Leadership and Communication: A Multiple-Perspective Study of Best Practices (2005)

ABSTRACT This study explores the leadership and communication behaviors of an executive at a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company based in the United States. One of the great problems in organizations today is that of capturing practices, especially those that are exemplified in the actions and performance of individuals. Best can be used to train both new and existing employees. However, they must not only be identified within the organization, they must also be codified if they are to be useful to other individuals. The purpose of the study was to capture the key leadership and communication behaviors that made the executive successful. The results of the study and implications of these findings for future research and application are discussed. INTRODUCTION One of the great problems in organizations today is that of capturing practices, especially those that are exemplified in the actions and performance of individuals. Best can be used to train both new and existing employees. However, they must not only be identified within the organization, they must also be codified if they are to be useful to other individuals. At one of the largest drug companies in the world a project was developed to identify and codify in leadership and communication. The subject of the study was an executive who was identified by the company's executive team as a high performer based on extremely high performance appraisals. The objective was to codify the executive's so that they could be stored in the firm's organizational memory and made available for other managers for many years to come. IMPORTANCE OF SHARING BEST PRACTICES The problem of identifying knowledge, codifying it, and then making it available to other within the is not a new one. Lew Platt, former Chairman of Hewlett-Packard said, I wish we knew what we know at Hewlett-Packard. This wish was echoed in a comment from Jerry Lunkins, the late Chairman, President and CEO of Texas Instruments, If Texas Instruments only knew what Texas Instruments knows. (O'Dell & Grayson, 1998, pp. 154). There are some clear barriers to the transfer of practices. Ignorance of the and the benefits associated with sharing of is the number one barrier. This is especially so when employees are not brought into the process. A lack of communication at upper levels of the can lead to misunderstanding on the part of employees. In addition, some organizations have a limited capacity to absorb this kind of information, often because of lack of time and money. And finally, the lack of relationship between the source and the recipient of knowledge is another barrier. In fact, in-house take an average of 27 months to share. (O'Dell & Grayson, 1998). One way to share existing knowledge in the form of is through internal benchmarking, the process of identifying, sharing, and using the knowledge and inside its own organization (O'Dell & Grayson, 1998, pp.154). Internal benchmarking can have very powerful financial implications for those organizations that pursue it with determination and rigor. Texas Instruments generated $1.5 billion in annual wafer fabrication capacity by comparing and transferring among its existing 13 fabrication plants. Chevron generated over $650 million in savings as a result of its practice teams. And Dow Chemical achieved $40 million in savings as a result of efforts to manage its intellectual capital (O'Dell & Grayson, 1998). These success stories make the case for internal benchmarking. BEST PRACTICES AND ORGANIZATIONAL MEMORY Many organizations find that there are numerous best practices a company or firm may use to achieve its organizational and leadership goals. Rowden (2001) acknowledges that over time, organizations have evolved and developed new ways to face change within an organization. …