Cisco Internal Governance Case Study Essay

Words: 1879
Pages: 8
Open Document
Background
In 1995, John Chambers joined Cisco Systems as president and CEO. After six years under the supervision of Chambers, the company went from generating $2.2 billion in annual sales to $22.3 billion. As a result of the market downturn in 2001, the company suffered its first loss and laid off 18% of its workforce. Chambers quickly realized Cisco was in need of significant organizational restructuring if Cisco were to survive and thrive the downtown. This change shifted the company from a decentralized firm that only focused its three work silos of Marketing, Engineering and Sales to segregated and specific customer groups to a centralized firm that focused on collaboration and relevant technologies for given customer groups. This …show more content…
Many employees mentioned that on a daily operations level, they did not perceive their roles to have been affected by the implementation. This suggested that changes were felt at a higher level where group leaders and VP’s now had to allocate additional time to meet with assigned councils and participate in supplementary meetings in addition to their normal workload.

As the councils were improved to operate under a Three-in-a-Box leadership model consisting of executive leaders from different departments, employees had to adapt from working with set and specific lines of business to working collaboratively with the rest of the company.

Initiating & Managing the Change
Introducing a business council system was not a simple task, especially for a large organization like Cisco. The successful implementation of these business councils can largely be attributed to Chambers’ constant reminders about their importance. This frequent and open communication allowed employees to both understand and feel a sense of urgency about the organizational change. By working to overcome challenges such as miscommunication, competing priorities, general inability to execute and command-and-control style leadership, Cisco leadership committed to the change and acknowledged that any significant change requires patience.

Trust and teamwork were revitalized in councils
Show More

Related Documents: Cisco Internal Governance Case Study Essay

Essay on Managers Explore and Exploit

Organizational Ambidexterity in Action: How Managers Explore and Exploit Author(s): Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael L. Tushman Reviewed work(s): Source: California Management Review, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Summer 2011), pp. 5-22 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/cmr.2011.53.4.5 . Accessed: 27/11/2011 04:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms…

Words 9245 - Pages 37

Outsourcing: Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage Essay

treatment. For this reason the introduction of the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) has often been welcomed as the solution of this theoretical shortcoming, as it provides a detailed and explicit focus on the factor market and the internal configuration of a firm’s internal resources and capabilities. Thus, the RBV places the explanatory power of competitive advantage on resources controlled and configured by the firm rather than on industry structure and competitive dynamics (Foss, 2007). The RBV arguably…

Words 6720 - Pages 27

Globalisation: Value Chain and Automotive Industry Essay examples

characteristics of value chain linkages in the industry favour tight integration and regional production. We describe how industry concentration focuses power in the hands of a few large lead firms and discuss the implications of this for value chain governance and the geography of production. Keywords: globalisation; automotive industry; vehicle assembly and parts; GVC; global value chains. Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. 7 8 T.J. Sturgeon et al. Reference to this paper…

Words 7130 - Pages 29

Managing Information Technology (7th Edition) Essay

CONTENTS: CASE STUDIES CASE STUDY 1 Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (A): The Role of the Operating Manager in Information Systems CASE STUDY I-1 IMT Custom Machine Company, Inc.: Selection of an Information Technology Platform CASE STUDY I-2 VoIP2.biz, Inc.: Deciding on the Next Steps for a VoIP Supplier CASE STUDY I-3 The VoIP Adoption at Butler University CASE STUDY I-4 Supporting Mobile Health Clinics: The Children’s Health Fund of New York City CASE STUDY I-5 Data…

Words 239873 - Pages 960