Roger and Me, 1989
Writer and Newspaper columnist, Michael Moore, set out to make a low-budget
documentary on the organizational restructuring of General Motors (GM) during
the late 1980s. GM underwent numerous automobile plant closings in Michigan,
eliminating roughly 30,000 jobs during the making of this documentary. The
makers of this movie claim that at least eleven of these plants were reopened in
Mexico, allowing GM to drastically reduce employee wages due to Mexico’s lenient
labor standards and lack of union representation. More attempts to meet with the
chairman of GM, Roger Smith, in an attempt to persuade Smith to visit Flint, MI
and view the social and economic effect of GM’s organizational restructuring.
Moore’s initiative, leadership, and satirical work resulted in widespread media
attention to the plight of GM autoworkers that lost their jobs during GM’s
massive restructuring.
Lessons
Learned
Leadership and Organizational Change – Developing Political Support
Leading change during organizational restructuring requires the development
of political support. The leader must identify and influence key stakeholders to
ensure successful change1.
Michael Moore
* Assessing Change Agent Power – He acknowledged his sources of power, in his
own knowledge, personality, and others support [Competency Link –
Innovation (Change Management)].
*
Identification
of Key Stakeholders – He identified stakeholders, including unions, employees,
and citizens, who would be affected by this film and who could help support his
power and influence [Competency Link – Leading Others (Communication),
Innovation (Change Management)].
* Influencing Stakeholders – He used social networks to influence stakeholders [Competency
Link – Leading Others (Communication, Influence), Innovation – (Integrating
Perspectives)].
Important Lessons in Leadership
Van Eynde, Hoy, & Van Eynde (1997) discuss 8 lessons they, as leadership researchers and practitioners, have learned from 12 years of research about the development and actions of effective leaders, as well as the implications for organizational development.2 They also discuss exemplary leadership practices and constituent expectations. The following lessons are shown in the film:
Michael Moore
* Credibility is the Foundation of Leadership – People want to believe in
leaders, credibility is the first milestone of leadership. Honesty, Competency,
and Inspiration are three key characteristics that provide credibility.
Consistency of beliefs is also important; it implies dependability [Competency
Link – Leading Others (Influence), Innovation (Integrating Perspectives),
Social Responsibility (Civic Responsibility)].
* Leaders Can’t Do It Alone – Successful leaders recognize that they rely on the
members of the organization. Therefore they must empower and enable employees to
perform their best [Competency Link – Leading Others (Influence)].
* Leaders Keep Hope Alive – Success is not necessarily enough. Leaders must
recognize the advancement and success of their constituents. This recognition
will motivate employees [Competency Link – Leading Others (Influence)].
*
Leadership Is
Everyone’s Business – The authors argue that leadership is not genetic. Many
people can become leaders with the right initiative and skill sets. Therefore
it’s important that OD practitioners enable clients to broaden their concept of
leadership to include those people on the front lines as well as those in the
executive suites [Competency Link – Self Management (Work Attitudes)].
Discussion Questions
* What are some of the facets of Self-Management and
Innovation that Michael Moore probably used to prepare for this documentary?
* Compare and contrast the leadership styles of Michael Moore and Roger Smith.
* Michael Moore displays, what appear to be, much greater Social Responsibility
skills then Roger Smith, yet he is confronted with many people who seem to
identify with and follow Roger Smith. Why do you think this is?
* Had Roger Smith adequately employed the use of Social Responsibility, do you
think the organizational restructuring process would have taken place or turned
out differently? If so, explain in what ways outcomes would have been different.
* What do you think one of Michael Moore’s intentions was in making this film?
Identify stakeholders related to this intention, and describe what, if anything,
these stakeholders could have done to aid him in his intention (For example, if
my goal is to reduce taxes then one set of stakeholders would be citizens and I
might try to influence these stakeholders to elect leaders who promise to reduce
taxes).
Competencies Addressed
| Initiative | Effort | Persistence |
| Energy | Independence | Persuasion |
| Political Savvy | Communicating with People Outside the Organization | Inspiring |
| Critical Thinking | Idea Generation | Creative Problem Solving |
| Identification of Downstream Consequences | Challenging the Status Quo | Intelligent Risk Taking |
| Problem Identification | Information Gathering | Independent Thinking |
| Seeking Improvement | Openness to Ideas | Researching Others Opinions |
| Maintaining Research Orientation | Collaborating | Communicating with the Public |
| Caring for the Community | Civic Action | Adopting Beneficial Values for Society |
| Providing a Good Example | Social Action | Financial Ethics |
| Workplace Ethics | Honesty & Integrity | Courage of Convictions |
| Distributing Rewards Fairly | Responsibility for Others | Servant Leadership |
References
1 Cummings T. G. & Worley C. G. (2005). Organizational Development and
Change, 8th Edition (pp. 163-168). Mason, OH: Thompson South-Western.
2 Van Eynde, Hoy, & Van Eynde (1997) Leadership is everyone’s
business and other
lessons from over a dozen years of leadership research.