Assignment
Consider the following:
A fundamental economic problem for management is knowing who has the best knowledge of time and place to make the best decision.
Russell King argues that: “Rules help entrepreneurs more than they hurt them, because it is the rules of the game that delineate the playing field.”
Recall what Steve Jobs argued: “If you want to hire great people and have them stay working for you, you have to let them make a lot of decisions . . .”
Blenko et al. argue: “An army’s success depends at least as much on the quality of the decisions its officers and soldiers make and execute on the ground as it does on actual fighting power.”
According to the U.S. Army’s Mission Command manual, “Throughout operations, unexpected opportunities and threats rapidly present themselves. Operations require responsibility and decision making at the point of action. Through mission command, commanders initiate and integrate all military functions and actions toward a common goal—mission accomplishment.”
Using the above ideas, in combination with (1) the imagery and content provided by the Army’s Principles of Mission Command and (2) the various arguments used in the readings and videos, craft an argument that defends this statement:
One of the crucial challenges of managing an organization is really the challenge of designing and enforcing meaningful property rights (which, in an organizational context, means decision rights).
If you wish, here’s an outline you can use to organize your thoughts:
Why do Blenko, et al. argue that “decisions rather than structure should be the primary focus” of improving organizational performance?
How is the argument similar to or different from Hayek’s idea that the economic problem is first and foremost a knowledge problem? How do the “rules” established by David Marquet reinforce your argument about the Hayekian knowledge problem?
How does the organizational spirit embodied in the Principles of Mission Command animate:
Steve Jobs’s admonition that “the best ideas have to win”?
King’s statement that: “Before anything else, we seek to ensure that the business strategy makes clear to our employees exactly what business we are in . . .”
The argument presented by Blenko, et al. that: “In decision-driven reorganizations, the challenge is to determine exactly what authority decisions makers need, regardless of their organizational status”?
How do (a) a “decision audit” as understood by Benko et al. and (b) “commander’s intent” as understood by the U.S. Army relate to the idea of organization-level valuation? How would you expand on your answer(s) to incorporate King’s argument that it is “Extremely important that all work takes place in a clear framework that defines the employee’s role in the context of the organisation’s purpose and vision”?
Based on your response to the previous bullet-point, Fisher’s concept of capital, why are effective property rights/decision rights important for the quest to minimize organization-level opportunity costs?
Sources:
Steve Jobs talks about managing people – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f60dheI4ARg
David Marquet, Former-Captain, US Navy Seals: Turn The Ship Around! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwKQqf4ixA
