OD Session 6: John A.

Clendenin/ Xerox Case

Introduction (from John A. Clendenin Case): Clendenins father was black army officer then draftsman in aviation industry, mother was from Germany In 1960, father lost job and Clendenin was moved from on! Island to "ueens to !et welfare# was in culture shock and had to fi!ht for themselves $ent to %rooklyn &ech, a s'ecial city hi!h school then to (tate )niv* of +, in -redonia &ried to chan!e habits, made varsity cross.country team and was 'laced in scholarshi' /ajored in childhood education and socially active, became kinder!arten teacher in %ron0 1nlisted in /arines a year later, 'ro!ressed throu!h the ranks and reali2ed that he was smart and athletic as anyone else eft marines in 1934 to attend -1C%)( when he was 55 1lected section education re', clear about learnin! more about 'ower, 'olitics and cor'* culture 6ob search was 7different8 because of a!e but worked for 9ero0 for the summer as 'roductivity consultant then returned after !raduation in 193: ac!"round Clendenins boss 'ro'osed a lateral move from head of 9ero0s /ultinational ;evelo'ment Center </;C= to a staff su''ort function (ince takin! over /;C in 1936 Clendenin had been behind the !rowth and success of the de'artment# bud!et !rew from >:00? to >:/, staff from : to :4 @owever, this had also created resentment amon! those who hadnt !otten additional resources, and he was concerned that the 'ro'osed move would be seen to those as 7movin! off the fast track8 @e also had the o'tion of stayin! another 4 yrs as head of /;C, but wasnt sure of the im'lications

Clendenin#s $arl% Career at Xerox @e did his summer at 9ero0 in 1935 as a 'roductivity consultant in the )*(* /arketin! Grou' <)(/G= workin! on two 'rojects <resolvin! over'acka!in! in distribution and savin! by havin! vendors shi' directly to end users in 9ero0=, both of which were hi!hly successful @e decided to return to 9ero0 because he was comfortable with their culture of havin! an 7order8 to thin!s @e returned as same 'osition as in the summer, then !ot 'romoted to administrative m!r* for the 'arts and su''ly area in ;ec* 193: Althou!h he was successful, there were difficulties because at first the old !uys wouldnt listen to him and then because he was too successful for other !uys to challen!e him @owever he mana!ed his relationshi's with older, more e0'erienced !uys by creatin! 7win.win8 relationshi' <marketin! bin!o, anyoneB= Clendenin Disco&ers 'ultinational (o"istics &he /ultinational (ystems ;evelo'ment Center </(;C= was a small subunit within the )*(* 'arts and su''ly systems !rou', res'onsible for develo'in! and maintainin! systems that would allow the lo!istics and distribution o'erations within each of 9ero0s worldwide o'eratin! units to communicate with each other Clendenin felt /(;C was out of 'lace# it had become 'art of )*(* or!ani2ation in 1931 when its ori!inal home, cor'orate lo!istics had been disbanded In line with C1C ?earns view that increasin! DCA was major objective, Clendenin believed /(;C could make substantial contribution* @owever, this would reEuire redefinition of /(;Cs tasks to coordinate the develo'ment and im'lementation of any chan!es worldwide Clendenin initially did not have su''ort within the )(/G to take this new multinational a''roach, because the interests of individual m!rs were not ali!ned with 9ero0s objectives* &hus, to !et a mandate for /(;Cs new mission, he contacted senior m!rs in the Cor'orate Information (ystems %oard <CI(%= 1lstein, a senior cor'orate information m!r served as a liaison to CI(%, and Fivan, the head of )(/G lo!istics and distribution or!ani2ation, wanted Clendenin to work with him to create the new business 'rocess

&he 'ro'osal by Clendenin and 1lstein had 5 or!ani2ational com'onents# <1= a multinational distribution steerin! committee chaired by Fivan, com'osed of GHs for lo!istics and distribution for 9ero0s worldwide o'eratin! units, would set an overall strate!y for multinational distribution= <4= a multinational workin! !rou' com'osed of m!rs from the o'eratin! units at level of ?etchem <Clendenins boss=, would flesh out strate!ies of <1= with detailed im'lementation 'lans <5= a /ultinational ;evelo'ment Center </;C= identify 'romisin! o''ortunities for im'rovements in multinational lo!istics m!mt* for the steerin! committee, continue to be res'onsible for develo'in! and maintainin! multinational lo!istics com'uter systems After !ettin! CI(%s a''roval for the 'lan, Fivan wanted Clendenin to be the director of /;C and to re'ort directly to him I more 'romotion for ClendeninJ uildin" the 'DC $hile this was a 'romotion, Clendenin was head of a small !rou' with no formal authority, no headcount, and a small bud!et* &o increase his bud!et, he had to save at least as much for 9ero0 )*(*, re!ardless of how much he saved worldwide @owever Clendenin levera!ed his 'osition as a secretary to the multinational steerin! committee, and eventually when members returned to their or!ani2ations with 'roductivity im'rovement a!endas they reali2ed that Clendenin !rou' could com'lete these 'rojects better than they could <and also more economically= /ore o''ortunities for Clendenins !rou' meant more headcount, but it was not always easy to !et members of the multinational committee to a!ree to fund anythin! beyond com'uter systems develo'ment work &o address the animosity and friction !enerated when /;Cs bud!et was increased, Clendenin tried to maintain a delicate balance by maintainin! a lower 'rofile, usin! 7we8 instead of 7I8, and havin! everyone coo'erate with each other without really noticin! that Clendenin was 'ullin! the strin!s

Staffin" and 'ana"in" the 'DC Cne of the challen!es for Clendenin was identifyin! and recruitin! a''ro'riate 'eo'le to join his or!ani2ation# this was not easy because the kind of 'eo'le he wanted were the kind of 'eo'le other or!ani2ations wouldnt let !o &hus Clendenin develo'ed a screenin! 'rocess of multi'le interviews by multi'le members of the /;C, so he could seek out individuals who were intelli!ent, motivated, carin! and team 'layers but were hurt by the fact that 9ero0 was such a close.knit society <i*e* one badmouth can kill you= 7&he Euality of your attitude is as im'ortant as the Euality of your work8# he had additional a''raisal forms for his !rou' which hel'ed him s'ot 'otential 'roblem relationshi's on the to' team @e felt that the work'lace should be conducive to hel'in! em'loyees achieve what they want# encoura!ed community activities as lon! as they were !ettin! the stuff done 7 eadershi' involves the ability to create and mana!e tension, but be a''roachable8 @ow others saw the !rou'# diverse and !ood <9ero0 m!r*=, 'leased with how they were treated <customers=, hard to see concrete results to justify the 0K !rowth <user= Comments a)out Clendenin as a '"r @is m!mt* a''roach elicited stron! reactions from those who worked within /;CL %uildin! trust and mana!in! conflictL Clendenin uses 'sycholo!ical skills but dont feel its mani'ulative because its !enuine, trust him to do the ri!ht thin! for /;C, he has a stron! re'utation, !ets trust from 'eo'le with whom you are in conflict with /otivatin!, develo'in! and !oal settin!L doesnt !ive ne!ative feedback, reinforces 'ositive behavior, hard but makes you think hes soft, lets mana!ers take outside risk and stand behind, 'ainful but !rowin! e0'erience to work with him, tyin! mani'ulation with coachin!, stress !iver Creatin! /;C climateL treats seniors same as juniors and everyone understands this, develo' team by overla''in! job res'onsibilities so bondin! occurs

/ana!in! ClendeninL Clendenin lives on the ed!e, broadens your mind, forthri!ht

Or"ani*ational Chan"es Affectin" the 'DC 9ero0 increasin!ly focused on efficient use of cor'orate assets, and the sco'e of issues considered by the multinational lo!istics steerin! committee broadened In 193M, Fivan retired and Hi'' <'resident of ;iversified %usiness Grou' and chair of Deturn on Assets task force= took over as chair of steerin! committee Hi'' added re'resentatives from cor'orate mf!* to committee and enlar!ed its focus to im'rovin! the overall m!mt* of inventories throu!hout 9ero0s o'eratin! units -rom 6an* 193M to 1933 followin! Fivans retirement, Clendenin re'orted to : different members of the steerin! committee from different 'arts of the )(/G I was never clear who should take or!ani2ational res'onsibility for /;C, a multinational or!ani2ation within a )*(* subsidiary In s'rin! 1933, staffin! cutbacks were announced for )(/G* Clendenin felt it was not fair for /;C because it was multinational, so with assistance of Hi'' he moved /;C into Cor'orate Information /!mt* Grou' In fall 1933, Hi'' <a''roachin! retirement= had @ewitt <another steerin! committee member= re'lace him as committee chair* @ewitt had been 'ioneer in develo'in! multinational systems in 1uro'e, and was servin! as director of distribution and technical services for Dank 9ero0, 9ero0s 1uro'ean arm* @ewitt was also named to newly created GH of lo!istics and asset m!mt*, re'ortin! to 5 of 9ero0s senior line m!rs* Accordin! to @ewitt, reasonin! behind new or!ani2ation was to !et across that 9ero0 was a line or!ani2ation vs* cor'orate staff* 7&ell us how to run lo!istics and asset m!mt* in such a way that we can !et the benefits of !lobali2ation*8 9ero0 'ushed to increase DCA from 10N <1933 level= towards 1KN <objective set by C1C ?earns for 1990= In +ov* 1933, /;C was transferred into @ewitts or!ani2ation* @ewitt created 5 staff 'ositions for m!rs to work with him in develo'in! strate!ies for im'rovin! the multinational m!mt* of lo!istics and assets* After a few months @ewitt decided that rather than fund /;C with u' to K0 se'arate a!reements, he would ne!otiate fundin!s directly with 5 senior line m!rs* @e also made clear that /;C needed to redefine its mission to return to bein! just an information systems and maintenance !rou' In line with this more modest objective for /;C, its bud!et was cut back from >:*5/ to >5/, and headcount was reduced by 5 Clendenin#s +uture Clendenin and @ewitt had considered some 'ossible ne0t ste's in Clendenins career such as mf!* or marketin!, but had not a!reed on timetable* Hossible re'lacements for Clendenin were also discussed but undecided %lohmL mentioned by @ewitt, m!r* from Cor'orate Information /!mt* function, skilled at !ettin! com'uter systems com'leted on time and within bud!et, but Clendenin not sure because /;Cs relations with CI/ had been strained at times GunninO&homasL mentioned by Clendenin, two direct re'orts to Clendenin In /arch 1939, @ewitt offered him the o'tion of becomin! his :th m!r* for multinational lo!istics o'timi2ation* Des'onsible for mana!in! relations with various subsidiaries I see 10hibit* :* $ould also serve as liaison with cor'orate functions such as information m!mt* and finance# finance 'articularly im'ortant to ensure inventory levels from multinational lo!istics or!ani2ations matched 9ero0s other financial systems* Also to take res'onsibility to ensure Euality and @D issues were a''ro'riately handled throu!hout 9ero0s worldwide lo!istics and asset m!mt* or!ani2ations @ow should Clendenin inter'ret this job offerB $hat im'lications would his decision have for his future relationshi' with @ewitt, career at 9ero0 as well as for /;C and its 'eo'leB