Communication Best Practices at Dell, General Electric, Microsoft, and Monsanto

Sarah Sanderson King, Donald P. Cushman

Description

Through case studies of communication best practices at Dell, General Electric, Microsoft, and Monsanto, this book provides specific and powerful theories for leadership, marketing, and stockholder communication. Best practice limitations are also revealed in the cases of IBM, the Bumper Works, and Asea Brown and Boveri, where organizational learning, a firm's timeline, and corporate culture made implementation difficult. Taken collectively, these case studies suggest several ways in which benchmarking can become an important research methodology and theorist tool for understanding excellence in organizational practice.

Preface

1. The Benchmarking of Organizational Communication Best Practices

Part 1: Benchmarking Foundational Communication Processes

2. Best Practices at the Dell Computer Corporation: Benchmarking a High-Speed Management Communication System

3. Best Practices at the General Electric Company: Benchmarking a World-Class Leadership Communication System

4. Best Practices at the Microsoft Corporation: Benchmarking a World-Class Marketing Communication System

5. Best Practices of the Monsanto Company: Benchmarking World-Class Annual Reports
Ted Smith III and Williams C. Adams

Part 2: Limiting Factors in Implementing Best Practices

6. Organizational Learning as a Limiting Factor: A Case Study of IBM's PC Unit

7. Time as a Limiting Factor: A Case Study of the Danville Bumper Works

8. Culture as a Limiting Factor: A Case Study of ABB

Part 3: The Significance of Benchmarking Backbone Communication Processes

9. Backbone Communication Processes in the Benchmarking of Best Practices: The Development of Organizational Communication Theory

Index

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791486788
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Communication Best Practices at Dell, General Electric, Microsoft, and Monsanto

SUNY Series, Human Communication Processes Donald P. Cushman and Ted J. Smith III, editors

Communication Best Practices at Dell, General Electric, Microsoft, and Monsanto

by

Donald P. Cushman and Sarah Sanderson King

With a chapter by Ted J. Smith III and William C. Adams

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cushman, Donald P. Communication best practices at Dell, General Electric, Microsoft, and Monsanto / by Donald P. Cushman and Sarah Sanderson King ; with a chapter by Ted J. Smith III and William C. Adams. p. cm. — (SUNY series, human communication processes) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0791457397 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0791457400 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Communication in organizations. 2. Benchmarking (Management) I. King, Sarah Sanderson, 1932– II. Title. III. SUNY series in human communication processes

HD30.3 .C876 2003 658.4'5—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002029184

We dedicate this book to each other.

Eighteen years of research underpin this book and the collaboration effort it fostered. This project was an adventure, a challenge and an education regarding the central role communication best practices plays in establishing quality relationships between people and organizations. This book is thus dedicated to the relationship communication best practices fostered between its authors and the growth in knowledge, respect and insight such a collaboration guarantees.

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Contents

Preface The Benchmarking of Organizational Communication Best Practices

Part 1: Benchmarking Foundational Communication Processes Best Practices at the Dell Computer Corporation: Benchmarking a High-Speed Management Communication System Best Practices at the General Electric Company: Benchmarking a World-Class Leadership Communication System Best Practices at the Microsoft Corporation: Benchmarking a World-Class Marketing Communication System Best Practices of the Monsanto Company: Benchmarking World-Class Annual Reports Ted J. Smith III and William C. Adams

Part 2: Limiting Factors in Implementing Best Practices Organizational Learning as a Limiting Factor: A Case Study of IBM’s PC Unit Time as a Limiting Factor: A Case Study of the Danville Bumper Works

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CONTENTS

Culture as a Limiting Factor: A Case Study of ABB

Part 3: The Significance of Benchmarking Backbone Communication Processes Backbone Communication Processes in the Benchmarking of Best Practices: The Development of Organizational Communication Theory Index

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Preface

In 1984, the University of Hawaii, EastWest Center in Honolulu, and Harvard University provided research grants and/or support to be gin an inquiry into the criteria hightech firms employed in site se lection. Armed with letters of introduction from Harvard University, we began interviewing the top management of hightech firms lo cated in Silicon Valley, California, the Highway 128 Beltway in Massa chusetts, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina. From these interviews emerged the broad outline of what would become the theory of HighSpeed Management, a new organizational communi cation theory. Between 1984 and 2001, we had the opportunity to continue this line of research while consulting with over sixty firms and gov ernments in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. We also were invited to report and update our research in MBA programs sponsored by ABB (formerly known as Asea Brown Boveri) and Siemens. In addition we held ten international conferences on HighSpeed Management in Europe, Asia, and the United States. In 1994, the European Interna tional Business Association held its conference on HighSpeed Man agement and we were invited to participate in that conference.  In 1998, our theory of HighSpeed Management was named a finalist in the Arizona State University Organizational Communica tion Prize lecture contest for developing an original theory capable of stimulating and integrating the research in organizational commu nication. This line of research has generated over ten books and 50 chapters in books and journal articles. This book is, then, the culmination of 18 years of research, training, consulting, and thoughtful analysis. We believe that this line of research has generated three important outputs: (1) an un derstanding of one appropriate method, the benchmarking of communi cation best practices, for researching the critical success factors involved in effective organizational communication; (2) an understanding of one

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