What Obstacles Did John Clendenin Face at Xerox?

1. What obstacles did John Clendenin face at Xerox?

In the case Managing Xerox's MultiNational Development Centre, John Clendenin faced a number of challenges, beginning with his promotion to administrative manager. Due to Clendenin's previous success, his team became reluctant to continue providing the information necessary to compliment his ideas. He had particular concern with Tom Gunner, someone who had been working with Xerox for 20 years and was suddenly forced to report to Clendenin; that in his eyes had very little experience.

Clendenin's first experiences with the CISB lead to his second challenge. He realized that in order to implement the necessary changes need to reach the goal of a more efficient use of corporate assets he would need support within the USMG organization. This meant finding an alignment with the different system managers across the organization, and creating an organizational structure conducive to sharing information and inventory across functions.

Clendenin's next challenge was presented during the building and staffing the new MDC division. Clendenin was told that, "he could spend as much money as you want, but you have come up with a proposal that saves that same amount of money this fiscal year for Xerox the US, and then I don't care how much you save for the rest of the world." This meant aligning the operating unit managers on the new steering committee and working group to achieve a common of reducing costs.

Lastly, Clendenin was challenged with the task of selecting and staffing the new members of the. "The individuals Clendenin hired were generally those others the logistics and distribution organizations were willing to let go. Consequently, the MDC developed a reputation, according to the MDC member, of being staffed with "stray cats and dogs and those undervalued." With the preconceived stereotype already in place, Clendenin with the difficult task of creating a positive corporate culture within his group. Clendenin believed, "that each person he brought into the MDC needed to have the intelligence and the ability to be motivated, to be caring, involved, and a team player," and he need to find a way to project this culture onto his staff.

2. Given the assigned readings in Sessions 5 and 6, what techniques did John Clendenin use to attain power for (a) himself and (b) for his department? Specifically, what influence tactics did he utilize?

Through the force of persuasion, as defined by Conger, Clendenin was able to, "...pull people together, move ideas forward, galvanize change, and forge constructive solutions." He understood, "...persuasion for what it is not convincing and selling but learning and negotiating." Clendenin was able to overcome some of the challenges he faced with Xerox and gain power through the use of some of the Persuasion Principles outlined by Cialdini and the Four Essential Steps outlined by Conger.

Liking

Clendenin was able to apply the principle of liking to gain power and to overcome some of the challenges he was presented with. When faced with the challenge of Tom Gunner, Clendenin used similarity to create a bond between the two men. He employed the use of praise when dealing with his new recruits, to create a positive corporate culture within the new MDC group. Lastly, Clendenin was able to apply the liking principle to the members of the new multinational steering committee, by spending time speaking to and getting to know their secretaries and having face to face meetings with the key players within the group. All three tactics lead to greater power for Clendenin by creating a level of trustworthiness and willingness of other to follow him.

Reciprocity

Through the use of reciprocity Clendenin was able to gain a greater power over his employees as well as with Tom Gunner. Clendenin allowed his employees to leave work early when they had commitments outside the office, and in turn, these employees were willing to work longer hours when necessary. With Tom Gunner, Clendenin was given knowledge and access