20. Carla, a college junior, is participating in a special “elementary education outreach”
project in her local community. Along with other students from the business school, she is going to spend the day with fourth- and fi fth-grade students and introduce them to the opportunities of going to college. One of her tasks is to lead a class discussion of the question: “How is the world of work changing today?” Help Carla out by creating an outline of the major points she should discuss with the students.
Next Steps
Top Choices from The OB Skills Workbook
Cases for Critical Thinking
Team and Experiential Exercises
Self-Assessment Portfolio
• Trader Joe’s
• Management Training Dilemma
• My Best Manager
• My Best Job
• Graffi ti Needs Assessment
• Sweet Tooth
• Learning Styles
• Student Leadership Practices Inventory
• Managerial Assumptions
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24
Xerox: A Dynamic Duo
The news came as a surprise: In 1999, Xerox announced that Anne Mulcahy, a relative newcomer, had been selected as the new CEO. Dubbed the “accidental CEO” because she never aspired to the job, one of the fi rst things she did was to recruit the best talent she could fi nd. And one of those key players turned out to be Ursula Burns.a Burns did not come to power through a traditional path. She was raised in a housing project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Her hard-working, single mother cleaned, ironed, and provided childcare in order to give her daughter a private education and the opportunity to earn an engineering degree from Columbia University.
Together, Mulcahy and Burns have broken new ground. In 2007, when Mulcahy became CEO, Burns replaced Mulcahy as president and was appointed a seat on the board. In 2009, Mulcahy retired and Burns became CEO, marking two more fi rsts: the fi rst transition of power from one woman to another at a large public company, and the fi rst to be run by a Black woman.
Mulcahy took over when the company was in shambles.
Through a strong partnership, Burns and Mulcahy saved Xerox in a major turnaround, transforming red ink to black ink within a few years. In the process, they also became a close duo, often fi nishing each other’s sentences.
According to Burns, Mulcahy was her role model as she rose through the Xerox ranks. Burns remembers being on a panel with Mulcahy and realizing, “Wow, this woman is exactly where I am going.” Mulcahy coached Burns, shooting her looks in meetings when Burns needed to listen instead of “letting my big
mouth drive the discussion,” said Burns with a laugh. Mulcahy pushed Burns to develop a poker face, telling her after a meeting, “Ursula, they could read your face. You have to be careful. Sometimes it’s not appropriate.”
Mulcahy and Burns show how individual differences can build a strong team. Their relationship is complex and sometimes contentious: “I think we are really tough on each other,” says Mulcahy. “We are in a way most people can’t handle. Ursula will tell me when she thinks I am so far away from the right answer.” Chimes in Burns: “I try to be nice.”b
“I think we are really tough on each other . . . in a way most people can’t handle.”
—Anne Mulcahy referring to Ursula Burns
FYI: Fortune 500 companies with higher percentages of women board directors, on average, fi nancially outperformed companies with the lowest percentages of women board directors by signifi cant margins.
Quick Summary
• In 1999 Xerox made a surprise announcement that Anne Mulcahy, a relative newcomer, would be their new CEO.
• Mulcahy selected Ursula Burns to partner with her in running the business. In 2009, Mulcahy retired and Burns took over as CEO, marking the fi rst transition of power from one woman to another at a large public company, and the fi rst to be run by a Black woman.
• Mulcahy and Burns’ partnership shows how individual differences can build a strong team. They were able to save Xerox in a major turnaround by learning to share power and forging a highly successful leadership collaboration.
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252 Individual Differences, Values, and Diversity
the key point
Organizational behavior is generated in actions of individuals interacting in context. Therefore we need to begin with an understanding of the individual. People vary in their traits, values, and personal characteristics, and as illustrated by the example of Anne Mulcahy and Ursula Burns, these individual differences can have powerful impacts in organizations.
chapter at a glance
What Are Individual Differences and Why Are They Important?
What Is Personality?
How Are Personality and Stress Related?
What Are Individual Values?
Why Is Diversity Important in the Workplace?
what’s inside?
ETHICS IN OB
PERSONALITY TESTING
FINDING THE LEADER IN YOU
STEPHEN HAWKING SOARS DESPITE DISABILITY
OB IN POPULAR CULTURE
PERSONALITY AND SHREK
RESEARCH INSIGHT
TWIN STUDIES: NATURE OR NURTURE?
appreciating that people are different
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26 2 Individual Differences, Values, and Diversity
People are complex. While you approach a situation one way, someone else may approach it quite differently. These differences among people can make the abil- ity to predict and understand behavior in organizations challenging. They also contribute to what makes the study of organizational behavior so fascinating.
In OB, the term individual differences is used to refer to the ways in which people are similar and how they vary in their thinking, feeling, and behavior.
Although no two people are completely alike, they are also not completely differ- ent. Therefore, the study of individual differences attempts to identify where behavioral tendencies are similar and where they are different. The idea is that if we can fi gure out how to categorize behavioral tendencies and identify which tendencies people have, we will be able to more accurately predict how and why people behave as they do.
Although individual differences can sometimes make working together diffi - cult, they can also offer great benefi ts. The best teams often result from combin- ing people who have different skills and approaches and who think in different ways—by putting the “whole brain” to work.1 Capitalizing on these differences requires an understanding of what these differences are and valuing the benefi ts they can offer.