出自:管理学基础
WHO KILLED NOKIA？Nokia executives attempted to explain its fall from the top of the smartphone pyramid with three factors: 1) that Nokia was technically inferior to Apple, 2) that the company was complacent and 3) that its leaders didn.t see the disruptive iPhone coming.It has also been argued that it was none of the above. Nokia lost the smartphone battle because of divergent shared fears among the company.s middle and top managers which led to company-wide inertia that left it powerless to respond to Apple.s game.Based on the findings of an in-depth investigation and 76 interviews with top and middle managers, engineers and external experts, the researchers discovered a culture of fear due to temperamental leaders and that frightened middle managers were scared of telling the truth.The fear that froze the company came from two places. First, the company.s top managers had a terrifying reputation. Some members of Nokia.s board and top management were described as “extremely temperamental” and they regularly shouted at people “at the top of their lungs”. It was very difficult to tell them things they didn.t want to hear. Secondly, top managers were afraid of the external environment and not meeting their quarterly targets, which also impacted how they treated middle managers.Top managers thus made middle managers afraid of disappointing them. Middle managers were told that they were not ambitious enough to meet top managers. goals.Fearing the reactions of top managers, middle managers remained silent or provided optimistic, filtered information. Thus, middle managers directly lied to top management.Worse, a culture of status inside Nokia made everyone want to hold onto vested power for fear of resources being allocated elsewhere if they delivered bad news or showed that they were not bold or ambitious enough to undertake challenging assignments.Beyond verbal pressure, top managers also applied pressure for faster performance in personnel selection. This led middle managers to over promise and under deliver. One middle manager told us that “you can get resources by promising something earlier, or promising a lot. It.s sales work.”While modest fear might be healthy for motivation, abusing it can be like overusing a drug, which risks generating harmful side effects. To reduce this risk, leaders should coordinate with the varied emotions of the staff. Nokia.s top managers should have encouraged safe dialogue, internal coordination and feedback to understand the true emotion in the organization.操作提示：正确选T，错误选F。
1. Nokia lost the smartphone battle because its technology is not as good as that of Apple.{T; F}
2. Nokia.s middle managers were frank to tell the truth, but the top ones didn.t listen to them.{T; F}
3. Nokia.s top managers were too moody to hear anything good but harsh.{T; F}
4. Middle managers in Nokia delivered results more than they promised earlier.{T; F}
5. Nokia.s top managers should have had better conversation techniques to encourage internal coordination and truth.{T; F}
A team of about 35 employees had come together for a team building event. They were a young, bright and enthusiastic team. However, one of their chief problems was the fact that they wouldn.t share information or solutions with each other, and the team leader thought they were too focused on themselves and not on the team. As a result, she brought them all into the cafeteria. All of the tables and chairs had been stored away, and fun decorations and hundreds of different colored balloons had been placed around the room.
In the center of the room was a big box of balloons that hadn.t been blown up yet. The team leader instructed everybody to pick a balloon, blow it up, and write their name on it, but they had to be careful not to burst the balloon.
Although they were given a second chance if their first balloon popped, they were out of the game the second time round. In the end, about 30 team members wrote their names without their balloons popping. They were then asked to leave the room and, after five minutes, the team leader brought them back in and asked them to find the balloon with their name on it amongst the hundreds of other balloons in the room. After 15 minutes of searching, no one had found their balloon, and the team were told that they were then going to move on to the third round of the activity.
In this round, each team member was instructed to find any balloon with a name on it and then give that balloon to the person whose name was on it. Within two minutes, everybody had their own balloon. The team leader summarized the activity thus: “We are much more efficient when we are willing to share with each other and much better at problem solving when we are working together, not individually.”
Sometimes, members of teams create obstacles by focusing solely on their own pursuits and goals. Every member of the team should ask themselves on a regular basis what they are doing and what they can do for the team.
操作提示：通过题目后的下拉选项框选择正确答案。
1. This team building event was aimed at
回答
.
A. helping these young, bright and enthusiastic employees become more concentrated on their work
B. making the team members know how to share information or solutions and cooperate with each other
C. building up team morale
2. This event was held in
回答
.
A. a self-service restaurant
B. a coffee shop
C. a classroom
3. About how many team members were out of the second round of the activity?
回答
A. 30.
B. 35.
C. 5.
4. Which statement below is correct?
回答
A. In the second round, every one of the team had found their balloons after 15 minutes.
B. In the third round, the team members were asked them to find the balloon with their name on it amongst the hundreds of other balloons in the room.
C. In the third round, everybody had their own balloon with help from others within 2 minutes.
5. What was the event going to teach these employees?
回答
A. Sharing and cooperating with other team members is more efficient when they are working together.
B. Focusing solely on employees. own pursuits is not allowed in workplace.
C. Failure of teamwork is caused by individual.
Have you noticed the courage buried in the word encourage? To create a culture in which innovation flourishes takes courage. Determined innovators are always courageous enough to establish a culture in which innovation is greatly encouraged and rewarded. Here are three ways to do that.
Put innovation at the heart of strategy, and persist it in every message. Think of innovation strategy as a pyramid: big bets at the top, a few projects in development in the middle, and a broad base of continuous improvements, lasting contributions, and early-stage new ideas at the bottom.
Define jobs around innovation. Make it a job prerequisite. Consider 3M’s move to become one of the first companies to tell professionals that they could spend 15 percent of their time on projects of their own choosing. Now many high-tech companies know that they can’t get the best talent without providing this kind of flexibility. And some of those self-selected, self-organized projects might even result in a blockbuster product or line of business. For 3M, it was the Post-it note.
Recognize innovation in every part of the company. To build a culture of creativity and innovation, Gillette developed an innovation fair in which every unit could show off its most promising new concepts. It shows that everyone has a role to play in a culture of innovation.
To go from idea to successful innovation requires a great deal of support and collaboration. When people are surrounded by constant communication and encouragement, they can find the courage to try, fail, redo, and try again.
操作提示：通过题目后的下拉选项框选择正确答案。
1. What is necessary in creating innovation culture?
回答
A.communication
B.courage
C.immitation
2. How does 3M create its innovation culture?
回答
A. Put innovation at the heart of strategy, and persist it in every message.
B. define jobs around innovation.
C. Recognize innovation in every part of the company.
3. The word prerequisite in “Make it a job prerequisite” means
回答
.
A. required as a prior condition
B. going after
C. prior to request
4. How does Gillette create its innovation culture?
回答
A. Put innovation at the heart of strategy, and persist it in every message.
B. define jobs around innovation.
C. Recognize innovation in every part of the company.
5. The formation from idea to innovation needs
回答
.
A. discussion and revise
B. failure and courage
C. support and cooperation