Faculty
Professor Sydney Finkelstein
Objectives
Strategy - its formulation and execution - is a human endeavor. The experiences, biases, egos, values, and other human factors in the executive ranks greatly influence what happens to companies. This course examines the effects of senior executives on company strategy, performance, and vitality. The central questions is this: How can we improve our understanding and prediction of organizational outcomes - and improve the outcomes themselves - by paying greater attention to top management capabilities and behaviors? Course topics include: executive selection and succession, executive compensation, top management team composition and dynamics, and board-management relations.
To highlight the role of individual and groups of executives in determining the strategic direction of a company.
To develop expertise in evaluating executives for senior management jobs, as well as insight into career progressions and choices.
To understand some of the challenges and dynamics invilved in top management teams.
To learn about board of director best and worst practices.
Although the course is highly relevant for students who wish to strengthen their own managerial talents, it is not a skills-based "leadership" course. Rather, it is intended to improve the student's ability to diagnose, critically evaluate, and enhance executive capabilities in a firm. Thus, the course is relevant for students interested in general management, management consulting, firm valuation, venture assessment, and executive staffing and development.
Requirements
The course relies primarily upon case discussions, mini-lectures, and readings. Two guest speakers will also join us. The course packet contains the readings and cases, with some supplemental materials to be distributed in class.
Tuck Honor Code
All students are expected to read each case fully and prepare their own individual analyses of the whole case. However, once this individual analysis has been completed, students should feel free to work together in groups to help sharpen points of view and refine analyses.
Class participation will be evaluated by the instructor after every session. Students who miss class for any non-emergency reason will not receive any credit for participation on that day.
Unless expressly noted in the assignment for each class, students must rely on only the materials listed in the syllabus in preparing for class. Please do not look up the company on the World Wide Web or collect any additional information. This policy is important because (1) all students should begin class with identical information to ensure fairness, and (2) events subsequent to the time of the case not only tell us nothing about what should have been done, but in fact tend to cloud our thinking with information that key decision-makers didn't have access to either. The result in both instances is weaker analysis and a less effective classroom experience.
Laptops are permitted only if used to access or take class notes.
Materials
Grading
Grading for the course will be based on (1) class participation, and (2) a final examination. While I do not use fixed percentages across these two categories, I do place a high premium on the quality of student preparation and participation in the classroom. The final grade for the course will thus reflect your overall performance (especially in the classroom), but will be constrained by Tuck's grade distribution policy as shown in your Student Handbook.
(1) Class Participation- I believe the ability to articulate a well-thought out point of view, and engage in real debate, is a key to success in business. As a result, I place a very high weighting on your performance during the 9 class sessions of TMT. While it may not be necessary to be an active participant in every session, if you aspire to a grade of S+ or H in the course, then this will need to be a priority for you. More important than grades, however, is learning, and experience has shown that learning is maximized via preparation, involvement, and participation.
(2) Final Exam- The final exam will be an open book and open notes 4 hour timed take home exam distributed on the last day of class and due within 7 days in my assistant's office (Tuck 205). The final is cumulative and is designed to be a fair test of your comprehension of ideas discussed in the classes. The best way to prepare for the final is to prepare carefully for each of the classes that precede it. The final exam must be typed and be a maximum of 1200 words, with one additional page for exhibits.
Schedule
Session 1: Thursday, September 17
Executive Selection and Succession Processes
Case: Madison Rubber Corporation (A)
Finkelstein, S. and Hambrick, D.C. and Cannella, A. (2009). Chapter 7: Changes at the Top: The Consequences of Executive Turnover and Succession. Strategic Leadership - Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams & Boards: 198-226.
1. In 1991, if you were a consultant to Madison’s board, how would you get them started on CEO selection
2. Why is there so much friction between Stillman and Cook?
3. What should Stillman do now?
Session 2: Friday, September 18
Composition of Top Management Teams
Case: Scribe Division (A)
Hambrick, D. C. (1995). “Fragmentation and the Other Problems CEOs Have with Their Top Management Teams.” California Management Review 37(3).
1. What is your assessment of Newberry’s approach to profiling his “ideal” management team?
Session 3: Wednesday, September 23
Top Management Team Dynamics
Case: Harsa Industrie AG
Finkelstein, S. 2003. Chapter 9: The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People. Why Smart Executives Fail: 213-238.
Ciampa, Dan. 2005. “Almost Ready: How Leaders Move.” Harvard Business Review 83 (1): 46-53.
1. What’s going on with Wilhelm Handel?
2. What should Klaus Langer, the CEO, do now?
Sessison 4: Thursday, September 24
Executive Decision Making
Case: Hurricane Katrina: What Took So Long? (Tuck)
Finkelstein, S., Whitehead, J., and Campbell, A. 2009. Chapter 2: Pattern Recognition. Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions: 15-30.
Finkelstein, S., Whitehead, J., and Campbell, A. 2009. Chapter 6: Misleading Prejudgments. Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions: 15-30.
1. Could the federal government have done a better job responding to Katrina? How?
2. When should the IIMG have been activated?
3. What factors affected Broderick’s decision making? Were there biases he could have foreseen and corrected for?
4. What advice would you have given Matthew Broderick Saturday before the storm hit?
Session 5: Friday, September 25
Executive Selection and Succession: Headhunters in Action
Both Sections Together/Class time is 1:15-2:45pm in Stoneman Classroom
Readings and Questions in course packet - Zimmer materials.
Session 6: Thursday, October 1
New Research on Leadership
Innovation and Leadership in Professional Football: The Story of Bill Walsh (chapter draft - confidential – please do not distribute)
1. What are the key characteristics of Bill Walsh as a leader, and are they transferable to other business contexts?
2. Bil Walsh was both innovative in his work, and a spawner of talent. Do you think that these two characteristics usually go together? Can you think of other examples?
3. Only a few years after Bill Walsh left San Francisco, the team went on a downward spiral and few speak of their coaching talent and spawning of coaching talent anymore. Was this inevitiable? How could this talent pipeline have been institutionalized so that it would have continued after Walsh was gone? How do companies deal with this problem?
4. What are your personal top 3 takeaways for leaders and leadership development that come from this story.
Session 7: Friday, October 2
Top Management Teams in Startups and Venture Capital
Both Sections Together/Class time is 1:15-2:45pm in Stoneman Classroom
Nashoba Networks: Readings and Questions to be distributed to student mailboxes.
Session 8: Thursday October 8
Boards of Directors and Corporate Governance
Case: Bank of America (to be distributed before class)
Questions to be distributed before class
Session 9: Friday October 9
Top Management Teams in Turnarounds
Both Sections Together/Class Time 1:15-2:45pm in Stoneman Classroom
Readings and Questions to be distributed to student mailboxes.
