Case Study: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT STYLE The team in charge of the 777 program was led by a group of five vice presidents, headed by Philip Condit, a gifted engineer who was described by one Wall Street analyst as a cross between a grizzly bear and a teddy bear. Good people skills, but furious in the marketplace. 48 Each of the five vice presidents rose through the ranks, and each had a twenty-five to thirty years experience with Boeing. All were men.49 During the 777 design phase, the five VPs met regularly every Tuesday morning in a small conference room at Boeings headquarters in Seattle in what was called the Muffin Meeting. There were no agendas drafted, no minutes drawn, no overhead projectors used, and no votes taken. The homemade muffins served during the meeting symbolized the informal tone of the forum. Few people outside the circle of five had ever attended these weekly sessions. Acting as an informal chair, Condit led a freewheeling discussion of the 777 project, asking each VP to say anything he had on his mind.50 The weekly session reflected Boeings sweeping new approach to
management. Traditionally, Boeing had been a highly structured company governed by engineers. Its culture was secretive, formal, and stiff. Managers seldom interacted, sharing was rare, divisions kept to themselves, and engineers competed with each other. Under the 777 program, Boeing made serious efforts to abandon its secretive management style. Condit firmly believed that open communication among top executives, middle managers, and assembly line workers was indispensable for improving morale and raising productivity. He urged employees to talk to each other and share information, and he used a variety of management tools to do so: information sheets, orientation sessions, question and answer sessions, leadership meetings, regular workers as well as middle managers, Condit introduced a threeway performance review procedure whereby managers were evaluated by their supervisors, their peers, and their subordinates.51 Most important, Condit made teamwork the hallmark of the 777 project. Source:
Question: What was the main area that Condit believed in and provide evidence from the case study to support this