A grey area that I have seen and experienced in the business-world deals with how management executives represent their company to potential shareholders, customers, and other employees. There are conflicting principles that are involved when it comes to giving a "pitch" about the outlook, status, and opportunities of an up-and-coming company. On one hand, management wants to be as optimistic as possible to potential buyers and creditors to show that they are worth doing business with. On the other hand, there is a fine line when it comes to "puffery" and when truth gets blurred into unreasonable opinions and unlikely outlooks.
For example, If a company is standing in front of a venture capital firm and is asked the question about its growth prospects, management wants to let them know that everything will fall into place and they will land all these large contracts. However, in reality, management knows that the likelihood of all these events are very slim and their optimism turns into deception because they are representing something that is not very likely to occur.
This is a very difficult ethichal dilemma that must be faced in balancing optimism with reality. You want to stay positive, but at the same time be reasonable.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Strategy Journal Entry #4: Alignment of Intramural Basketball Team
Unfortunately, the 7-S model found a way into my thoughts as I was reflecting on my intramural basketball game last night. I thought about how my team is struggling with certain alignment issues. Our superordinate goal last night was to win the first round of our division II intramural game. We tried to align our staff (team), systems (offensive plays), and skill (basketball abilities) so that we would be able to accomplish this goal.
Last night I noticed a certain misalignment with our system of substituting players into the games and how it fit in with our goal. Our team primarily consists of three guys over 6' 5'' and then four other guys who are relatively shorter. A misalignment that I notes was that sometime we would substitute so that all three tall guys on the court at the same time with only two of the small guys. Since our zone offense consists of only two centers working the blocks from side-to-side, that left one of the big guys out on the perimeter. This is obviously an uncomfortable situation for a big guy who isn't used to playing on the outside.
Another misalignment I noticed was our skill set on our team really doesn't match the skills required of a winner. We don't have any sharp-shooters on our team who can drain three-pointers, and we lack a player who has speed to be able to run the court. Often times these two skills are needed in order for a team to be consistently successful. Despite these different manifestations of misalignment, we were able to win the game!
Last night I noticed a certain misalignment with our system of substituting players into the games and how it fit in with our goal. Our team primarily consists of three guys over 6' 5'' and then four other guys who are relatively shorter. A misalignment that I notes was that sometime we would substitute so that all three tall guys on the court at the same time with only two of the small guys. Since our zone offense consists of only two centers working the blocks from side-to-side, that left one of the big guys out on the perimeter. This is obviously an uncomfortable situation for a big guy who isn't used to playing on the outside.
Another misalignment I noticed was our skill set on our team really doesn't match the skills required of a winner. We don't have any sharp-shooters on our team who can drain three-pointers, and we lack a player who has speed to be able to run the court. Often times these two skills are needed in order for a team to be consistently successful. Despite these different manifestations of misalignment, we were able to win the game!
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