Jonathan, a newly retired general was invited
by his friend to become the Chief Executive Officer of his business
conglomerate. John accepted the offer with the thought in mind that he will use
the shock and awe strategy in running the organization. So that he could
immediately dominate his subordinates and impose his will upon them.
He therefore immediately buckled down to
work. His first act was to call for a meeting among the managers of the
business conglomerate. During the meeting John immediately emphasized his
authority by dominating the meeting. And not allowing the anyone to question
his pronouncements. The meeting ended with the managers feeling threatened and
paralyzed by their new Chief Executive Officer.
Shock and awe strategy is useful as a
military tactic when you want to immediately conquer and decimate your enemy.
This require rapid and swift dominance by the attacking force to immediately
destroy the will to fight and morale of the enemy.
However, in a civilian/private
organizational setting this shock and awe mindset will never work. Why? Because in a private organizational setting
there’s no human enemy to conquer. What is to be conquered is the flawed
behaviors of the human resource. The flawed system and processes of the
organization. And no C.E.O can conquer a flawed behavior, system and processes
by using this shock and awe strategy.
A leader/manager who would use this shock
and awe strategy is an egocentric and autocratic leader/manager. And this kind
of manager/leader has no place in our modern and technologically driven
organizations today.
Organizations today thrive in
dialogue, communication and democracy. The same with our leaders and managers
today. They also are successful when they are open to dialogue, communication
and democracy. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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