A detailed examination of the findings of a study focusing on executive decision making in six representative companies indicates that executives rank innovation, risk-taking, flexibility, and trust as important influences for effective decision making. Results of the investigation indicate, however, that during important decision-making meetings, executives dedicate themselves to "getting the job done," which results in a suppression of creativi...

Dansk Designs Ltd., a supplier of high quality, highly designed tableware products, plans to enter a new product area in housewares. Past growth and anticipated future expansion make organizational changes necessary. Overseas operations, design changes, supplier relations, quality control, marketing strategy, and competition all have impact on the organizational structure.

Most managerial styles are characterized by an emphasis on the power and the right of the manager to pass judgment on the actions of his or her subordinates. Judicious managers facilitate the expression of ideas by sharing their power and acting as collaborators with their subordinates. By creating a climate in which it is appropriate to voice imperfect thoughts and ideas, judicious managers encourage more frequent individual and group accomplish...

Long-range planning often involves conflicts between creativity and practicality. It is important to maintain an equilibrium when making trade-offs between plans and budgets. Three questions influence this balance: how to link planning data and financial statements; how to integrate people responsible for planning and people responsible for budget; and how to determine the proper sequence of annual planning and budgeting cycles.

Although internationally recognized for quality design, the collaborative's billings have been on a plateau for four years and they are losing jobs to architects with sophisticated marketing practices. The main issue is how marketing can be integrated into a design partnership believing that formalized strategy and promotion interfere with creativity. Other issues include the problems of marketing a professional service, whether efficiency and qu...

The left hemisphere of the brain controls logical thinking processes and the right hemisphere controls simultaneous processing. Human tasks often activate one side of the brain while leaving the other largely at rest. There may be a fundamental difference between formal planning and informal managing corresponding to differences in these two hemispheres of the brain. Educators will have to revise their notions regarding management education in or...

Similarities exist between the management of a film project and the management of other temporary work systems, such as technical or scientific projects, consulting teams, task forces, and other short-term task groups. Most temporary projects go through an analogous series of phases, including planning and recruiting, implementing and leading, and follow up and clean up. By examining one film director's successful approach to managing creativity,...

A study of U.S., Japanese, and European companies shows that, contrary to the claims of some corporate critics, large companies can be as technologically innovative as small companies. The effective management of innovation is surprisingly similar in both. Founders of small companies pursue their technological goals over many years, keeping costs low, tolerating uncertainty and setbacks, and readily adapting their products to meet market needs. B...

An eight-year-old company is in the midst of growth. This case follows the company from its inception through its growth stages. Teaching objectives are to understand the problems of growth, partnership, and operations-driven companies.

Presents the first of two cases describing the struggle to solve creative problems on the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne). Provides company and industry background plus a historical brand review, and focuses on the issue facing product manager Carole Johnson in October of 1983: how to get good creativity fast?