Sec B - Group B14 1.

MGTO Xerox Case Analysis

What have John Clendenins business and personal objectives been at Xerox?

John Clendenins business objectives primarily consisted of improving the efficiency of Xeroxs worldwide logistics and inventory management systems. His success at several projects in Xerox catapulted him to the position of administrative manager of the parts and supply division. Clendenin lived on the edge, took risks and never gave up. He took up the challenge of redefining the Multinational Systems Development Center (MSDC) to meet the corporate objective of increasing the companys return on assets. He was appointed as director of Multinational Development Center (MDC), one of the three organizational components of MSDC. MDC consisted of four people excluding Clendenin, and was responsible for identifying promising opportunities in multinational logistics management. It would also continue to develop and maintain multinational logistics computer systems. In order accomplish these tasks Clendenin set his goal to increasing the groups size. Clendenin was very particular about maintaining his relationships with his subordinates. He believed that the success of multinational companies lay on the quality of the supporting staff. Thus, he took great pains in identifying and recruiting the appropriate people to join MDC. He recognized and encouraged people who performed well and inculcated this quality into the rest of the groups members. He also strived to create a workplace conducive to helping people achieve what they wanted to. Clendenin, as a student of Harvard Business School had set ambitious goals for himself. His target was to become a successful corporate officer in a Fortune 50 company, a director on the boards of several others and eventually be appointed as a cabinet member of the U.S. government. He wanted to live life on the fast track. Clendenin preferred line management and had rejected more lucrative offers of investment banking for Xeroxs role as

Sec B - Group B14

MGTO Xerox Case Analysis

a productivity consultant in the parts and supply organization within USMG logistics and distribution. He was particularly appreciative of Xeroxs corporate culture of doing tasks in a definite and often explicit way, similar to the way of doing things as Marine Corps.

2.

What interpersonal and organizational strategies did Clendenin utilize to

overcome these barriers and accomplish these objectives? Clendenin had been rewarded with four promotions since joining Xerox, and on the personal front was right on track to achieving the goals he had set for himself as a Harvard graduate. Leading his group at MDC, he had successfully identified and exploited business opportunities for MDC to save millions of dollars a year, grow the annual budget to $4 million from a mere $400,000 and increase the staff headcount from 4 to 42. All of this was brought about by efficient implementation of interpersonal and organizational strategies. Clendenin understood the value of maintaining good relationships between colleagues and hence when a technically more proficient long-term employee and a former manager of the parts and supply division was made his subordinate, he took the person, Tom Gunning out for lunch. There he made Gunning realize that it would be better if they put their trust in each other and worked in tandem rather than become obstacles in each others path. Clendenin spent a lot of time and effort on the employee hiring procedure. He developed an elaborate screening process of multiple interviews and ensured that each recruit possessed the intelligence and ability to be motivated, caring, involved and a team player. If an individual failed to meet Clendenins expectations, he gave them a series of warnings, starting with a verbal reminder, followed by a friendly note and finally a more ominous letter. Apart from professional objectives, the employees were expected to set and meet personal objectives as well. All of this created a synergy and the group as a whole was stronger than some of its constituents.

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MGTO Xerox Case Analysis

In order to increase the ROA of MSDC, Clendenin had to optimize inventory as well as multinational assets. However, this proposal met with strong resistances from the various operating unit managers. A mandate from the Corporate Information Systems Board was necessary to make these unit managers comply with the new proposal. Clendenin decided to approach the CISB through the Corporate Information Management people. The method worked and Clendenin was given charge of developing and implementing this new strategy for multinational distribution. As the new director of MDC, Clendenin required to increase his groups size, which would be possible if he received funds from the operating unit managers on the multinational logistics steering committee and the working group. As the secretary to the multinational steering committee, he organized and set the groups agenda for a meeting. He didnt have any budget to present and so aimed at providing the group with information and making them feel good about the meeting. Again his innovative approach worked and he came out with a list of 42 potential opportunities for productivity improvement. Each member of the working group was given the primary responsibility for implementing a few of the items on the list. But, Clendenin quickly made them realize that it was easier for them if they funded Clendenin to implement the tasks on their behalf. Clendenin found out an extremely economic way to accomplish these tasks using APL instead of COBOL programming language. APL was drastically more productive and Clendenin was able to use half the funds obtained to hire additional staff. The operating managers on the other hand found it cheap since they had no idea that COBOL was not being used. In addition, Clendenin faced rather sensitive issues wherein the egos of committee members were hurt when MDC used their money to carry out external benchmarking visits and provide the findings to these committee members and their employees. To preserve these relationships, Clendenin worked in the background, like an ombudsman or a lobbyist.