Managing with Conscience for Competitive Advantage

126 Pages·2004·0.48 MB·English

by  Geissler

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“Powerfully convincing . . . could help to change corporate cultures
... a vastly important, necessary change to the way we do business
... if I could, I would make it mandatory reading for executives.”
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Program director
Kraft Foods
“A must-read book for all business starters, managers, supervisors,
and owners . . . a wonderful, much-needed book.”
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Ergotron
“Relevant . . . an excellent and timely message. . . . I know from per-
sonal experience that employees are more valuable . . . than all the
assets on the balance sheet. . . . I am in total agreement.”
Victor E. Sower, Ph.D., CQE
Professor of management
Sam Houston State University
“Forthright and refreshing . . . well-written . . . easy to read . . . a
valuable self-improvement tool.”
L. David Weller
Professor emeritus of educational leadership
University of Georgia
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Managing with Conscience
for Competitive Advantage
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Also Available from ASQ Quality Press:
Bringing Business Ethics to Life: Achieving Corporate Social
Responsibility
Bjørn Andersen
Transformational Leadership: Creating Organizations of Meaning
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The Trust Imperative: Performance Improvement Through Productive
Relationships
Stephen Hacker and Marsha Willard
Making Change Work: Practical Tools for Overcoming Human Resistance
to Change
Brien Palmer
The Synergy of One: Creating High-Performing Sustainable
Organizations through Integrated Performance Leadership
Michael J. Dreikorn
Finding the Leader in You: APractical Guide to Expanding Your
Leadership Skills
Anton G. Camarota
Office Kaizen: Transforming Office Operations into a Strategic
Competitive Advantage
William Lareau
Observations from the Trenches
David H. Treichler
To request a complimentary catalog of ASQ Quality Press
publications, call 800-248-1946, or visit our Web site at
http://qualitypress.asq.org.
H1227 Geissler.qxd 8/26/04 11:45 AM Page v
Managing with Conscience
for Competitive Advantage
Pete Geissler
ASQ Quality Press
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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American Society for Quality, Quality Press, Milwaukee 53203
© 2005 by American Society for Quality
All rights reserved. Published 2004
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Geissler, Pete, 1933–
Managing with conscience for competitive advantage / Pete Geissler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-87389-638-6 (alk. paper)
1. Business ethics. 2. Industrial management—Moral and ethical
aspects. 3. Organizational behavior—Moral and ethical aspects.
4. Social responsibility of business. 5. Trust. I. Title.
HF5387.G445 2004
174’.4—dc22 2004015940
ISBN 0-87389-638-6
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the publisher.
Publisher: William A. Tony
Acquisitions Editor: Annemieke Hytinen
Project Editor: Paul O’Mara
Production Administrator: Randall Benson
Special Marketing Representative: David Luth
ASQ Mission: The American Society for Quality advances individual,
organizational, and community excellence worldwide through learning,
quality improvement, and knowledge exchange.
Attention Bookstores, Wholesalers, Schools, and Corporations: ASQ
Quality Press books, videotapes, audiotapes, and software are available
atquantity discounts with bulk purchases for business, educational, or
instructional use. For information, please contact ASQ Quality Press at
800-248-1946, or write to ASQ Quality Press, P.O. Box 3005, Milwaukee,
WI53201-3005.
To place orders or to request a free
copy of the ASQ Quality Press
Publications Catalog, including ASQ
membership information, call 800-248-
1946. Visit our Web site at www.asq.org
or http://qualitypress.asq.org.
Printed on acid-free paper
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CONTENTS
Preface: The Virtues of Managing with Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Employees and customers are more than every business’s “most
important assets”; they are the assets from which all others
radiate.
Purpose: ANew Direction. ANew Way to Think
about Assets. ANew Attitude toward People . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
If the Concept Is So Simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
This Book Is about Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Chapter 1 THE INVISIBLE CHASM THAT SEPARATES
MANAGEMENT STYLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Managing for stockholder value shares very little ground with
managing with Conscience.
Chapter 2 INVESTMENTS: NOT THE HALF OF IT
FOR THIS FINANCIALPLANNER . . . . . . . . . 9
Listen: It’s the profitable sound of success via satisfied employees
and customers.
Our Value Is in Our Employees’ and
Customers’ Minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
AQuiet, Revealing Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
vii
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viii Contents
Chapter 3 THE BARTENDER AS ENTREPRENEUR . . . . 17
The sweetest words are a person’s name, “welcome back,” and
“the same.”
There Are Other Franks in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 4 CEC: PROFITABLE GROWTH IN A
CHANGING MARKET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Extraordinary focus on client and employee values is key to the
rapid growth and stellar reputation of Civil and Environmental
Consultants.
How to Grow in a Stagnant Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Why Growth Is Important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Strategies for Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
A“Best Place to Work” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chapter 5 MSA: SURROUNDING COMPETENCE
WITH COMPETENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
People want to work here; customers want to purchase here.
There are reasons.
Chapter 6 IT’S ALLABOUT PEOPLE! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
This high-tech firm has been growing at 60 percent/year by living
core values that center on people and that never mention revenue
or profit.
Chapter 7 THE AUTHOR AS GLOBAL
CONGLOMERATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Where make ’em smile is the reason for being.
Stick to My Knitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
I’m for More Rapport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Share the Profits with Employees and Customers . . . . . . . 53
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Contents ix
Chapter 8 LESSONS LEARNED FROM LIFE
ON AROCKY ROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
This small manufacturer of valves has survived on innovation
and employee/customer satisfaction. It barely survived 15 years
as a cash cow.
“Survival in This Business Is One Measure
of Success” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Courting Disaster as a Cash Cow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Chapter 9 I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EARS! . . . . . . . . . . 65
Apremium product at a palatable price yields phenomenal
growth for this engineering firm.
Core Values, Not Magic, Yield Impressive Results . . . . . . 68
Chapter 10 BEFORE AND AFTER: THE TAWDRY
CLASH OF MANAGEMENT STYLES . . . . . . . 73
From the calm of employee and customer allegiance for 33 years
to the chaos of headcount reduction and customer desertions in
one easy acquisition.
Lean IS Mean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The Massive Concept Labeled “Relationships” . . . . . . . . . 76
The Two Paths Open to Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter 11 IF MANAGERS ONLY KNEW OR CARED:
BROKEN COMPANIES, BROKEN LIVES . . . 79
The incessant and insane drive for higher profits and stock prices
has sacrificed countless lives. Meet a few here.
Chapter 12 THE COMMON THREADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Contributors to this book share many values, strategies, and
tactics that contribute to success.
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x Contents
Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Guiding Principles/Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Epilogue and Prologue: The Implied Contract
That Binds Business and Its Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105