HEC - Korn Ferry Presentation

2 0 0 2 D e c i s i o n D y n a m i c s L L C

Decision Dynamics © Decision Dynamics LLC

The Critical Role of Behaviorin Management Success

Predicting Success in Management Careers

Presentation to the HEC School of Management



An Important Observation

“Research clearly shows that the vast majority of executives who fail in their job do so because of behavioral or cultural issues, not because of lack of skill or experience.

It therefore seems odd that most of the emphasis in business education, succession planning and hiring still focuses almost exclusively on skills and experience.”Warren Bennis



Drivers of Management Success

X =

BehaviorsLeadership StylesThinking StylesEmotions

Knowledge Education Skills Experience

Values Motives Expectations

Situation

Aptitudes Motivation Success

StrategyOrganizationCulture/Value SystemJob Requirements



What Styles Are and

What Styles Aren’t

It’s all about Situational Fit – no absolute “goods” or “bads”

• Different from traditional IQ and Aptitude assessments

• Habits of thinking and deciding

Unrelated to general intelligence Formed through experience

• Experience with other people - culture• Direct experience with information and decisions

Styles can and do change Effectiveness depends on the situation



Key Dimensions of Decision Styles

Information Use• Amount of information actually used in the process of

making decisions and solving problems

Solution Focus• Zeroing-in on a limited number of clear-cut solutions or

courses of action vs. identifying multiple solutions and/or alternate courses of action



Korn/Ferry Behavioral Assessment Model

data

MULTI FOCUSEDSTYLE

UNI FOCUSEDSTYLE

data

data

MULTI FOCUSEDSTYLE

UNI FOCUSEDSTYLE

UNI FOCUSEDSTYLE

data

Dimension II: Solution Focus

Dimension I: Information Use

Level ofUnderstanding

Amount of information Used

High

High

Low

Low

Maximizer

Satisficer

Level ofUnderstanding

Amount of information Used

High

High

Low

Low

Maximizer

Satisficer



Two Faces of StylesLeadership (Interpersonal) Style and Thinking (Task

Performance) Style

Leadership Styles• Styles used when people are watching themselves -

attempting to behave as they believe they should behave

Thinking Styles• Styles used when people are not watching

themselves and not thinking about how they should behave -- when they are focusing on a task or situation or are absorbed in a problem



KFI Decision Style Assessment Information Use

Thinking

Lead

ers

hip

QuickSteady

ProductiveEfficient

TerseClearFocusedDirective

Thinking

Lead

ers

hip

Quality-orientedData-driven

Thorough

LogicalSeriousDominant

Thinking

Lead

ers

hip

ExploratoryAnalyticCreative

Patient

InquisitiveListeningTeam-oriented

Thinking

Lead

ers

hip

IntuitiveFast

ChangeableAdaptive

OpenInformalOutgoingHumorous

Social/Flexible Participative/Creative

Task/Action-FocusedIntellectual/ComplexLow/Mod High

Mu

lti-

Focu

sed

Un

i-Focu

sed

Focu

s



Emotional Competency Definitions

Ambiguity Tolerance: The capacity to deal with uncertainty and unanticipated change

Composure: The capacity to remain cool in the face of adversity or frustration

Confidence: The willingness to take on challenges and risk

Empathy: The ability to objectively perceive other’s strengths and weaknesses

Energy: The capacity to handle demanding tasks without tiring or losing motivation

Humility: The capacity to see or do things in different ways without imposing one’s preferred way



Decision Styles: Getting Down to theROOTS of Behavioral Competencies

Action Style

Participative Style

Complex Style

MeetingCommitments

OrganizingEvents

Respondingto Others

Adaptingto Change

Productivity

Flexible/ Social Style

Delegating

BehavioralCompetencies

DecisionStyleRoots

Creativity

InitiatingRelationships

Listening

Cooperating

Resolving Conflicts

Generating Ideas

ArticulatingIdeas

CommunicatingExpectations

RecognizingTrendsPlanni

ng



Validation Research

We randomly selected 110,000 managers/executives from our assessment database of over 500,000 individuals

We divided sample into five management levels

Supervisor Director Executive – “C” Level

Manager Vice President

We split each level into the most and least successful and compared the decision styles of both groups

Key findings

• Behavioral competency scores were markedly different between the two groups and between management levels

• Successful executives have markedly different leadership and thinking styles

• Results offer insights that challenge traditional competency theory – namely, required behavioral competencies differ materially by level and role



Leadership Styles by Management Level

Statistical probability that style differences between levels could have occurred by chance (ANOVA results): Decisive Operating Style = 0.00% Flexible Operating Style = 0.00% Hierarchic Operating Style = 0.00% Integrative Operating Style = 0.00%

Most Successful Managers and Executives

-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

Supervisor Manager Director Vice President Executive

Ave

rage

d S

tand

ardi

zed

Ass

essm

ent

Sco

res

Task Social Intellectual Participative

(N = 21,355)



Thinking Styles by Management Level

Statistical probability that style differences between levels could have occurred by chance (ANOVA results):

Decisive Operating Style = doesn’t differ significantly between levels Flexible Operating Style = 0.0% Hierarchic Operating Style = 1.3% Integrative Operating Style = 3.4%

Most Successful Managers and Executives

-0.6

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

Supervisor Manager Director Vice President Executive

Avera

ged

Sta

nd

ard

ized

Ass

ess

ment

Sco

res

Action Flexible Complex Creative

(N = 21,355)



Leadership Role Styles by Mgmt LevelContrasts: Top 20% vs. Total Sample vs. Bottom 20%

Top 20%

- 2.00

- 1.50

- 1.00

- 0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

Supervisor (n =1,258)

Manager (n = 7,358) Director (n = 6,061) Vice President (n =4,622)

Sr. Executive (n =4,486)

DECISIVE FLEXIBLE HIERARCH INTEGRAT

Average

- 2.00

- 1.50

- 1.00

- 0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

n = 6,275(Supervisor)

n = 36,680 (Manager) n = 30,102 (Director) n = 23,057 (VicePresident)

n = 22,475 (Sr.Executive)


Bottom 20%

- 2.00

- 1.50

- 1.00

- 0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00







Leadership Role Styles by Mgmt LevelContrasts: Top 20% vs. Total Sample vs. Bottom 20%

Top 20%

- 0.60

- 0.40

- 0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80





Average

- 0.60

- 0.40

- 0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60




DECISIVE FLEXIBLE HIERARCH INTEGRATBottom 20%

- 0.80

- 0.60

- 0.40

- 0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00







A Multi-Cultural Perspective – Leadership Styles

-0.40

-0.30

-0.20

-0.10

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

Entry Middle Senior

Management Level

Task (Decisive) Social (Flexible Intellectual (Hierarchic) Participative (Integrative)

North America – Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level

Latin America – Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level

-0.30

-0.20

-0.10

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

Entry Middle Senior

Management Level


-0.40

-0.30

-0.20

-0.10

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

Entry Middle Senior

Management Level


Australia,New Zealand – Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level

-0.25

-0.20

-0.15

-0.10

-0.05

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

Entry Middle Senior

Management Level


UK, Northern & Western Europe - Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level



A Multicultural Perspective – Thinking Styles

North America – Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level

-0.10

-0.05

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

Entry Middle Senior

Management Level

Action-Focus (Decisive) Flexible Complex (Hierarchic) Creative (Integrative)

Latin America – Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level

-0.20

-0.15

-0.10

-0.05

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

Entry Middle Senior

Management Level


Australia,New Zealand – Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level

-0.15

-0.10

-0.05

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

Entry Middle Senior

Management Level


UK, Northern & Western Europe - Leadership Styles by Mgmt Level

-0.10

-0.08

-0.05

-0.03

0.00

0.03

0.05

0.08

0.10

Entry Middle Senior

Management Levell




Matching Values to Organizational Culture

The Basis of Cultural Fit



Four Different Career Patterns and their Motives

Learning Lateral movement

thru different but related occupations

Competitive Fast progression up

the ladder

Expert Life-long focus on

one specialty

Entrepreneurial Frequent moves

between very different kinds of work

Power & Influence Achievement Many other motives

Expertise Stability & Security

Personal Growth Creativity

Novelty Independence People Involvement



Maintain shareIncrease quality

Flat & functionalBroad span of

control

AccuracyReliabilityTechnical expertise

Fringe benefitsTech trainingRecognition

awardsBudget authority

Immediate targets of

opportunity

"Ad Hocracy"Temporary

teams

SpeedAdaptabilityRecognizing opportunities

Cash bonusesSpecial

assignmentsJob rotation

Independence

Strategy

Structure

ValuedPerformance

Factors

Rewards

GrowthMarket share

Tall pyramidNarrow span of

control

Cost reductionLeadership skillsLogistics mgmt

skills

PromotionMgmt

incentivesMgmt training

Diversificationbased on core

technology

Matrix structureOpen systems

High involvement

CreativitySkill diversityTeam skills

Lateral assignmentsJob rotationEducation

Creative latitude

Competitive Expert Learning Entrepreneur

Career Concepts & Corporate Cultures



Leadership Style ComparisonSales and Marketing Executive

2.35

5.82

3.39

5.03

3.46

4.18

3.87

3.59

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Task Focused Social Intellectual Participative

Sr. Marketing Executive

Sr. Sales Executive



Thinking Style ComparisonSales and Marketing Executive

2.87

3.91

5.44

5.75

4.06

2.04

5.24

4.18

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Action Flexible Complex Creative


Sr. Sales Executive



Emotional Profile ComparisonSales and Marketing Executive

5.52

4.41

5.565.46

4.344.49

4.40

4.13

4.57

4.17

3.84

4.43

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

AmbiguityTolerance

Composure Empathy Mental Stamina Humilty Confidence


Sr. Sales Executive

Documents

HEC - Korn Ferry Presentation