{"id":124,"date":"2013-12-04T19:07:12","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T18:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/?p=124"},"modified":"2015-04-08T16:50:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T15:50:00","slug":"general-management-standing-its-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/2013\/12\/04\/general-management-standing-its-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"General Management Standing its Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IESE<\/a>One of the most valuable legacies that the founders of IESE<\/a> created is the institution\u2019s general management focus<\/strong>, both for teaching and other business activities.\u00a0 Long before, Chester Barnard<\/strong>, a prominent pioneer in the field of management who brought together executive experience and humanistic training, alluded to a similar focus<\/strong>, emphasizing that in the management process \u201cthe sensing of the organization as a whole and the total situation relevant to it<\/strong>,\u201d is indispensable.<\/span><\/p>\n

The general management perspective views an organization as a whole, integrating strategy <\/span><\/a><\/strong>, finance, operations, and marketing in addition to all the other functions of a company<\/strong>.\u00a0 This approach requires stepping away from narrow perspectives centered solely upon one area \u2013 whether strategy, finance or marketing \u2013 and the factors characteristic to each.\u00a0 The result is running the risk of overlooking the company as a whole.<\/p>\n

Within this perspective, business ethics<\/strong>, as I discussed in Business Ethics in Action,<\/i> <\/i>views the general manager\u2019s role as that of someone managing a community of people who provide products, create wealth and serve society, doing so fairly and justly<\/strong>.\u00a0 Promoting human excellence and efficiency as an approach to organize, act and interact with others, business ethics, above all, guides senior management, encouraging it to always seek the common good<\/strong> in business and society through all of its actions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This general management and business ethics perspective is not unique to IESE.\u00a0 However, opposing tendencies have been prevalent in the international realm for some time<\/strong>, especially in business schools, particularly \u201cStrategic Management<\/b>\u201d courses displacing \u201cGeneral Management\u201d courses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"748px-Eisenhower_d-day\"<\/a>
General Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses American paratroopers prior to D-Day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inspired by military lingo, the notion of \u201cstrategy\u201d<\/strong> was introduced into business schools more than 50 years ago.\u00a0 Later it gelled into courses on \u201cStrategic Management\u201d and in the creation of the corresponding academic departments.\u00a0 The argument that justified the resulting exclusion of \u201cGeneral Management\u201d courses and departments (which had formerly incorporated strategy) was that strategic management was at the core of general management, or at least it was its main function<\/strong>.\u00a0 In some business schools the process took place merely to mirror what some prestigious U.S. institutions had done.<\/p>\n

Although there are diverse emphases and definitions, generally, strategic management refers to all of the aspects that affect the company, taking the competitive context in which the organization exists into consideration.\u00a0 The approach attempts to adapt the business organization to its surroundings, seeking opportunities and confronting competitors and possible competitive threats.\u00a0 Strategic management, then, tends to be the compass for all of senior management\u2019s and the entire organization\u2019s activity<\/strong>.\u00a0 This tendency places businesses at risk of reducing general management to one of its components<\/strong>, and in this way, substituting the whole with one of its parts.<\/p>\n

The problem is that strategy is<\/strong> always a means<\/b>; it is a strategy \u201cto achieve\u201d an ends<\/strong>, generally financial<\/strong>.\u00a0 What is important is to be successful in attaining the particular objective that the strategy is targeting.\u00a0 Often there is a tendency to step back from other business elements.\u00a0 For example, there are strategy books that examine the strategy Madonna implemented to achieve success or how companies like Wal-Mart have succeeded.\u00a0 For some strategic management professors, Sun Tzu\u2019s The Art of War<\/i> makes the top of the reading list, characterizing competitors as the<\/strong> enemies to defeat.\u00a0 <\/b>Others may not go to this extreme, yet they do see strategy as the essence to achieve financial gain<\/b> wherever it may be.\u00a0 Fortunately, there are still plenty of reasonable people \u2013 here at IESE amongst them \u2013 who know that strategy has a place within a larger context <\/span><\/a>, and in practice, they maintain their general management bearings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Does ethics have a place within strategic management?<\/h3>\n

With some good will, indeed, but as an add-on.\u00a0 It can be included, ethically evaluating the ultimate purpose of the strategy<\/strong> or resolving ethical dilemmas that its implementation presents.\u00a0 But it can also easily be omitted<\/strong>, perhaps leaving ethics to the business ethics course alone, saving the discussion about strategy from scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\"Ricardo<\/a>
Ricardo Curr\u00e1s (DIA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fortunately, today there are plenty of leaders who understand strategy\u2019s role within a broader context<\/strong>.\u00a0 Ricardo Curr\u00e1s<\/strong>, Executive Director of DIA<\/a>, a Spanish company that began as a family-run shop and today is a multinational with 44,000 employees, is one of them.\u00a0 In his November 15 visit to IESE he declared that he \u201cdidn\u2019t believe in strategy\u201d and that, \u201cstrategy is a word that has become a bit stale because it confines you to a straitjacket. Today you can\u2019t predict the impact you will have on your company\u2019s future. I do, however, believe in direction, in the path that may be the best to take<\/strong>. In addition to sketching strategic plans, we need to continually remind ourselves where we are and where we are going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another great executive, Bill George<\/strong>, CEO of the successful high-tech medical company Medtronic<\/a> based in Minnesota, defined his company as \u201ca mission-driven company, a values-centered organization and an adaptable business strategy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

This, I believe, should once again become the general management perspective.\u00a0 Certainly we should not forget strategy.\u00a0 Instead, we should emphasize a well thought-out mission centered on enduring values that can solidify over time <\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Strategy should support this endeavor, not hold general management back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most valuable legacies that the founders of IESE created is the institution\u2019s general management focus, both for teaching and other business activities.\u00a0 Long before, Chester Barnard, a prominent pioneer in the field of management who brought together executive experience and humanistic training, alluded to a similar focus, emphasizing that in the management […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1450],"tags":[76049,247],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-values","tag-general-management-perspective","tag-strategy","megacategoria-mc-business-ethics-and-corporate-social-responsibility"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions\/138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/ethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}