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Executive Interviews: Interview with Tamara J Erickson on Managing Troubled Times
March 2009
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
Another option, favored by many
countries, is to encourage
immigration. While this approach
has not been used in the US, there are
signs that Japan, long resistant to
immigration, is beginning to be more
open to this possibility. Although
officially closed to immigration, Japan
has admitted foreign workers through
various loopholes, including
employing growing numbers of
foreign students as part-timers and
temporary workers, as so-called
foreign trainees. The use of foreign
workers is growing in the farming
sector within Japan, as well as in
fishing villages, factories, restaurants
and nursing homes, and on construction sites,with workers
coming from China and, most
recently, from the Philippines.
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National policy can also be used to
draw attention to key sectors of the
economy. Concern that the worker
shortage could chip away at its
craftsmanship tradition, prompted
Japan to initiate a national campaign
around the word ‘monozukuri,’
which means ‘making things.’ The
campaign aims to attract young
people not only to industrial
production but also to arts and crafts
and other activities that involve
working with one’s hands. The
government campaign has earmarked
funds to several robotics, nanotechnology,
genome and other technology
projects. -
In one of your recently written
advisory pieces ("GiveMe the Ball!" Is the Wrong Call, HBR, December
2008), you have observed that “Give
me the ball” is the wrong call.Why is
it wrong for a CEO to call the shots
during troubled times? From your
elaborate research and consulting
experience, can you describe the
typical “collective psychology”
during troubled times? Who should
break that jinx?
Almost everyone I know who has
taken on the responsibility of
managing within an enterprise feels
the weight of obligation deep in their
bones – obligations to the owners of
the enterprise, of course, and to
customers, but for most, perhaps
even more viscerally, obligations to
the employees and families that
depend on the company for their
livelihood and to the heritage of the
organization that they’ve been given
the privileged to steward. As a result, there’s no big surprise
that times of trouble prompt many
leaders to feel that they have to call the
shots, personally make the key play.
It’s probably human nature – or at
least human nature for those who
take on these roles. In many companies today, executives
are shouting “give me the ball.”
Authority is being centralized, extra
levels of sign-off added; small teams
of executives are closeting away in
secret retreats to review options,
while meetings that would bring the
troops together are being canceled.
Executive instinct drives tighter
control – review your costs, tighten
your approval criteria, pull key
decisions and sign offs up to higher
levels, make sure everyone in the
organization is as fully busy as
possible, narrow the business scope.
These actions are understandable,
but dangerously wrong. Significant research has shown that
groups make better decisions than
individuals, that there is wisdom in
crowds. Rather than personally
grabbing the ball during a downturn,
leaders need to tap into the wisdom –
perhaps even more importantly,
energy – of the entire organization. In
a downturn, rather than trying to
tighten control and hunker down,
leaders must find ways to help
organizations become more
spontaneous, innovative and
reflexive. -
In one of your highly popular
books, Retire Retirement: Career
Strategies for the Boomer Generation,
you have very optimistically
predicted that there is no need to
retire. The growing talent shortage
will allow you to re-negotiate your
relationship with ‘work’. Do you
think the recent US financial crisis
has undone that optimism? Do you
think the very same talent has become
a burden for the companies?
Without doubt, the recession has
reset the game board for Boomers.
Options that appeared viable twelve
months ago are now off the table for
many. Ironically, the current
economic crisis has made it both
more necessary and more difficult for
boomers to continue working past
traditional retirement age than itwas a
year ago.
1.
Troubled Times Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
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