Reading Response Week 2
I wanted to discuss the articles about Mr. Patterson’s email that was sent to the employees of Cerner Corporation. I think that many people would look at an event like this in a negative way, but some of the aspects of it are actually positive. However, I think that we would all agree that his methods were unconventional in this email. I think that he should not have addressed a situation like this via email but should have called a meeting instead. Nevertheless, this is not what Mr. Patterson did. So, despite his unconventional methods in this situation, I do not feel that his actions were wrong. His intentions were in the right place, the well-being of the company. I think any CEO would have had the same concern if he believed that his employees were not performing at a respectable level. Even though, the company lost 22% of its stock value, it rebounded in the near future (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CERN&t=my&l=off&z=l&q=l&c=). As mentioned in one of the articles, the reason for the decline is not necessarily because of the email anyways. It stated that "some analysts say that other factors could have contributed to the drop in the stock price. The overall market was shaky. There were investors who wanted to sell the stock short, betting that it was ready for a fall. One analyst was especially bearish about the company. But even Mr. Patterson acknowledged that his memo "added noise" to what was already out there." In fact, the impact on the company may have been even worse if Mr. Patterson never would have sent the email. If employees were allowed to maintain their sub par unopposed, the company could have found itself in a much deeper hole.
I also wanted to take the time to analyze Mr. Patterson’s email using a couple of the “Ten Habits of Successful Emailers” on page 606 of the Thomson Handbook. Some of the steps do not apply, such as #1, which states to reply promptly. Although, I’m sure that his email did receive plenty of response. I believe one article stated around 300. Anyways, he definitely did not follow #2, saying to be more formal than you think you need to be. #6 was one of the tips that he definitely missed. It says to avoid using all capital letters so that you do not make your readers think you are shouting. Now, this may have been the idea behind his email, because he was trying to send a message but there are more formal ways he should have taken to go about this.
Comments
Patterson Moving On
I enjoyed reading your post about the Boss's Angry E-mail. It was nice to see you take it from another point of view, the CEO's. I completely agree that it would be frustrating to see employees not even working 40 hour weeks. However, he did go about “lighting a fire” the wrong way.
I also like your point that the company could have been worse off if nothing was done at all. We don't know how much employee morale had to do with the drop in stock because it is something that can't be measured.
In this article they state that Mr. Patterson had the ability to laugh at himself afterwards.
“At a highly attended annual Cerner conference, Patterson was the scheduled keynote speaker. Before he addressed the audience, comedian Mark Russell told lots of jokes about Patterson’s e-mail. The audience roared. Cerner employees made references to the company store selling cardboard cars to put in the parking lot in an effort to fool their CEO. Right before Patterson addressed the audience, a pizza man arrived and delivered five pizzas, poking fun at Patterson’s pizza line in the original e-mail. None of this corporate hijinks could have happened without Patterson’s O.K.”
I think this shows that Patterson realizes he lost his temper and fixed it with laughter. I think real leaders have the ability to accept they made a mistake and move on.
Laura Lewandowski
New Way
I think this is a new way to look at this situation. I had only looked at the negative aspect of what was done and didn’t think there could have been other factors in the drop of the stock. Even though this company did rebound in the near future I do not think emails like Mr. Patterson’s should be used in the future. I think that this problem could have easily been solved with a group meeting and discussion. And just because there is noise already out there doesn’t mean that its alright to continue in that sort of fashion.
Interesting Perspective
I really like the perspective on this you develop here. While bad pr like this is never desirable, I like the additional research you did about the stocks bouncing back (and as you point out, there is usually a complex web of forces surrounding stock declines). You also make a good point that this is a situation that needs to be addressed, so the intention of the boss is not automatically suspect. But it also points out that the same intentions can be expressed many ways, and that those different expressions are not just different packaging for the same idea. Expression shapes and frames the message conveyed. The Frank Luntz reading next week delves more into this issue. This is also a good reminder to treat any email you send like it will end up in the newspaper. Resolving this situation may be done best in a meeting, where the discussion is not as readily documented or reproducible.