Xerox Essay

1. What have John Clendenin’s objectives been at Xerox?

Clendenin, when he was is Harvard Business School has set an objective that he had to be successful enough to be a corporate officer in a Fortune 50 corporation. Later, he wanted to land up to cabinet-level position in the government. The moment he joined Xerox he had developed an objective to climb the ladder of organisation and reach up to the high level staff within few years of time. Clendenin’s hard work and dedication and also proposing successful projects , he was rewarded with 4 promotions. Clendenin started with productivity consultant within USMG logistics and distribution. Then he was promoted to administrative manager for parts and supply area. Later , with series of success he was promoted as the director of Multinational Distribution steering committee. According to his position his objectives were different. For instance, at MDC level his objective was to hire more staff and increase the budget and group size. Thus, his objective in the organisation was to reach at the top level position and maintain healthy relationship with all in the organisation.

2. What obstacles did he confront in accomplishing these objectives?

John was very hard working in nature. He

joined in Xerox as the productivity consultant. Because of his hard work and positivity that he possessed he was promoted. His success in various field led him to 4 promotions as a reward. These success also created difficulties to him with some managers in other department. It was difficult for Clendenin for performing his tasks in presence of such obstacles. Whenever he proposed some ideas of work, other’s would disapprove of it. Yet, Clendenin’s risk taking ability would go for the idea and eventually it would prove it to be right and successful. Nevertheless, he needed the advices of the managers so that he wouldn’t go off the deep end. As Clendenin worked in parts and supply area next, he faced problems regarding putting forward his ideas for different departments which had issues with spare parts. He was given little support. Clendenin would present ideas about saving money for the organisation , but others were reluctant to follow it. However then he discovered that interest of individual managers did not always align with those of the Xerox as a whole.
Moreover when he was again promoted and this time as the director of MDC , he faced difficulty in having a good staff. He was given less number of staff and no money. But later, with great working strategies he mined good amount of money and used it for hiring people for the department. Thus , with such obstacles in his way, he managed to accomplish the objectives he had.

3. What interpersonal and organizational strategies did he utilize to accomplish these objectives?

Clendenin when working in parts and supply area faced a lot of obstacles. He had got no support from anyone in the department. He developed a bonding with Tom Gunning and maintained close relationship with him as Tom formerly worked in parts and supply area and had experience. Clendenin grew deep friendship with him professionally and personally. With this he made a strong groundwork in the area of parts and supply. Later, at the position as the director of MDC he faced shortage of people and money. Therein his strategy was to complete projects far more economically than operation units so that money which would be saved would go for hiring people. Hence, by following strategy he grew his department and accomplished objectives. Later in the same department few people started bad mouthing about Clendenin. To remove this negativity in the department he started indulging the staff in extracurricular activities wherein he could built up a relationship with them. Thus mostly Clendenin used psychological skills in dealing such hindrances and accomplished his objectives.