Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Ray Anderson of Interface

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/earth/22ander.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

I will again be using an example from one of my other classes as I find them highly interesting. Ray Anderson founded Interface, a module carpet company (using smaller squares of carpet instead of large rolls), in 1973 and has since turned it into a $1,000,000,000+ company. However at a certain point in his career, 1995 to be more specific, his company started to run into questions from consumers about what his company was doing for the environment. He didn't have answers at that point and it caused a big problem. Eventually he wound up reading a book title the Ecology of Commerce and after doing so, felt called to make a change.

Interface now has a company goal to reach a level of zero waste by 2020 but they are well ahead of the pace in reaching that goal. Anderson had a tough decision to make, and he chose the hard road but the one that was more worthwhile. Anderson now spends much of his time helping other companies change their practices and become sustainable. He exercises both an expert power, gained through his experience, and demonstrates the use of path goal theory with his followers (other companies wishing to go green). They have a set goal (being sustainable) and he is able to help them through consulting (providing support, removing obstacles and clarifying the path) to reach that goal. He has decided to help others through a position he was once in himself and it's helping to make the world a better place.

What other kinds of leadership might Anderson be using in this example that I might have missed? I feel that several are usually applicable, but that it can be easy to miss others once you have chosen one or two.

(Kellen Hill)

4 comments:

  1. Dr. Sheep's feedback for your team:

    In general, you are off to a reasonably good start on your blog—better than some. However, although you have found some interesting articles and posts from other more widely read blogs from magazine authors, your own blog needs to rise to the level of analysis, as we discussed in class.

    Some of the main improvements that your posts need are greater specificity and accuracy of course concept application. For example (and this is just one example of several), one of your posts reads: “Following up with Northouse's theory, Jackson is a great coach to the people around him. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect" fits excellently in this situation.” This statement is both inaccurate and non-specific. First, Northouse does not have a theory; he is the author of the textbook. I am assuming that, since you use the term “coach,” you may be drawing that from Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory. However, there is no mention of this theory, or of what the “coaching” style within this theory would mean, or what would predict that it would be an effective style (follower development in terms of commitment and competence). In general, the “cafeteria” approach seems to be used in many of your posts. In other words, you have only mentioned isolated words that may come from somewhere in the book, but you have not shown or applied an accurate understanding of a concept or a theory to what you have posted.

    As another example, one of your posts mentions a couple of leader behaviors from path-goal theory applied to President Obama, but these behaviors are not linked to anything in path-goal theory that would actually predict which ones would be effective (based on subordinate characteristics and task characteristics that are actually used in the theory itself). Some of the other posts make a better attempt at applying the theory more accurately, but I would recommend overall that your team work harder on making your concept and theory applications a bit more carefully and accurately. That will improve the plausibility and credibility of your conclusions (and even your opinions) significantly.

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