A631.9.2.RB_SchreterPaul

After Steve Jobs lost his job at Apple during a power struggle, he created a new company called NeXT. After watching a video, I was able to get a sneak peek at how the company was run during its early stages of development. With my recently acquired Management Assessment (MA) profile, I will be able to explain how I would best fit into the company based on how my personality type handles resources, how it handles challenges, and finally what I would do as an introverted tactical leader.

In a new start up, efficient use of resources becomes vital. According to the MA, my characteristics with regards to the use of resources is primarily aimed at achieving goals as opposed to gaining additional power. Steve Jobs was known to have spent an abundance of resources on things like logo design, the gutting and rebuilding of the company’s offices, and the removal of imperfections their molds had left (Nicholson, 1993). My characteristics of trying to reach goals would have been keener on spending money to bring the company closer to the demanded $3,000 price point of the product. In this way, I may have been a devil’s advocate in the group.

My second characteristic would be on of how I deal with challenges. Nearly all challenges can be conquered is the attitude this report would suggest, it only takes the right mindset to do it. In the case of NeXT, the major challenge would have been to release a new product within 18 months at a price point less than $3000 (Nicholson, 1993). Admittedly, I don’t think this characteristic would have been unique in the company as I believe everyone would have had to share this characteristic. Or maybe perhaps not, considering they weren’t able to achieve their goals by the given deadline.

Finally, it’s been stated in my report that I am an introverted tactical leader. This type of leader is likely to “have good skills in blending tools and resources to accomplish goals and will negotiate and orchestrate resources and activities to achieve desired results. Tactical leaders have strengths in troubleshooting, acquiring, and delegating, and are capable of unifying people in an organization toward a concrete focus or goal” (NextSteps Research, 2015). While not seemingly fit for a Steve job’s strategic and visionary position, it does seem more fitting to be on the operational side of the house with trying to get results. Within the context of the NeXT retreats, I may try to orchestrate the various resources, tools, and personnel into solving very specific and smaller goals, before tying them together with achieving the bigger one (Nathan, 1989). Sometimes tackling very big challenges might be too much of a burden to take on all at once, so by breaking it down into smaller chunks, more progress might have been made.

Discussed was how the results of my MA would have tied into the NeXT organization: characteristics in relation to the use of resources, characteristics in relation to dealing with challenges, and finally the characteristics of an introverted tactical leader. Overall this assessment has been quite an interesting one and I hope to see where my future will take me and how it’ll relate to the results and predictions of this assessment.

References

Nathan, J. (1989, Mar 17). Entrepreneurs. Nathan/Tyler Productions. Retrieved November 26, 2012, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loQhufxiorM&feature=related
NextSteps Research. (2015). Management Assessment Profile.

Nicholson, D. (1993). Book World; How Steve Jobs Hexed NeXT. The Washington Post , B02.

A631.8.4.RB_SchreterPaul

There are many different personality types and there are many different leadership styles. The United States Air Force, at least at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, gives something similar to the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBPI) to all new inbounds with what’s known as the True Colors Personality test (True Colors Inc., 2015). Through this test we were able to quickly determine different personality types and how we have to change how we communicate in order to most effectively get our points across to different people. The MBPI goes a little more in-depth with various personalities, however, the point is still the same within the business world. However, I’ll only comment on the first portion this week, extrovert’s vs introvert’s.

            Most people can easily classify themselves as either being extroverted or introverted; I myself am a rather introverted individual. Apparently, the two personality types do better at different types of leadership styles. Francesca Gino, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, mentioned that introverts tend to be better in teams where followers are more proactive (Harvard Business Review, 2010). In essence, followers will feel like they have more a say in the decisions that they make and leaders are more willing to listen. As the environment becomes more and more complex, introverted leaders may start to become more in demand.

            Throughout many different MSLD courses, it seems as if the trend is moving towards self-managed work teams, less bureaucracy, and fewer tiers in the hierarchy. This means leaders need to have a more hands-off approach and trust their followers to get the job done, perfect for those with more introverted tendencies and personalities. However, this is most certainly in the ideal situation where all followers are proactive anyways. In events that they are not, some sort of training may need to be provided.

            Some followers need to be lead, or taught, on how to become more proactive. Nick Obolensky perfectly outlines how to do this in his book, Complex Adaptive Leadership (Obolensky, 2010). In essence, you can’t expect a follower to become proactive right away. Depending on what stage they are at, you may need to slowly teach them the skills necessary to get the job done. This can take some time and results won’t be immediate, however, the payback can be well worth the investment.

            Discussed were some of the leadership style preferences associated between introverts and extroverts, where the trend seems to be moving as time goes on, and finally a comment on how we can set up an environment that is more suitable for not only proactive followers but for introverted leaders. I think there is a lot to learn, not only towards ourselves as leaders but of other people as well. One of the most important skills, I believe, is being able to determine and diagnose what type of person you’re interacting with and how best to communicate and get each others points across without any problems.

References

Harvard Business Review. (2010, November 12). Can Introverts Lead? Retrieved December 13, 2015, from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=filvlODRukw

Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex adaptive leadership (Second Edition ed.). London, UK: Gower/Ashgate.

True Colors Inc. (2015, December 13). True Colors Intl. Retrieved from https://truecolorsintl.com/

A631.7.4.RB_SchreterPaul

            This week’s discussion is an interesting one because we’re looking at my personal views on the future of Organizational Development (OD). The problem with this is that I consider myself too new and inexperienced to really know any better. In fact, aren’t we all a bit new because in the overall span of human time OD is still a relatively new discipline? While I think OD is relevant to today's world, in the future it very well may become a fad.

            It’s mentioned in our text that “some executives like to latch on to almost any new concept that promises a quick fix for their problems” (Brown, 2011). I find this similar to how people react with stock investment and stock investment strategies. A lot of strategies can work, but only over the long term. As soon as one strategy fails, people abandon ship and look for the next. Take Total Quality Management (TQM) for example. The Air Force adopted it back in the 90’s and immediately discarded it as ineffective (McAneny, 2010). Instead, the Air Force created its own homebrew strategy it could call its own based on a number of other strategies.

            Another aspect that could make OD a fad is the changing environment that we live in. As aspects of our jobs become more and more automated, the types of strategies that we employ will have to adjust. It may even come to the point where strategy isn’t needed anymore as everything will be automated. Take WALL-E for example and the scene where every human is able to enjoy the luxury’s of life without ever lifting a finger (Juggler, 2013). I’m not sure I hope to ever see that happen, but it’s a very real possibility.

            While I do think OD has important and useful aspects to it in today's world, I can’t speak as for its future. Even if OD is improved upon and changes with the coming times, it wouldn’t be the same OD that we know today. It would simply be something different with the same name. I don’t think this is bad by any stretch of the imagination as we need to learn, adapt, and evolve. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if 50 years from now we have something completely different and brand new.

References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (Eighth Edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Juggler, F. (2013, December 24). Fitless Humans (WALL·E). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from YouTUbe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-kdRdzxdZQ

McAneny, P. (2010). Red Is Good: Transformational Changes for Air Force Aircraft Maintenance. Air Force Journal of Logistics, 120-133.