TYCO MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

Tyco Management and Leadership



Tyco Management and Leadership

Introduction

Many people do not realize that the difference between management and leadership is quite vast. This paper will examine the difference between leaders and managers, the roles and responsibilities of the Tyco management and its leaders, how these leaders and managers of Tyco's functions have created a healthy and productive culture for its employees and two strategies that will help Tyco maintain this culture.

Managers and Leaders

The qualities and characteristics of a manager are quite different from those of a leader. A manager focuses more on the short term goals and on systems, relies primarily on control, asks the how and when and in the end, managers will do things right. Leaders will focus on the long-term goals, focus on the people, inspire loyalty and trust, ask the what, why and why not's and in the end leaders do the right thing. The best leaders have a strong sense of self and purpose along with hope, optimism and compassion. The leaders will strategically plan for the future with a vision and inspire others to help achieve that goal. Management helps with the day to day goals that will help the long-term vision be attained.

Roles and Responsibilities

Leaders play an immense role in the creating and maintaining the healthy organizational culture. At Tyco, the leadership that was in place before July of 2002 did not create nor maintain a healthy or ethical culture. Major damage to the corporation occurred externally but more important—internally with the scandals that occurred with the previous leadership. Trust in the upper echelon of management was low when Edward D. Breen took over the company. Breen had to go immediately into crisis management mode and rebuild the organizational culture to become an even better and more diverse culture than it had been before.

It was a momentous task to take on as the former leadership headed to prison, but Breen wiped out the old board and management and brought in new leaders and managers. Breen was clearly making a statement to the Tyco employees. He had to show the Tyco employees that the unethical deceptions of the prior board and leaders would no longer be tolerated. He needed to show the employees that the leaders in charge would be pillars of ethical conduct, lead by example, have empathy and compassion for the employees and have only the best interests for its employees, customers and shareholders. He did this by creating guidelines, committees and checks and balances for the entire corporation. Breen also created a culture of responsibility for the employees. The rules, guidelines and policies created by the leaders were not only for the leaders and managers but also for all the employees.

Healthy Organizational Culture

A healthy organizational culture is evolved from the wisdom and planning of superior leaders and management that recognize what an asset a healthy organizational culture truly is to the corporation as a whole. In a healthy culture the members of the organization understand the ...