Running head: ROLE OF VISION AT MENTOR GRAPHICS 1

Assignment #4: Role of Vision at Mentor Graphics

NAME

Strayer University

Managing Organizational Change

HRM 560

Dr. Vanessa Graham

August 12, 2012

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Abstract

A well quoted bible verse states that without a vision the people perish. But, is this applicable in

all situations? Vision is more than seeing with one’s eyes, it about having a clear picture of the

desired future and obtaining an understanding of what it takes to reach/accomplish that future

state. Having vision for one’s personal life is no different than having a vision for one’s

professional life. The success and failure of companies rest on the ability of its leaders to

provide a clear vision. Thus, it is vital that leaders develop a well-written vision statement that

provides purpose, meaning and direction for all stakeholders – customers, suppliers, employees

and shareholders. For several years, Mentor Graphics’ president, Gerard Langeler, struggled

with providing such a vision. Hence, this paper addresses the way vision was approached at

Mentor Graphics; it provides the author’s opinion on whether the vision strengthened or

weakened the company; identifies three main reasons vision failed; discusses the content, the

context and the process as it relates to how vision was introduced and constantly changed.

Lastly, this paper will discuss how vision helped and/or hindered change.
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Role of Vision at Mentor Graphics

1. Discuss the way vision was used at Mentor Graphics.

If a company is going to have any chance of achieving organizational success, it must

possess the right vision. Failure to have a clear vision that provides direction for the future and

differentiate your company from the competition is like playing a game of Russian roulette – you

are here today but gone tomorrow (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). Such could have been the

case with Mentor Graphics. It took the company ten years to develop a vision that lined up with

the company’s core business strategy and enabled a sound decision-making process (Palmer, et

al., 2009).

Vision at Mentor Graphics was used as a guide to decision-making in obtaining short-

term goals. It emerged through a lead-dominated approach in which Gerard Langeler provided

the strategic vision for the company (Palmer, et al., 2009). The company started out with an

unarticulated vision – “Build Something That People Will Buy”. Langeler’s failure to

communicate the vision caused the company to spend numerous hours striving toward an

objective that was bound to fail. The vision provided no clear purpose or direction, besides

developing software products. It failed to differentiate the company for its competitor, Daisy

Systems. Daisy Systems, who had the same vision, successfully outperformed Mentor Graphics

(Palmer, et al., 2009).

Struggling to remain relevant, Mentor Graphics used this setback to adopt a new vision,

“Beat Daisy”. This new vision, based upon the desire to win market shares, was too narrow in

its scope and only focused on the present. However, it did motivate the staff enough to

accomplish this short-term goal. Revenue increased and eventually outperformed Daisy Systems.

Despite the recession, the company continued to grow. But, soon they found themselves
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suffering with growth concerns, the decline in product quality and internal coordination disputes

(Palmer, et al., 2009). With the company in a state of decline, Langeler once again changed the

vision – “Six Boxes”. This vision was based upon six core businesses of the company which

strived to obtain market leadership. However, this vision soon become irrelevant as one of its

key businesses – computer-aided publishing failed to pay dividends (Palmer, et al., 2009). Over

the next several years, the company goes through several other visions that were reflections of

market trends with little to no significance. Finally, the company circle back to a vision that

truly portrayed its roots – core business.

2. Evaluate whether the vision strengthened or weakened the company.

Vision is an integral part of a company’s business strategy. As stated by Palmer, et al.

(2009, p. 249) “having a strategic vision to linked to competitive advantage, enhance

organizational performance, and achieve sustained organizational growth.” With that in mind, it

would be safe to say, a weakened vision is one that does not emphasize the company’s core

competencies, and as a result hinders management ability to make sound business decisions

(Mason, n.d.). In the case of Mentor Graphics, turning its focus away from the company’s core

competencies started with its “Beat Daily” vision. Though the vision appeared to give the

company an advantage over its competitor, it failed to provide a picture of sustainable future

growth. Instead, it focused completely on the short-term goals of obtaining a competitive

advantage and enhancing organizational performance. While obtaining a competitive advantage

and enhancing performance is crucial, they cannot stand-alone. In my opinion, the “Beat Daisy”

vision was a fad or slogan that took the company on a roll coaster high only to come crashing

down when it failed to provide continuous financial sustainability.

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Realizing “Beat Daisy” as well as many other visions – “Six Boxes”, “10X Imperative”,

and “Changing the Way the World Designs Together” – that were crafted through the years

added very little value to the successful future of the company, the company turned its focus

back to its core business. This renewed focus led Mentor Graphic right back to the real reason

why it was in business, helped management construct a vision – “Our current short -, medium -,

and long-term vision is to build things people will buy” that strengthened the company. In line

with the standards of effective visions outlined by Kotter, this vision provided guidance for

sound decision-making, flexibility to accommodate creativity and adaptability in changing

situations (Palmer, et al., 2009).

3. Identify three key reasons the vision failed at Mentor Graphics.

Palmer, et al., (2009) states there are several reasons – too vague, too specific,

inadequate, too unrealistic, blurred, too complex, irrelevant, etc. – why visions may fail. Many

of these reasons may be applicable to Mentor Graphics. However, three key reasons, I believe

the visions failed are inadequate, blurred and irrelevant. First, most of the visions developed by

Langeler were inadequate – that is, they only partially addressed the problem they were aimed

towards. This is why so many visions were crafted over a short time span. Second, all the

visions were blurred as they did not depict a clear picture of the future. The “Beat Daisy” vision

was an excellent example. While the vision spoke to what Mentor Graphics wanted to

accomplish, it did not provide the guidance as to how to accomplish it. Third, is irrelevant –

over time the vision became increasingly irrelevant to the employees. For instance, the vision

“Changing the Way the World Designs Together” did not depict what Mentor Graphics actually

did or was going to do. The meaning was unclear and unrelated to the company’s business

strategy.
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In addition to the above mention key reasons, Langeler’s visions were also too

disconnected from the present and too complex in addition to being non-participatory. For

example, the company’s failure to adapt when computer-aided publishing failed to pay its

dividends, causing the “Six Boxes” vision to be no longer valid. This is an example of being

disconnected, as the company did not account for the current obstacles that caused a disruption in

their ability to make sound financial decisions and respond properly to change (Palmer, et al.,

2009). Then there is the “10X Imperative” vision that replaced “Six Boxes” vision. The case

depicts this vision as being too abstract and elusive (Palmer, et al., 2009). Simply put – it was

too complicated for customers to understand. Lastly, from the very beginning Langeler not only

failed to communicate the company’s vision, he did not allow the staff to participate in crafting

the vision. Kotter (1996) makes it perfectly clear that communicating the vision it a crucial

factor in the success or failure in effecting organizational change. Furthermore, Palmer, et al.,

(2009) argues a vision fails when there is little to no participation from other staff members, as

consensus building, which includes activities that help develop and diffuse the vision are needed.

4. Discuss issues of vision content, context and process at how vision was introduced and
changed at the company.

Content

Content represents what vision is and what is it saying. Cognitive and affective are two

major components of vision content that highlights the characteristics of vision. One focuses on

outcomes – cognitive, and the other focuses on the motivation and commitment of employees –

affective (Palmer, et al., 2009). Mentor Graphics first two visions – to build something customer

can buy and to beat Daisy utilized the outcome as its focal point. Then as time progress the

visions become too abstract, focusing neither on change, outcomes nor employee’s motivation or

commitment.
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Context

Context refers to how the vision is utilized; that is – where it is used and by whom.

Possibility, desirability, action-ability and articulation are four features of vision described by

Nutt and Backoff that enhance organization performance (Palmer, et al., 2000). All these

features relate to Mentor Graphics case study. Possibility was employed in the company’s final

vision, as it encouraged more innovative practices. Desirability occurred when the employees

vocalize the need for a new vision after reaching its “Beat Daisy” goal. However, this need for a

new vision was not based upon their values and norms. Action-ability was not properly used as

the later visions did not provide a clear understanding of the necessary action need. Articulation

refers to effectively communicating the vision. From the very beginning articulation was

nonexistence, as Mentor Graphics’ original vision was never communicated. Each vision

afterward, with the exception of the final one, was unclear and did not line up with the actual

business.

Process

Process can be defined as how the vision was emerged and who participated in its

development. Palmer, et al., (2009) states Nutt and Backoff’s three different processes for

crafting a vision. These processes include: the leader-dominated approach – the CEO provides

the vision; the pump-priming approach – the CEO gives visionary ideas and selects others to

develop it; and the facilitation approach – a wide-range of individuals develop and articulate the

vision. In the case of Mentor Graphics, the process used to craft its vision emerged from the

leader-dominated approach. This conclusion is drawn from the details of the case study. First,

management created the vision and passed them on to the staff as indicated by the staff lack of

connection with the vision. Second, the frequent change in vision suggests that the visions were
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not sold to the staff, as there was no evidence of staff or customer buy-in. Third, there is no

evident of input – outside of the staff voicing their desire for a new vision – from other staff

members in the process of creating change. Fourth, there is little evidence that the vision

supported the company’s business strategy.

5. Discuss whether or not the vision helped or hindered change at Mentor Graphics.

A vision can be both a help and a hindrance depending upon the company current state

and the leader’s competency concerning change. This holds true for Mentor Graphics, as it

progressed through many visions. Palmer, et al, (2009) contends that there are tangible benefits

that are associated with change. Enhancing performance, facilitation organizational change,

enabling sound strategic planning, recruiting needed talent, and focusing on decision-making are

five key ways to enhance organizations. For Mentor Graphics, the “Best Daisy” vision helped

change, as it enhanced performance. This performance enhancement resulted in greater control

over market share. It also pointed out some deficiencies that where currently presented within

the company, such as not meeting the expectations of management.

Just as vision can help organizational change, it can also hinder it. According to Palmer,

et al., (2009) change can be a hindrance when management becomes too committed to it and

therefore refuses to reevaluate it or test it for continuous use and relevance. Mentor Graphics’

vision modifications over the years disrupted the company ability to make sound financial

judgment, and hinder change as the company was blind to the future (Mason, n.d.). Such is the

case when Mentor Graphics’ “Six Boxes” caused issues and disrupted the ability to make sound

financial judgments. This vision becomes more irrelevant to the company core businesses as

existing resources were viewed by management as too conventional, thus the business decisions

suffered because of it (Palmer, et al., 2009).

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References

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Establishing a sense of urgency. Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business

School Press.

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2009). Managing organizational change: A multiple

perspectives approach (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.

Mason, G. (n.d.). Chapter 9: Linking vision and change [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved August

23, 2012 from http://www.coursehero.com/file/6150398/Chap009/.