Cisco System Case Study

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Cisco’s changes to its control and evaluation happen while the company was in there fourth phase of Greiner’s model, growth through coordination and monitoring to growth through collaboration which was introduce by CEO John Chambers. Phase four of Greiner’s model is characterized by the use of formal system to create coordination and top-level managers taking responsibility for decision making. At this phase formal planning are established and intensively reviewed and critical functions are centralized at the headquarters with senior staff. The red-tape crisis in this case was the dot.com crisis which forces Cisco’s CEO to change the company structure. This is where the company becomes too large and complex to be managed through formal programs. The change made by John Chamber took Cisco into phase five of Greiner’s model. To overcome the red-tape crisis in Cisco’s case it was the dot.com crisis the CEO developed a strong interpersonal collaboration approach. The collaboration phase is where management decision making is carried out through teams and skillful confrontation. Social control and self-discipline replace formal control. This transition was difficult for top management at Cisco. This phase is built on flexibility and behavioral management where the company focuses on solving problems quickly through team action, teams are combined across functions and real-time information systems are integrated into daily decision making process.

Cisco’s approach of collaboration initial was a success with the five pillars developed by the company CEO but the company current situation is not what they were hoping to achieve. The current challenges facing Cisco is that the company share price fell from $70 to $27 which is even an improvement from $17 in 2013. The company is unable to cope with innovation in the technology market. Weak operational control and slow in making decision with was not a plan from the collaboration created by Chamber. Organizational work culture should evolve as per external factors but Cisco market position affects the work culture to some extent.

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References:

Hansen, M (2010). How John Chambers learned to collaborate at Cisco, retrieved March 27, 2016 from https://hbr.org/2010/03/ciscos-john-chambers-on-how-to

Greiner, L (1998). Evolution and revolution as organizations grow, retrieved March 27, 2016 from https://hbr.org/1998/05/evolution-and-revolution-as-organizations-grow

Siddharth, A (2013). Cisco’s organization culture, retrieved March 27, 2016 from

http://www.slideshare.net/amrithasiddharth/ciscos-organization-culture-15830432