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Executive Interviews: Interview with Colin Carnall on Decision Making
May 2008
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
Colin Carnall Director of Executive Programs at Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK 
To fully understand the senior
leadership development, we need to
deal with both behavior and
knowledge. It is not the knowledge of
academic disciplines but rather a
process of working and helping
leaders develop more effective
choices. Appropriate patterns of
behavior are important. But how
senior leaders come to formulate
plans and goals, the information they
use and the thinking underpinning
their decisions becomes a relevant
target of the leadership development
activity. A recent survey of the
leadership throws up an interesting
and balanced set of findings on
leadership effectiveness which are set
in the context of this argument. The
findings are summarized as follows:
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- Leaders think that the ability to
deliver 'the numbers' is the most
respected leadership quality.
- Roughly one-third of the
internally sourced and promoted leaders fail, usually because of
their poor people skills or
interpersonal qualities.
- Thirty percent of the leaders fail to
demonstrate the key qualities
necessary for effective leadership
- Twenty-five percent of the
organizational plans and strategies
fail because of improper execution
- 'Strong' leadership can enhance
the successful execution of plans
by 20% or more.
The first result is not a surprise but,
in the order of importance, the leaders
surveyed and found: 'Deliver the
numbers', the ability to take 'tough
decisions' and the ability to create a
strategy for success ranked as the top
three with interpersonal skills ranked
fourth. Moreover, looking at the third
finding, it is interesting to note that
many of these 'key qualities' relate
more to the ability to cope with
ambiguity than with the impact upon
people, ability to learn, handle
feedback, cope with complexity and
think broadly using multiple
perspectives very much in evidence.
Finally, turning to the 'execution of
business plans', the issues identified
in the survey are almost entirely
focused on the analytical and the
performance agenda… i.e.,
Churchill's 'Pester, Nag and Bite'. If
there is an interest in dealing with
people, here it looks at how to call
people to account. -
Events in business never proceed
exactly as planned. Such intangibles
as friction, uncertainty, fluidity and
disorder complicate the decision making. What is the cost of poor
decisions? How to avoid strategic
errors in decisions?
In war this is known as 'friction'.
Remaining adaptable is the key. Brutal competition, ethical strife,
unanticipated changes in the market
place, technological shifts, and a
lingering recession, etc., can leave a
company battle worn out.
Accordingly, many have advocated a
combat philosophy, also known as
maneuver warfare as it emphasizes action in the midst of uncertainty.
What lessons, if any, should
corporate leaders pick up from
warfare as regards business
decisions? For instance, the use of
speed, surprise and concentrated
force against an opponent's weakness
to achieve maximum impact with a
minimum resource commitment in
the presence of strategic uncertainty
and hostile intent, etc., are some of
the critical elements in maneuver
warfare. Should business decision
makers adopt these elements?
Certainly, when competition is fierce.
But not to the extent that it leads to
other errors. For example, 'in a
competitive situation' and 'mature
markets', a common error is to
withdraw too early. Decentralized decision making is
described as the delegation of
significant decision-making authority
down through the ranks. The aim is
to give those closest to the action the
latitude to take advantage of the onthe-
spot information unavailable to
their superiors. What according to
you is the difference between
decentralized decision making and
delegation of authority? When does
decentralized decision making make
sense?
They are the same in practice because
you cannot disassociate yourself from
the consequences of decisions by
noting that you have delegated
authority. As a leader you remain
accountable. How important are the
counselors, advisors and mentors in
making strategic decisions?
Senior leaders make growing use of
such people. Senior roles are lonely! Jim Collins, in an article in
Fortune (June 27, 2005) distinguished
between bad decisions and wrong
decisions. What according to you is
the distinction between bad decisions
and wrong decisions? What are the
10 most-important-ever corporate
decisions made, according to you?
Bad decisions are those made
through a process judged to be
illegitimate and therefore less likely to
be effective. Wrong decisions are just
wrong in the circumstances and are
more easily remedied. Not sure whether I can give a
meaningful response to last part of
this question. Any examples of really bad
decisions? What lessons do you
think these bad decisions offer?
Look at the books written about
failure e.g.., The Challenger
Disaster.
1.
Decision Making Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
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The Interview was conducted by Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary, Consulting Editor, Effective
Executive and Dean, IBSCDC, Hyderabad. This Interview was originally published in Effective Executive, IUP, May 2008. Copyright © May 2008, IBSCDC
No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or distributed, stored in a retrieval
system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or medium electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the permission of IBSCDC. |
