Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis - Book Report/Review Example

Adjustment Paper THESIS MENT The purpose of this study is to present a review of the book, “Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls” narrated by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis. In addition, the aspects included in the book comprising the importance of judgment calls for effective performance of leaders will be duly evaluated supported with relevant examples. BOOK REVIEW The book presented by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis, “Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls” reflects upon the importance of leadership judgments for leaders in the contemporary era. Accordingly, the review of book illustrated that a leader is a person responsible for steering the performance of the members of his/her team with effective decision-making and decisive actions. In this book Tichy and Bennis stressed that the most crucial role for a leader in the contemporary scenario is making good and effective judgments. Tichy and Bennis emphasized that a leader need to be well informed about every activity of the team and team members. Additionally, the key message conveyed through this book is that a leader in the present day needs to make wise judgments or decisions that would ultimately facilitate in the accomplishment of pre-determined goals. In the words of Tichy and Bennis the aspect of judgment is identified to have major impact on the overall performances of leaders. It is firmly argued that other things matter a little when leaders make effective and appropriate judgments. In similar context, when leaders are not consistent or less efficient in their approaches, leadership is recognized to matters marginally. On further note, Tichy and Bennis stressed that taking correct decision and judgment is not possible in every given scenario and hence measures need to be taken by leaders in this context. The study of Tichy and Bennis also presented that the impact of any judgment on the lives of team members and the leaders is quite noteworthy. In this regard, it has been advocated that judgment delivered by leaders could not be considered as an effort that is being delivered at a single moment rather it involves series of processes for making suitable business decisions. The central argument of the study is that leaders are not among the people who can give away their work after a point of time but they need to be effective for long. Notwithstanding, the study depicted that leaders can take a bad call, as they are humans and can learn from their mistakes through acquiring feedback of team members and others (Tichy and Bennis 1-42). Analysis of the study of Tichy and Bennis provided certain key lessons, which would be important for any individual reader to have a better understanding about leadership, judgment and decision-making in the future context. It has been noted that the study extensively mentioned about the importance of judgment and decision making in the domain of leadership. From the study, it has been learnt that most of the leaders focus on three important domains while delivering decisive actions which include people, strategy as well as the crisis. Considering the right people, framing the right strategy and taking important steps in crisis situation are among the domain where the interest and priority of leaders are visible. However, ineffectiveness in the domains mentioned above will certainly result in misjudgments from the end of the leaders. Again, the analysis of the study also revealed that though leaders do not have the privilege to change their decisions in course of time but they certainly have the liability to change the process of execution of their decision-making, which might further affect the aspect of judgment of the leaders (Tichy and Bennis 20-92). JUDGMENT CALLS Based on the understanding drawn from the book, there are several aspects in which effective judgment of leaders are highly dependent. According to the analysis of the study, it can be determined that judgments of leaders are concentrated on majorly three leadership judgment domains. As per the book of Tichy and Bennis, leadership decision is concentrated majorly three leadership judgment domains that include people, strategy and crisis (Tichy and Bennis 20-92). Notably, the authors affirmed that good leadership involves several key elements that collectively form the base of leaders’ decision-making abilities. In this context, the aspect of judgment made by leaders is based on the knowledge in relation to different factors that include social network, stakeholders, one’s self and social network. It has been observed that judgments of leaders have major impact on the operational domain of business in both favorable and unfavorable manner. Strong decision-making is considered to serve as the base for effective and successful decision-making. In order to ensure the deliverance of strong decision and judgment calls, leaders are therefore needed to formulate diverse range of strategies with the adherence of certain core principles of decision-making. Contextually, to deliver effective decision-making, leaders are required to analyze and research about each and every domain of business that is relevant to their decision-making process. Additionally, effective decision-making will enable leaders to comprehend about the prevailing issues or challenges faced by businesses in dealing with the short term and the long term organizational operations. This aspect also enhances the prominence of the decisions that are made post evaluation of the prevailing business condition. Again, the decision-making procedure must be transparent so that the judgments that are being formulated have the potential to assist in yielding appropriate and successful results in the long run. It is recognized from the study of Tichy and Bennis that the responsibility of good leaders lays entirely in the domain of making better decisions in order to enhance the performance of business operations rather than just concentrating on steering the performance of individuals and teams (Tichy and Bennis 70-392). To get a better comprehension in this context, the core elements of judgment calls of leaders include people, strategy and crisis, which are discussed below in detail. People judgment calls. Amid the three elements of decision-making or judgment calls of leaders, people are deemed to be the most crucial and decisive factors, which have major influence on decisions made by contemporary leaders. According to Tichy and Bennis, people have major impact on nearly every component of a leader’s decision. This can also be understood from the fact that people can majorly effect the decision of leaders and turn it towards positive or negative business direction. The role of team members working with a leader are among the core people that influence the decision making of leaders. Observably, good and efficient team members can positively influence the decision making of the leader while inefficient team members can adversely affect the decision making of leaders damaging the business effectiveness to a larger extent. Subsequently, it can also be stated that good team members work s in collaborative manner towards practical execution of the decisions of leaders and thereby ensures the effectiveness and accuracy of business decisions made by leaders. For example, the decision making of A. G. Lafley of Procter and Gamble will be vital to consider. The CEO replaced more than 30 top executives of the business, as he understands that they were not competent to take tough calls in the interest of the business. After this particular decision, the earnings and the stock price of the company have revealed rising trend by more than 58% from the preceding years of its operations (Techy and Bennie 2). Such decisions can be considered by many as unpopular judgment call but that call eventually resulted in seeking increased profit for the company. Strategy judgment calls. Similar to the component of people, the role of strategy is also deemed to be much decisive in the domain of judgment calls for leaders. It has been analyzed that the main objectives as well as the responsibility of a leader is to lead his/her team towards attaining the desired set objectives of a business for the deliverance of effective business performance. Contextually, it can be affirmed that among the major paths of accomplishing the predetermined objectives of a business, strategies are the most important and essential means. Notably, business operations based on single strategy could not yield the desired result for a company. In this regard, leaders need to formulate alternative strategies that could be implemented in order to attain utmost level of business success and growth. However, the importance of adopting appropriate strategies can also be comprehended from the fact that poor strategic choices of leaders often lead to ineffective performance of team members and overall business operations altogether (Tichy and Bennis 1-392). Contextually, the significance of strategy formulation by leaders is depicted with the example of poor strategic decision making in HP, which adversely affected the business in the global market segments. Notably, flawed approach of judgment by the leaders at HP becomes the sole cause for Ms. Carly Fiorina’s downfall. It has been observed that the board members and the directors of the company showed poor judgment while hiring x Fiorina for a top designation for which she was little suited. This can be relevant with the fact that she belonged to the background of sales, which make her ineligible and incompetent to handle a multidimensional portfolio in relation to the business operations of HP (Tichy and Bennis 2). Crisis judgment calls. Subsequently in the domain of decision-making or judgment calls, the role of any crisis situation within a business is also vital. Notably, any bad or inappropriate judgment of leaders in a business can shift business operations downward and can give rise to a crisis situation, which is less desirable in the present competitive business scenario. Contextually, leaders have the need to consider the crisis component prior to entering his/her decision regarding business operations. Leaders are often observed to take precautions in their decision-making process so that they could prevent the occurrence of any sort of crisis situations from their judgment calls. This aspect can be better comprehended from the case example of the decision made by the CEO of YUM brand. The management of the company during the crisis period of bird flu, where people were reluctant to intake chickens, the company made an approach of educating the people regarding how chicken are delivered to the customers. The company revealed that chickens are properly tested and purified and thus, cannot harm the health of people. This further resulted in record sales of the company in the following years and facilitated in overcoming the crisis situation in the effectively (Tichy and Bennis 247). Notably, within each of the domains of the judgment calls, leaders follow a specific process. The first step of the process includes analysis of what might happen prior to the deliverance of the decision. In the next stage of the process, the measures adopted by a leader while making decisions are witnessed. This is one of the most important steps and plays a vital role in the overall judgment call. The last and the final step of the process requires for proper execution of the decision of the leader (Tichy and Bennis 1-392). STORYLINE It is believed that in the process of ensuring a sound decision-making for organizations relating to its growth and wellbeing certain vital aspects are needed to be considered. In this context, it is important to have clear vision in relation to the foundation of the overall decision-making process and judgment call made by leaders. Notably, the aspects of leadership have considerable impact on the organizations’ operations in both short and long run. It also tend to set the tone for the success of a company through developing appropriate strategies in the domain of sales, initiating new business ventures and developing new products among others. Therefore, as a leader it is important to set a specific goals to gain utmost success while delivering the judgment calls for any given scenario. Notably, from the readings of the book it can be determined that in order to make judgment calls one needs to take rigorous preparation for execution of decisions- in an efficient manner. In order to be an efficient leader, one needs to possess adequate knowledge as well as competencies with the aim of managing business operations successfully in the present competitive business scenario. An example in this regard will be the approach of the leadership of GE’s at Crotonville, New York. Notably, in that particular scenario, leadership was executed efficiently through taking into consideration the aspect of recruiting as well as laying-off of the human resource of the business, building strategies to initiate positive change in the business and managing the chaos as well as the critical situations within the business. The previously mentioned factors have assisted in having an overall stability for sustainable business growth. It is believed that in order to become a good to great leader, the activities of an individual is not the only aspect that is taken into consideration rather the nature and the thinking of an individual is also deemed to be quite important in this regard. Leaders need to form a Teachable Point of View (TPOV) where they should develop their own storyline that includes moral and ethics to be transferred to the followers of the leaders. From the knowledge gained from the book certain Teachable Point of View (TPOV) of leadership can be framed (Tichy and Bennis 273-275). Contextually, proper training and development for staff in every stage of the business operations is one of the major components of the TPOV. Since people are the most important resources of a business, they should be aware as well as ready to deal with all the challenges in various business operational domains. This might include the aspect of executing the strategy of a business in the practical scenario and able to handle any sort of chaos and crisis in the operations of a business. These approaches will enable employees to move confidently towards their 360o development where they could be able to present their ability as a future leader. The TPOV also includes values and morals, which are the core elements one needs to adopt to become a great future leader. These values will be to work efficiently in prioritizing organizational goals over that of individual goals, ensuring utmost honesty in the deliverance of work and working as a team under any tough scenario (Tichy and Bennis 1-392). KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT It is quite important in the present day organizational environment for employees to be assessed in order to analyze their current knowledge about the area they need to improve and in which domain they have maximum strength. This approach of leaders is directly relevant with the operational efficacy of business units. It is vital to mention that for all the three domains mentioned in the above discussion regarding judgment calls of leadership, there is a different approach of assessing the knowledge of the people of an organization based on certain aspects which includes self, social network, organizational and contextual approach of knowledge assessment. While assessing the knowledge in terms of people in a business in the self-domain, analysis must be made about the personal judgments regarding capabilities and ambitions of an individual. In terms of analyzing the strategy in the self-domain, knowledge is assessed regarding the judgments of leaders about their career and life strategy. Again, I perceive that assessing the knowledge of the leaders in the domain of crisis is relevant to the self-domain, which requires the analysis of judgment calls in situations of crisis and contemplation (Tichy and Bennis 1-392). In addition, while evaluating the knowledge of the leaders in the social network context regarding people, their judgment regarding team selection is vital. Additionally in terms of strategy in context to social network, judgment relevant to meeting the demands of a business by the team is evaluated. In terms of crisis in the domain of social network, judgment of the leaders in selection of a team for crisis is being evaluated. Assessment of the knowledge in organizational context also involves the analysis of people, strategy and crisis. In terms of people, judgments of leaders regarding quality and operational capability of the people are required to be analyzed. In terms of strategy, judgments of the leaders about how different levels of business formulate and execute strategy will be analyzed. In the domain of crisis, the judgment of leaders about how to deliver effective performance in terms of crisis situation will be examined. Again, assessment of leader’s knowledge on the contextual ground is also evaluated through examining the three domain i.e. people, strategy and crisis. In terms of people, leader’s ability with regard to stakeholder engagement is deemed substantial. In context to strategy, the ability of a leader in engaging stakeholders towards executing the strategy of a business is important. Subsequently, in the domain of crisis, the judgment of a leader with regard to dealing with the stakeholders during crisis is analyzed (Tichy and Bennis 1-392). Notably from the above illustration, it can be depicted that in order become a good leader fulfillment of the above mentioned knowledge criteria is vital. In order to deliver a good or appropriate judgment by a leader, the above mentioned knowledge assessment in the four diverse section including self-knowledge, social network knowledge, organizational knowledge and contextual knowledge are substantially important. In addition to these aspects, leaders are also required to analyze the current position of a business to attain maximum success from their decision-making abilities. A leader is required to evaluate and comprehend the desired need of a company and approach of decision-making on the basis of the same, so that fruitful results could be obtained. This approach of leaders might also in turn work towards understanding the present performance gap of a business to a considerable extent. It will also vital to state that leaders in this particular competitive business scenario are needed to align the three domain of decision making i.e. people, strategy as well as crisis and accordingly, ensure the deliverance of judgment call. It is evident that in the course of attaining the above mentioned objectives, leaders might need to deal with various challenges, which may affect the overall operational efficacy of the business. In such scenario, leaders must need to develop alternative strategy, which can be used at times of crisis. Hence, there is always a need to frame multiple strategies for one single scenario. This aspect means that leaders have ability to make proper adjustments in their decision making so that business outcomes could be more accurate and in accordance with the interest of stakeholders (Tichy and Bennis 1-392). Thus, it can be comprehended that in order to make effective decisions that would ultimately benefit the business as well as the people involved in the decision making process leaders must have clear thoughts along with vision for their future approaches. Additionally, leaders are required to motivate individuals and team members with the intention of ensuring that the sustainability of core values and ethics of a business are retained for overall business success (Tichy and Bennis 1-392). Works Cited Tichy, Noel M. and Warren G. Bennis. Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls. USA: Penguin Group, 2007. Print. Read More