and Michael O'Connor suggest that many companies create lofty vision and mission statements that they distribute throughout their organization for all to see, yet they rarely if ever "walk the talk." This book challenges organizations to transform the way they conduct business from managing by intimidation to managing by values.

Gut Reactions: When I initially read the jacket of this book, I thought it would be more of the same old total quality management jargon. I expected to read a lot about statistical process control, just-in-time management and leadership from the bottom up. While several of these topics were mentioned in the book, they were by no means the major thrust of what the authors wanted us to learn. The focus was on leading, managing and working in an environment that focuses on the C-E-O-S of an organization. According to the text, these key constituency groups provide the structure within any successful organization. The foundation on which these organizations conduct business is one of commitment, not only to profit but also to business values like honesty, integrity, fairness, and cooperation, in other words, "managing by values." Written in a story format, the authors easily draw you into the life and problems of a CEO ((Tom Yeomans) who has finally realized that his way of managing may not be the best thing for himself, his family or his organization. Faced with this revelation, Tom makes a commitment to change his own way of managing and ultimately create a more ethical way of doing business within his organization.

Big Ideas: ·There are Three Acts of Life: Act I: Achieve (being-by-doing) Act II: Connect (being-by-being-with) Act III: Integrate (being-by-becoming) ·Fortune 500 Organizations depend on four pillars: C - Customers E - Employees O - Owners (stockholders) S - Significant others (community, creditors, suppliers,

vendors, etc.) ·Managing by Values Process Phase 1: Clarifying the mission/purpose and values - Owners - Top Management - Unit Leaders - Employees - Customers - Other Key Stakeholders Phase 2: Communicating the mission and values - Organization and Unit Events (meetings, celebrations, etc.) - Communication Materials (posters, brochures, etc.) - Formal Communications Mechanisms (newsletters, etc,) - Informal Communications Mechanisms (memos, voicemail, e- mail, etc.)

Phase 3: Aligning the daily practices with the mission and values - Individual practices (self management, problem solving, decision making and leadership practices) - Team practices (effective member practices, group dynamics and processes, stages of building high-performance teams) - Organizational practices (strategic management and development, organizational systems and processes, resource- barrier management, rewards and recognition practices) Continuous Improvement

Implications: - This story has implications beyond the corporate world. It challenges each of us to live our personal lives and conduct our business affairs within the same ethical framework. I now understand why in the past I've found myself at odds with the cultures and practices within an organization and why I ultimately chose to leave those organizations. This book could easily have been written about an elementary school, a college or university, a hospital or an insurance company. - The text also challenges us to integrate our need to achieve with our need to connect with others. It reminds us to keep the humanistic perspective in all that we do.

Questions: After reading Managing by Values, I had the following questions: - Why has it taken so long for us to recognize that ethical behavior is synonymous with customer service? - Can this type of management philosophy truly be successful in the business world? - Are there any organizations that have successfully implemented this philosophy? - Is this type of management philosophy being taught in business schools in the year 2000?

This book is a must read for any organization who is considering values as a way to define its culture. Ken Blanchard uses his creative story-telling technique to discuss the process by which a company implements corporate values. Along with Michael O'Connor, Blanchard writes about one CEO, Tom Yeoman, who discovers his people feel he manages "more by fear than by consensus." Tom meets Jack Cunningham, a consultant who helps him introduce and implement a values-based culture in his company. To learn about what it means to incorporate values and strive to be a "Fortunate 500" company, Tom meets with other company representatives who have undertaken this task. Throughout his journey, he learns about the three steps to becoming a Fortunate 500 company -- 1.) Clarifying mission and values; 2.) Communicating mission and values; and 3.) Aligning daily practices with mission and values. Throughout the story, Blanchard and O'Connor introduce creative internal communication ideas, as well as critical tools to help when aligning the business practices with the new values. These tools, coupled with the narrative style, provide a quick, yet informative, read for CEOs, HR personnel, and trainers, as well as anyone interested in this new way of doing business.

If you like Ken Blanchard's other books (like The One Minute Manager with Spencer Johnson), this could turn out to be your favorite Blanchard book of all time. This book looks more fundamentally at how people get their business and personal lives out of whack than the other Blanchard books. That usually means putting the pursuit of prosperity ahead of health, happiness, and peaceful relations with others. The book is built on this premise: "It's values that align people, that get them all committed to working for the common good."

On the other hand, if you dislike Blanchard's general approach to business and book-writing, enough said. This one will affect you the same way, and you should skip it.

Most people who think about leadership imagine exercising great power by using moral persuasion and commands to shift an organization into a better direction. Actually, that's harder than turning a supertanker around, and often less useful.

In my experience, and in the views of this book, it works better to find a purpose for the organization that is equally valuable and meaningful to everyone involved (those who work there, customers, suppliers, shareholders, distributors, partners, and the communities you serve). That purpose doesn't come from the CEO, but rather it emerges from conversations with all of the interested parties.

Then, by using that central purpose, and the values to support it, everyone can decide what the right thing to do is in any situation with a minimum of leadership and management from elsewhere. Johnson & Johnson is probably a good example of a company that runs this way. When someone tampered with some Tylenol capsules, the company quickly recalled all Tylenol products as a reflection of its value of providing only helpful, healthful products.

Unlike Ken Blanchard's other books, this one has a lot of process-oriented information about how to go from how you lead today to a mission and value-centered process. I found that very helpful, and the process suggestions seemed sound to me. I have not actually seen a company use the exact process here, but it seems reasonable compared to the examples I have seen in other companies.

As you probably guessed, the book is built around a fable that involves someone (CEO Tom Yeoman of RimCo) having an epiphany that leads to a desire to change his life and improve his company. The epiphany follows his best friend refusing to help start a new business with him, saying, "The trouble with you, Tom, is that you're in a rat race. Remember, even if you win the race, you're still a rat."

Tom meets a change agent (a consultant who specializes in Managing by Values) and several clients of the change agent who share their experiences.

The book goes on to describe how Tom's company implements that advice.

You'll also recognize the familiar summaries, diagrams and short quotes ("The most important thing in life is to decide what's most important.") to emphasize what you have just learned.

This book is also a good reference tool, because it has a lot of detail about how to implement the process.

The main drawback to the reader is that you probably cannot implement this process very well by yourself. You will probably want to hire one of the firms that the coauthors work for if you like the process. Normally, I complain bitterly about this in other business books. I am making an exception here, because my experience has clearly been that an outsider can be essential to establishing personally-meaningful missions, values by consensus, and creating the adjustments needed to live by those values.

The actual content in the book is probably five times greater than in a typical Ken Blanchard book, so you'll definitely get your money's worth.

Live long and prosper by your values!

If you like Ken Blanchard's other books (like The One Minute Manager with Spencer Johnson), this could turn out to be your favorite Blanchard book of all time. This book looks more fundamentally at how people get their business and personal lives out of whack than the other Blanchard books. That usually means putting the pursuit of prosperity ahead of health, happiness, and peaceful relations with others. The book is built on this premise: "It's values that align people, that get them all committed to working for the common good."

On the other hand, if you dislike Blanchard's general approach to business and book-writing, enough said. This one will affect you the same way, and you should skip it.

Most people who think about leadership imagine exercising great power by using moral persuasion and commands to shift an organization into a better direction. Actually, that's harder than turning a supertanker around, and often less useful.

In my experience, and in the views of this book, it works better to find a purpose for the organization that is equally valuable and meaningful to everyone involved (those who work there, customers, suppliers, shareholders, distributors, partners, and the communities you serve). That purpose doesn't come from the CEO, but rather it emerges from conversations with all of the interested parties.

Then, by using that central purpose, and the values to support it, everyone can decide what the right thing to do is in any situation with a minimum of leadership and management from elsewhere. Johnson & Johnson is probably a good example of a company that runs this way. When someone tampered with some Tylenol capsules, the company quickly recalled all Tylenol products as a reflection of its value of providing only helpful, healthful products.

Unlike Ken Blanchard's other books, this one has a lot of process-oriented information about how to go from how you lead today to a mission and value-centered process. I found that very helpful, and the process suggestions seemed sound to me. I have not actually seen a company use the exact process here, but it seems reasonable compared to the examples I have seen in other companies.

As you probably guessed, the book is built around a fable that involves someone (CEO Tom Yeoman of RimCo) having an epiphany that leads to a desire to change his life and improve his company. The epiphany follows his best friend refusing to help start a new business with him, saying, "The trouble with you, Tom, is that you're in a rat race. Remember, even if you win the race, you're still a rat."

Tom meets a change agent (a consultant who specializes in Managing by Values) and several clients of the change agent who share their experiences.

The book goes on to describe how Tom's company implements that advice.

You'll also recognize the familiar summaries, diagrams and short quotes ("The most important thing in life is to decide what's most important.") to emphasize what you have just learned.

This book is also a good reference tool, because it has a lot of detail about how to implement the process.

The main drawback to the reader is that you probably cannot implement this process very well by yourself. You will probably want to hire one of the firms that the coauthors work for if you like the process. Normally, I complain bitterly about this in other business books. I am making an exception here, because my experience has clearly been that an outsider can be essential to establishing personally-meaningful missions, values by consensus, and creating the adjustments needed to live by those values.

The actual content in the book is probably five times greater than in a typical Ken Blanchard book, so you'll definitely get your money's worth.

Live long and prosper by your values!

Finally... a book that gives more detail on how the values integration process works. Reading this book 6 months into our own values integration process is very reassuring because it really hits home on a lot of points. This book outlines the same process that we used and its working! The interpersonal relationships seem to me to be the first notable change. The buy-in part is crucial. This book is also realistic about internal opposition to the values integration and the length of time that it takes to truly become a values- based company. Another key topic in this book is that being a values-based company is about being a group of values-based people. You need to work on yourself too; it's not just that you have values when you come to work. I think an important feature of any values integration process is promoting the importance of living each day with integrity in ALL things that we do, not just at work. The amazing thing is that once you start to see and feel that your company is living your values, you will try harder to keep moving forward. Another good book to get people inspired is Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni.

Ken Blanchard's collaboration with Dr. Michael O'Connor has produced another management, leadership, and ethical living primer that is highly recommended to all current and future organizational leaders at all levels.

This book is about an inwardly-troubled, yet outwardly "I-have-it-all" president and CEO of a struggling company who, by chance, meets a managing by values (MBV) consultant who immediately and eventually helps transform the CEO's company into a "Fortunate 500 company" and his personal life into a rewarding family success story. The authors' important message that MBV provides the best framework for stability, continuity, and growth in today's fast-paced environment of social, cultural, personal, economic, and technological change was constantly and believably reinforced.

Through meetings with the consultant and interactions with some of his other clients, the CEO learns the fundamentals of MBV and how to apply them at home and at work: the three acts of life (achieve, connect, and integrate); the four pillars of Fortunate 500 companies (`raving fans' customers, employees who feel and act like owners, satisfied owners and stockholders, and the `significant others' who interact in mutually beneficial ways with the company (to include vendors, suppliers, creditors, distributors, the community, and the competition)); and the three-phased MBV process (clarify mission and values, communicate mission and values, align daily practices with mission and values).

I was most impressed with the authors' ability to effectively balance the conceptual and practical application aspects of MBV in a story that brought their extensive research and experiences with real-life MBV organizations to life. Do not let the fact that this book was written in 1997 dissuade you from reading and learning from it for it's message is timeless and probably even more relevant today.

When inovation and learning become fundamental for business, rules, standards, and established pieces of knowledge cannot be taken as guides, as they must also be renewed. Mangers ask: "How is it possible for people to cooperate in such an environment?"

Quality management has given an important contribution to improve business, emphasising the importance of customer satisfaction and extending the concept of customer to include internal clients, but we are recognizing that it is not enough. Modern business must satisfy all of its stakeholders: customers, employees, owners, suppliers, community, etc.

Management by Values focuses on the sources that drive the action of people and organizations. It treats business as a social system that emerges from the cooperation of different stakeholders. Management by values is not another program that management must do, but the very essence of management: it is caring about the relationships that keep the business alive.

The book in itself is a beautiful piece of work: succint, clear, pleasant to read. The principles of MBV are presented through the story of an executive who goes through the implementation process. The authors also supply information about real cases.

One limitation of the book is that, very understandably, it presents "Management by Values" as a consulting product. The reader should be aware that, independently of the methodology used, values are always what makes people act and things happen!

In spite of its limitation, this is a very instructive and pleasant book, and I believe readers will find it very valuable!

Managing by Values (book on tape) is an easy-to-listen-to book which contains practical, current, and common sense management information. In this world of downsizing, rightsizing and reengineering, it does my heart good to know that there are managers out there who are considering more than the bottom line in measuring a successful business. I would recommend that this book be required reading for all managers.

In Managing by Values, Ken Blanchard and Michael O'Connor suggest that many companies create lofty vision and mission statements that they distribute throughout their organization for all to see, yet they rarely if ever "walk the talk." This book challenges organizations to transform the way they conduct business from managing by intimidation to managing by values.

Gut Reactions: When I initially read the jacket of this book, I thought it would be more of the same old total quality management jargon. I expected to read a lot about statistical process control, just-in-time management and leadership from the bottom up. While several of these topics were mentioned in the book, they were by no means the major thrust of what the authors wanted us to learn. The focus was on leading, managing and working in an environment that focuses on the C-E-O-S of an organization. According to the text, these key constituency groups provide the structure within any successful organization. The foundation on which these organizations conduct business is one of commitment, not only to profit but also to business values like honesty, integrity, fairness, and cooperation, in other words, "managing by values." Written in a story format, the authors easily draw you into the life and problems of a CEO ((Tom Yeomans) who has finally realized that his way of managing may not be the best thing for himself, his family or his organization. Faced with this revelation, Tom makes a commitment to change his own way of managing and ultimately create a more ethical way of doing business within his organization.

Big Ideas: ·There are Three Acts of Life: Act I: Achieve (being-by-doing) Act II: Connect (being-by-being-with) Act III: Integrate (being-by-becoming) ·Fortune 500 Organizations depend on four pillars: C - Customers E - Employees O - Owners (stockholders) S - Significant others (community, creditors, suppliers,

vendors, etc.) ·Managing by Values Process Phase 1: Clarifying the mission/purpose and values - Owners - Top Management - Unit Leaders - Employees - Customers - Other Key Stakeholders Phase 2: Communicating the mission and values - Organization and Unit Events (meetings, celebrations, etc.) - Communication Materials (posters, brochures, etc.) - Formal Communications Mechanisms (newsletters, etc,) - Informal Communications Mechanisms (memos, voicemail, e- mail, etc.)

Phase 3: Aligning the daily practices with the mission and values - Individual practices (self management, problem solving, decision making and leadership practices) - Team practices (effective member practices, group dynamics and processes, stages of building high-performance teams) - Organizational practices (strategic management and development, organizational systems and processes, resource- barrier management, rewards and recognition practices) Continuous Improvement

Implications: - This story has implications beyond the corporate world. It challenges each of us to live our personal lives and conduct our business affairs within the same ethical framework. I now understand why in the past I've found myself at odds with the cultures and practices within an organization and why I ultimately chose to leave those organizations. This book could easily have been written about an elementary school, a college or university, a hospital or an insurance company. - The text also challenges us to integrate our need to achieve with our need to connect with others. It reminds us to keep the humanistic perspective in all that we do.

Questions: After reading Managing by Values, I had the following questions: - Why has it taken so long for us to recognize that ethical behavior is synonymous with customer service? - Can this type of management philosophy truly be successful in the business world? - Are there any organizations that have successfully implemented this philosophy? - Is this type of management philosophy being taught in business schools in the year 2000?

If you follow the news, then it is easy to believe that all the managers of businesses are driven by only two values, the price of a share in the company and their personal compensation package. More difficult to believe is that there are organizations and managers that believe that service to customers and the community are the most important values and all others are derived from these two.
As espoused in this book, "Management By Values" is an ongoing process where a company develops a core set of values and then manages the company with those values foremost in mind. The values are positive ones and it is necessary to have some form of resolution procedure when there is an inherent conflict between them.
The primary example of a conflict cited in the book is the situation where an otherwise quality employee lacks key computer skills. It will cost money and take time to retrain this worker and during that time customer service will be diminished. The alternative is to replace this worker with a new hire that already possesses the key skills, which will allow customer service to be immediately improved. Financial restrictions forbid the simultaneous employment of both people. The conflicting values are:

*) Treating employees with respect and concern.
*) Maintaining the highest level of customer service.
*) Keeping company costs within reason

This is the kind of fundamental conflict that even the highest level of values can create.
People, whether they be employees or customers are complex creatures which by nature forces management to be a difficult job. The right thing is not always necessarily the most pleasant or easiest thing, but if you have a set of values as a rudder and a formal process of resolution, then all decisions will be ones that even the person with the highest level of conscience can live with. The best line in the book is "In an organization that truly manages by its values, there is only one boss - the company's values."
As the United States seems overcome by corporate and political greed at all levels, books like this are most refreshing in that different managerial tactics are argued. There is room at the top for responsible managers with a sense of community and this book is one of the strongest arguments for that point.