Practicing OB
The Intrusive Manager-
A large product—distribution company is having a problem
during its group meetings: One department manager is
constantly disrupting the meetings while trying to get his
ideas across. He has so consistently intimidated his
coworkers that they are reluctant to speak up. As a result of
Caseinp’oint;
I Coca—Cola: Deciding on the Look
What do Yao Ming, LeBron James, and Earl R. Dean
have in common? The first two are professional basket-
ball stars, of course, but who’s Earl R. Dean? He happens
to be the person who designed Coca~Cola’s familiar
“contour bottle,” the shapely container with a middle
diameter that’s larger than its base. That was back in
1915. How do Yao and LeBron fit in, you ask? They too
designed Coca-Cola bottles, but more recently, in 2008
to be exact. Now, before you start thinking that only
celebrities such as Yao, LeBron, and the now—departed
Earl get to do such cool things, you too could have
designed your own bottle. In fact, in conjunction with
the Olympic Games in Beijing and Vancouver, tens of
thousands of people from around the world visited Coca-
Cola’s Web site, where, with the aid of a drawing appli-
cation, they put stunningly beautiful finishing touches on
classic Coke bottles.
Why did Coke bother with this? The ansWer is simple:
Coca-Cola has been in the process of deciding on a new
bottle design and they stand to get great ideas from the
submissions. And because visitors to the site are asked to
his intrusiveness, people’s good ideas are not coming
across.
1. ExPlain what steps might be taken to avoid this problem.
2. What is your rationale for this advice?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the tactic
you identified?
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