Sharing Power and Information

1
Sharing Power and Information

• Discussion of 12 Angry Men
• Influencing Others
• Sharing Power and Information
• Empowering Others
• Electronic Data Interchange and the Ontario
  Dental Association

2
12 Angry Men

• This classic courtroom drama involves the twelve
  jurors in a murder trial. The film is about one
  persons attempt to convince 11 other jurors that
  their hasty judgment of a young man on trial
  should be reconsidered. The cast represents many
  of the leading actors of the stage, television
  and film of the day. Foremost among them is
  Henry Fonda, Juror 8, who won an Academy Award
  for Best Actor, for the film On Golden Pond, as
  well as many other honours in his long career.

3
12 Angry Men

• Why was juror 8 so effective in persuading the
  group?
• How effective was group decision-making?
• Does this group become an effective team?

4
How to Become an Influential Manager

• influence is the process by which people
  successfully persuade others to follow their
  advice, suggestion, or order
• influence must replace formal authority with
  subordinates, peers, superiors and others
• Influencing Superiors
• rational explanations were the most frequently
  used tactic
• advanced by gaining the support of others
• persistence was an aid to success

5
How to Become an Influential Manager

• Influencing Subordinates
• showing confidence and support delegating
  duties, guidelines or goals presenting rational
  explanations listening and soliciting ideas more
  frequently used
• threatening and negative techniques associated
  with failure
• Influencing Peers
• rational explanation and developing and showing
  support of others are both frequently used and
  successful
• techniques that succeed in some situations fail
  in others

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How to Become an Influential Manager

• Power is continuing or substantial influence
  associated with the person or the position
• Notion of building a web of influence
• develop a reputation as an expert, continually
  build your knowledge base, and make the expertise
  visible
• balance time with each critical relationship, so
  that time is spent where influence is most needed
  to help the organization
• develop a network of resource persons to be used
  in influence attempts, buile reciprocal
  relationships

7
How to Become an Influential Manager

• choose a combination of influence tactics
  appropriate to the target and the objective
• communicate influence tactics effectively by
  understanding the needs and values of others
  through listening

8
Effective General Managers

• J. Kotter, HBR, March 1999
• in-depth study of general managers
• 75 of their time spent with others
• often who are not their bosses or subordinates
• short, disjointed, unplanned conversations
• breadth of topics discussed is extremely wide

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Effective General Managers

• discussions contain a fair amount of
  joking/personal topics
• managers asking a lot of questions (hundreds)
• they rarely give an order in the traditional way
• they ask, request, coax, and persuade others

10
Effective General Managers

• How do we make sense of their activities?
• Two fundamental challenges in their jobs
• figuring out what to do despite uncertainty
• getting things done through a large, diverse group

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Effective General Managers

• To tackle these challenges, effective managers
  rely on two activities
• agenda setting
• network building

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Effective General Managers

• agendas loosely connected goals/plans
• in first 6 months focus is on creating an agenda
• to address short and long term responsibilities
• includes both specific and general objectives
• giving and receiving information continuously
• pursue activities that achieve multiple goals

13
Effective General Managers

• network building
• develop a network of co-operative relationships
• to help promote emerging goals and plans
• managers shape their network by hiring/firing
  subordinates, changing suppliers

14
Strengthen Others

• Make heroes of other people. Kouzes and Posner
• If you tell people where to go, but not how to
  get there, you will be amazed at the results.
  General George Patton
• The best executive is one who has sense enough
  to pick good men to do what he wants done, and
  self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with
  them while they do it. Theodore Roosevelt

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Strengthen Others

• Have regular great huddles and chalk talks to
  keep people informed about your organizations
  performance. The more that people know about
  whats going on in the organization, the better
  off youll be. Information empowers people,
  strengthening their resolve and providing them
  with resources they need to be successful.
  Kouzes and Posner

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Strengthen Others

• create a climate where people feel involved and
  important
• ensure self-leadership by putting people in
  control of their own lives
• believing in others by extending responsibility
• show sensitivity to others by making them feel
  strong and capable

17
Strengthen Others

• increase choice by providing greater
  decision-making authority and responsibility
• develop competence by making every employee
  business literate and by sharing information with
  employees
• assign tasks critical to success
• offering visible support

18
Leadership The Art of Empowering Others

• Conger, Organizational Dynamics
• empowering practices
• practice of empowering others is at the root of
  organizational effectiveness
• enhance personal status and identity of employees
• rewarding and encouraging in visible and personal
  ways
• expressing confidence in others abilities
• fostering initiative and responsibility
• early victories reinforce sense of power and
  efficacy

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Navigating the Journey to Empowerment

• Randolph, Organizational Dynamics
• empowerment is releasing into the organization
  the power that people already have in their
  wealth of useful knowledge and internal
  motivation
• empowerment is easy to understand, hard to
  implement
• Share Information
• need to know how the company is doing
• helps to understand the business
• raises the level of trust
• key issue is how people use information to solve
  problems

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Navigating the Journey to Empowerment

• Autonomy Through Structure
• vision statement as a collaborative effort
• understood vision in terms of ones job
• goals become milestones of progress
• create new decision making rules
• establish performance management processes
• continuous training to learn new skills
• Teams Become Hierarchy
• encourage and support change to teams
• managers need to relinquish control
• overcome the leadership vacuum
• acknowledge the fear factor

21
Empowerment

• Can you share with us an example of a manager you
  have worked with who you would describe as
  empowering? What did she/he do exactly? What
  were the effects on you and other members of the
  team?
• Can you share with us examples of when
  empowerment failed? Why?

22
Electronic Data Interchange and the Ontario
Dental Association
23
Background to the Case

• Events surrounding EDI represent a painful
  episode in the history of the ODA, events which
  have never fully been resolved
• The ODA relived the EDI conflict with many
  subsequent issues
• If we understood the nature of the conflict over
  EDI, could we improve the capacity of the ODA to
  deal effectively the other issues that confront
  it in the future?

24
Case Synopsis

• Case describes the events surrounding the
  introduction of EDI by the ODA
• A storm of controversy ensues and swirls around
  the Chair of the EDI Task Force, Dr. Steve Smith
• Case presents the perspectives of 4 people deeply
  involved in this conflict Two proponents of EDI
  and two dissenters
• All 4 are strongly committed to dentistry

25
Objectives

• To clarify and distinguish immediate from more
  basic problems which may be clouding the
  interpretation and resolution of problems
• To illustrate how theories of conflict,
  communication, and leadership may be used to
  analyze and resolve the problems in this case
• To illustrate a conflict which has transcended
  substantive issues and moved to an emotional and
  personal level
• To stimulate creative approaches to rebuilding
  communication and trust in an organization which
  has been fractured by destructive conflict

26
Statement of the Problem

• Which key person has responsibility for resolving
  these problems?

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What are the basic and immediate problems?

• What are the symptoms of these problems?
• What are the implications if these problems are
  unresolved?
• What is the root cause of the problems?
• What is the decision facing the key person?

28
Statement of the Problem

• Dr. Steve Smith must address the issues raised by
  opponents of EDI at the Board of Governors
  meeting and come up with a plan of action before
  the next meeting in November.
• The immediate problem is the conflict over EDI,
  should it be implemented and in what form.
• The symptoms of an emotional conflict may be
  found in the words and feelings expressed by the
  participants totally opposed, it was war,
  awful, deeply divided, this was brutal

29
Statement of the Problem

• The conflict has become intensely emotional and
  personal in nature, and has the potential to
  cause great damage to the ODA.
• The participants in this conflict did not fully
  recognize how the issues over EDI were becoming
  bound to other issues involving the relationship
  of the ODA to its members, and this surely was
  playing a large role in the intensification of
  this conflict and in the failure of each side to
  fully appreciate what the other side was saying

30
Statement of the Problem

• The basic problem is the lack of communication
  and trust between the ODA and its members.
• Symptoms of poor communication between the ODA
  and its members can be found in the
  misunderstanding on both sides.
• The executive members of the ODA saw EDI as
  critically important but the members did not
  There was no agreement on the policy
  objectivemembership did not understand

31
Statement of the Problem

• The implication if the problems of poor
  communication persist are that the ODA and its
  members are doomed to repeat the conflict
  involving EDI with subsequent issues.
• The root cause of the problem is the failure to
  have a plan for analyzing and implementing EDI

32
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• What are the major arguments advanced by the
  proponents of EDI and the dissenting voices?
• Which theories and concepts help us to understand
  these problems?
• Support your conclusions with reference to key
  points in the case.

33
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• The conflict over EDI may be understood with
  reference to conflict management, communication,
  and problem solving
• it appears that proponents and opponents of EDI
  may not share congruent views as to the role of
  the ODA
• the senior executive refer to the ODA as being
  future-oriented with respect to government
  legislation, new technology, what the insurance
  companies were doing. ODA has the perspective of
  being at the forefront of change

34
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• members do not seem to share that view of the
  role of the ODA, either because it is not
  understood or because they reject it
• note that a Governor describes the Executive
  Council as having a Father Knows Best Attitude
• the proponents of EDI have a strong sense of
  urgency and purpose about what they are doing
  we decided that dentistry would manage its own
  business, we saw this as a utility to the
  members and their patients.

35
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• was this sense of urgency and clear purpose
  shared by the members? Not if the views of the
  two opponents are representative there were
  obvious benefits to the insurers.Are we doing
  the work of insurers? They werent focussed on
  the best interests of the members, the 6,000
  dentists of Ontario....CDA/ODA sold out our
  birthright. The CDA and ODA were fighting over
  this, both greedy for the money....They were
  bending over backwards to the insurance
  companies whatever they wanted they got!

36
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• the manner in which the ODA approached this
  problem of EDI is quite deficient
• models of problem solving suggest that those who
  will be affected by the changes should be
  involved in defining the problem, in generating
  alternatives, and in implementing a solution
• there does not seem to have been any plan for
  involving and communicating with members
• as pointed out by a proponent of the EDI Most
  dentists were only marginally aware of the issue.

37
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• John Kotter, HBR, 1995, in an article entitled,
  Leading Change Why Transformation Efforts Fail
  suggest that the first major step in an important
  change process is establishing a greater sense of
  urgency by identifying potential crises or major
  opportunities and getting people to seriously
  examine the realities of what they are
  confronting
• Kotter, HBR, 1990, in an article entitled, What
  Leaders Do proposed that leadership is comprised
  of 3 basic activities Setting a direction,
  aligning people, and motivating people.

38
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• the challenge of aligning and unifying people is
  met by communicating with everyone, keeping the
  messages simple, repeating the messages and
  allowing challenges to the messages.
• the difficulties that the proponents of EDI
  encountered in convincing the dissenters may rest
  with their failure to convey early and clearly
  the importance of the opportunity (and threat)
  that the ODA saw in EDI and its purpose in
  pursuing this opportunity

39
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• The leadership within the ODA seems to have lost
  control of the rate of change, overwhelming and
  distressing its members.
• Heifetz and Laurie, HBR, 1997, in an article
  entitled, The Work of leadership suggest that
  because leaders must strike a balance between
  having people feel the need for change and having
  them feel overwhelmed, leadership is a razors
  edge.
• Events surrounding the introduction of EDI spun
  out of control issues were changing so fast.

40
Analysis of the Causes of the Problems

• why was the ODAs message regarding its purpose
  in pursuing EDI not conveyed adequately to its
  members?
• the structure of the ODA appears highly
  centralized, with the Executive Council wielding
  enormous power in setting direction for the ODA
• the EDI initiative seems to have originated
  entirely with the Executive and the EDI Task
  Force was set up by the Executive not by the
  Board of Governors

41
Decision Criteria

• What are the relevant quantitative and
  qualitative criteria?
• Consider the goals of the organization.
• Consider the goals of the decision-maker.

42
Decision Criteria

• Promote a collaborative problem-solving approach
  on the part of all members.
• Increase communication with members to facilitate
  dialogue and show respect for concerns and
  dissent.
• Increase member awareness of the need for EDI,
  the logistics and plan for implementation, so
  members are in possession of the facts when
  making decisions
• Manage the rate of change in a manner that does
  not overwhelm members.

43
Alternate Solutions

• Realistic alternatives
• Alternatives evaluated against the decision
  criteria

44
Alternate Solutions

• Drop EDI
• This is an avoidance rather than a collaborative
  approach
• This would not increase communication or
  understanding of EDI
• It would slow the rate of change to a dead stop!

45
Alternate Solutions

• Conduct a Practice Impact Study
• consistent with a collaborative approach since it
  was suggested by dissenters
• strengthens communication because concerns and
  questions can be addressed
• broadens the basis of information about EDI
• Consistent with a step-by-step, managed pace of
  change

46
Alternate Solutions

• Town Hall Meetings at Dental Societies Across
  Ontario
• Steve Smith explains the ODAs purpose in
  pursuing EDI. Members express their concerns and
  ask questions about EDI address those concerns
  with information. Issues of assignment and
  profiling will be resolved to the satisfaction of
  members (eliminate the possibility). Retain
  competent technical expertise to assist the ODA
  in demonstrating how the system will work. If we
  proceed , an implementation plan with clear
  measures will be developed and communicated to
  all members.

47
Alternate Solutions

• this approach promotes collaborative
  problem-solving orientation in resolving conflict
• clarifies the vision and purpose of the ODA with
  respect to EDI
• strengthens communication and understanding
• increases information about EDI so that members
  may make informed decisions
• makes members aware of the need for change while
  not overwhelming them
• if this approach works, it could become a model
  for how we handle issues in the future

48
Recommended Solution and Justification

• Alternative chosen solves the problems.
• Meets the decision criteria.
• Consistent with relevant theory.

49
Recommended Solution and Justification

• The last two alternatives would seem to have the
  most merit in terms of the criteria we
  established and will form the basis for the
  solution. There must be an effective plan for
  discussing, evaluating, and implementing EDI.
  The plan will be communicated to members. The
  emphasis is on a collaborative approach to
  include all members and promote a constructive,
  problem-solving orientation. This approach is
  considered to be a win-win strategy and is
  appropriate where issues are important and where
  maintaining good relationships are also essential

50
Action and Implementation Plan

• Describes who, what, when, where, and how
• Differentiates short, medium and long term
  actions
• Provides plans for all components of the
  recommended solution

51
Action and Implementation Plan

• begin now rather then waiting for the Board
  meeting in November
• use the town hall approach
• target areas of high resistance
• focus on what is happening in the environment in
  which the members practice
• clearly explain the purpose and long-term
  benefits to members
• address members concerns with respect to
  assignment and profiling
• everyone gets an opportunity to speak and listen

52
Action and Implementation Plan

• respect for objections raised by members
• get technical expertise to help with
  presentations
• get members involved in the pilot project

53
Contingency Plan

• Statement of downside risk
• Contingency plan

54
Contingency Plan

• Downside risk
• This was a deeply divisive conflict and it is
  possible that the two sides have become so
  entrenched in their positions that they will not
  seek compromise. In this scenario, the town hall
  meetings becomes a forum for attacks and little
  is to be gained.
• Contingency plan
• If this unpleasant outcome occurs, it would be
  appropriate for the ODA to drop EDI and let the
  insurance companies propose a system which the
  ODA would then have the option to support or
  reject.

55
Future Actions for the ODA

• What should the ODA do to heal the wounds
  caused by the conflict over EDI so that
  proponents and opponents of EDI work together to
  advance dentistry in Ontario?