MAVERICK MANAGERS: INDIVIDUALIST DISPLACES THE ORGANIZATION MAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01826R000300060011-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 2000
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: November 22, 1961
• Content Type: NSPR

pProved For Rekose 20006/16 : CIA-RDP80-01V6R000300460011-5
.....1.04-4101r.dromm?
laverick Maug,ers: Individualist
Displaces the Oi:cmniation Man
Contimicd From First Pee
honey are creating at Colgate. "Togetlill ter*
twe are shaking up this compapy," ecm melte:
a ,Colgate official. "No longer do we 4; et the
Waal teamwork slogans. We're beint told
point-blank that the company's succeES de-
pends on each indiviiapirdolag hiseettAetter
than hir-o-Ounterzart at P&G (.the company's
chlerTiirriTefitor, f'Folle.r?az Gamble. "
In
liro with this shift in emphasis, more outh
ity Is being delegated to middle Mrli? invest
people.
r
Sale's Managers' Role Broadened
:Until this year, for example, top on kills
were largely responsible for deciding;treere
advertising and promotion expenditures et n' to
be channeled, what products were to e.ce-
tured in special promotions and even wl?type
of 'counter displays Were to be used. Sales
managers were brought in once a yeei. told
What was ahead and given the old 11 to -
get out and sell," relates a Colgate exec:.eava. thr I.. Tele .o117.11 tic OC
"Now the sales managers come in 'art play bety n. .
ii-e-ii
f 01 ..1,-liuover Cora.
NeW". Spi Droach at Twin Coach
Th; stress on originality and individuall!e?
In ma riasement is resulting in new approaehee
to ma tagement development programs at some
!companies. Twin Coach Co., Buffalo, N.Y., a
'former bus maker which now turns out parts
for at ;craft and missiles, embarked last yea i-
on a program that's a far cry from formai
- classr)om courses. Five junior executives, al
'under 40, were given the responsibility of finn-
ing ct mpanies Twin Coach might want to at.
quire, a duty that's reserved for top execu-
tives or directors' in most firms. Working with-
out it terference ,from top management, th!
young eaecutives have investigated 50 polete
tial a ;quisitions during the past year and a
half. i ate last year, upon the recommendation
[
' ... ,
the major role in all these decisions. It's ip to
hem to,helpedeVelop promotions, pick out prod-
uctS ripe for' special cut-rate sales and to ,ionte
p with marketing gimmicks.",
Dissatisfaction with "soft sell" teclui cries
has been partly responsible for widenime op-
portunities for colorful and imaginative eeeeil-
tives. Hard-selling .Judson Sayre, head of the
Norge division of Borg-Warner Corp., is
credited by Borg-Warner management with
pulling the appliance-making unit out of the
red. Through his "almost fantastic ability to
dramatize selling," as one associate puts it,
Mr. Sayre has helped push Norge sales from
$32 ;million in 1954 to more than $100 million, a
year now
On several occasions, the Norge chic reain
has demonstrated to retailers the effectiveness
of his vigorous tactics by personally tac.1:ling
a customer in a dealer's own shbp and making
a stle. Y.ri pushing Norge's new dry-clka ning
malhines, Mr, Sayre took an imprompt 1 part
in a pro;notional affair by dousing the J. ziait
of hie $200 suit with catsup and tossing ,1 Into
dr,,--cleaner.
Steliping on Toes
he 1211rd-driving ,innovators who rise? te. ,t.ee
top of corporate inalaiement gerie-e4s?.ta
on a fek,-i?tOcis "along the way, and a gie% ene
nurn1.ei51' -companies are coming aroir. te
the view that conflicts are inevitable ai Cl not
neeessarily a bad thing. Of 600 high-level ex-
ecutives interviewed in a survey on the or-
liganation man problem carried out two year;
eago by the Opinion Research Institute of
Prixicbton, N.J., 62% said it wae impossieti to
.avoid conflict with other people. Only -',7%
thought it was "very important to...avoid each
'conflicts."
The realization that overt disagreements and ,
bruised feelings are unavoidable is reset ing
In less talk about the importance of a mE stery
of human relations, or getting along with ie-
plc, in in management training program... At ,
Ling-Temeo-Vought, for example, there ru
particular emphasis on human relations, I.
few years ago the Chance Vought unit
giving a course in the subject to its mani ge-
ment but quickly abandoned the effort. "ou
can't teach people human relations after the
age of six," argues one executive.
Management specialists and executives ith
a 'historical turn of mind find a basic citiee
for the decline of the organization man in the
sweeping technological changes of recent
years. The increasing complexity of the wares
with which industry must deal and the flood of
new products resulting from scientific ant!
Re:aim-ton ,tend Corp. also is encouraging ,
mere InutIvId el initiative. The New York-
based company recently decided many execu-
tives at its NorkValk, Conn., offices were de- !
voting excessive amounts of time to trivial
paperwork or decisions as to whether a sec-
retary should get a raise and on the other
hand, too little time to important duties. In-
stead of reprimanding the executives and spell-
ing out exactly how they should do their jobs,
the company asked the men themselves to take 1,
a critical look at their duties.
There were a number of surprising results.
Moat leeltijelz. of all, four men came up. with
the anginal suggestion tfraf Their jobs be elim? .
tinted. The four managed a department that ;
serviced office machines for the company's
customers. But another four men were super- -
vising a separate department that serviced
typewi iters for the same customers. There wan
no ren son, the executives resoned, why one
group muldn't manage both the office machin:i.
repair nen and the typewriter repairmen. The
departnent% were consolidatri and -the four
displai ed ex cutives received ew assignments.:
One company which has taken extreme i
steps promote individual initiative is Texas
Instruntents, Inc., maker of transistors and ,
other electronic gear in Dallas. Texas In-
strumunts ignores organization charts becaueek
"peopl s not organizations,,, et things dope,"
saYrs-1 kr. beat -IVI-Ye-FS, director or personnel
Any. employe who wants expert advice on
his jo I is encouraged to go directly to the
most I nowledgeable man in the company. A.
a resu t, lower-level employes often completely
hypasE their immediate supervisors. Informal-
ity retells in other ways, too. In the company's
sparta headquarters, President Pat E. Hag-
gerty, dressed in sport shirt and slacks, works
in a tiny linoleum-floored office; in another of-
fice, a secretary greets her boss by his first
name.:
To ,euteiders, Texas Instruments may seem
to run itfi business in a haphazard way. "How
do you R. ep employes from usurping manage-
ment peerogatives?" a. skeptical hanker once i
asked a :lope ey offiele. But the seeming in-
clifferenee to lee mid corporate etiquette and
protocol is part of a carefully thought-out
plan to stimulate imagination and creativity.
And Texas Instruments guards against the
dangers inherent in such freedom by a rigor-
ous review of the performance of all employes
every six months
? ???,:.?????_
technical tidvanees pul a premium on imagina-
tion and creativity all along Cie line -from the
men who guide development and manufactur-
ing operations to the people responsible for
sales.
Approved For Release 2000/08/16 : CIA-RDP80-01826R000300060011-5
W ALA, .57faeur t)wrix.Afik,
Approved For Release 2000/08116 : CIA-RDF'80-016R000
)11,. CTXTTT NO. 101
OM* aftal.alrom Ns
; Fewer Committees
'Evidence of a trend away fieite s itr an
executive pattern is widespread,
, disable number of companies insist tesiir mans
agement development programs la?ree ' been
producing a sufficient supply of ca peek ex-
ecutives all along. The proliferation ,?1 eNects:
tive recruiting firms, which speei eize in
luring crack executives from clients cempeti-
.. tors, suggests more corporations are growing
dissatisfied with the caliber of the candidates
trained within their own companies. At the
same time, some corporation% _are _trying to
breed more free-wheeling, creative individual
ists ifitlieir own ranks so thez
to turfirrititirgiFi; to-e,frestilidcas.rrafra;
are Ze-:all'i-Pliasizing committees and once
? again stressing individual responsibility.
Rocca?a:Cid .8u'rrent events at Colgate-
? Palmolive Co. serve to underscore some of
? the shortcomings of the organization man and
some of the efforts companies are making
to remedy the management deficiencies that
- have cropped up during his ascendancy.
For one thing, Colgate demonstrates anew
that the thorough-going organization man sel-
dom proves to have the leadership qualities
needed at the pinnacle of corporate manage-
ment. Far from blending smoothlereekatOesthe
group, executiVe;?artl:ie-Iiiir Ile _usually in-
dividualistleTfiereely competitive types who
rarely fitthe 'bland 'ideals common among
personnel men.
Selling Soap in Mexico
When Colgate needed a new president and
chief executive officer last year, it chose
George Lesch, a 52-year-old accountant-with a
distinct flair for the unorthodox. The energetic
Mr. Lesch had made his mark during 16 years
as an executive of Colgate's Mexican sub-
sidiary. While there, instead of simply copying
marketing methods the company had proved
in the U.S., Mr. Lesch struck out in new direc-
tions, and sales shot up. To reach isolated
communities, for instance, he dispatched
sound trucks carrying fetching senoritas such
as "Miss Colzata" and "Miss Fabuloso Fab,"
who demonstrated the virtues of toothpaste and
detergents to primitive villagers.
After assuming the presidency, Mr. Lesch
Went outside Colgate, and selected for his ex-
ecutive vice president a man with no exper-
ience in the soap and toiletry field. The
new man was David J. Mahoney, who 10 years
earlier at the age of 28 had chucked a $25,000-
a-year job as vice president of a big New
? York advertising agency and started his own
agency. Later hired as president of Good
Humor Corp., the ice cream firm, Mr. Ma-
honey was open to the Colgate offer when
Good Humor was sold this year.
An organization man would be ill at ease
In the atmosphere Messrs. Lesch and Ma-
Please Turn to Page 12, Column 2
.verick ?Jana ovr
dividualist Displaces
The Organization Man
.1n Many Organizations
exas Pim Hires 'Insecure
But Talented Executive;
Less Teamwork at Colgate
Catsup on the Chief's Suit
s.....????????
By'DON'ean A. MOFFITi
Stag Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
DALLAS ? A few years ago the personnel
director of Chance Vought Aircraft, Inc., 'slid-
- denly withdrew a lucrative job offer he had:
Made to an experienced 40-ycanold executive
employed by a competitor. Though the execu-
tive appeared highly qualified and was a
leader in his field, the results of a personality.
test supposedly had revealed him to be
"emotionally unstable and insecure."
Today there's not a personality test to be
found in Chance Vought files; in fact, the re-
l.,' sults of all such tests given in the past have i
e been deliberately burned. Moreover, the once I
t? rejected executive has since been hired and,
has risen to the ranks of top management at 1
le Chance Vought, now a subsidiary of Ling-
y. Temco-Vought, Inc.
The transformation in Chance Voug,ht's
thinking about what it takes to make a good.
executive is being duplicated in many other
companies around the nation these days. For
years, Such tools as the. personalty test, the
"human relations clinic" and group decision-
making seisions have been important parts of
corporate life as many firms have sought to
develop the type of executive that has come
to be known as the "organization man." But
now there are signs an increasing number of
companies are becoming disenchanted with the
conformity-minded organization and they in-
stead are placing new stress on individualityl
and originality in executives. While such men '
may on occasion ruffle feathers in manage-,
ment ranks, the companies are Concluding
heir contribtaions generally more than com-
?
pensate.
-"The Bold, Brash Individual"
"We just decided it was time to stop trying
to fit everybody into a mold," explains Gifford
N. Johnson, blunt-speaking president of Ling-
Temco-Vought. "There's plenty of room in
a our company for the bold, brash individual
who's willing to be set apart from the herd.
Besides, you'd be surprised how many dif-
ferent individuals can handle the same job
well."
"More than ever before industry is seeking
sen of originality with the courage to ap-
proach problems from an unorthodox stand-
point," echoes John L. Handy, an executive
recruiter in New York City.
. The sort of man some businesses now find
t inadequate is typically thought of as a middle-
;? level executive whose Major aim in life is to
do his company's bidding. The term orghan-
ization man?coined by William H. Whyte,
Jr., who described' the characteristics of the
?species in a book?implies a "well-rounded,"
extroverted Rind of fellow, not very intellecii
? tuaI, whose tastes in everything from clothes'
te polities conform to those of his associates.
t Whenever possible, he avoids sticking his neck
;-? cut and making a decision on his own, pre-
: erring ,ins'i,arl to submerge himself in col i-
thil rarely an innovator, the ?
e r?I",
nizatioWmen ciin be depended on lo ffr
eel's efficiently.
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