Albert Q. Fixx, the founder and CEO of your company, a small manufacturer of auto parts, has long been committed to the continuous improvement of the firm's management practices through the application of modern management techniques. It seems that Mr. Fixx spent the past weekend at a seminar conducted by a nationally respected consultant on management effectiveness. The principal speaker and the group sessions focused squarely on the use of employee participation as means of improving company-wide productivity and enhancing employees' commitment to their jobs.

So inspired was Mr. Fixx by his weekend experience that he went straight back to his office on Sunday night and composed and sent an email that all managers would find in their inboxes bright and early on Monday morning. After recapping his eye-opening weekend, he wrote the following:

I am convinced that participative management is the key to improving productivity at this company. Because you did not have the advantage of attending the same seminar that I did, I am attaching copies of all the handouts that were given to participants. They explain everything you need to know about practicing participative management, and I expect all of you to begin putting these principles into practice, starting this week. As of now, this company and I are both committed to participative management. Those of you who do not undertake the application of participative-management principles in your departments will find it very difficult to remain with a forward-looking company like A. Q. Fixx.

1. What are the chances that Mr. Fixx's email will spur effective participative management at the company? Are the odds better or worse than fifty/fifty?
2. How has each individual manager responded to the email? Is your response consistent with that of most group members, or do you find yourself taking a stance that's different, even if only slightly so? If you've taken a different stance, do you think it's worthwhile trying to convince the group to come around to your way of thinking? Why or why not?
3. What is the group's opinion of Mr. Fixx's approach to implementing participative management at the company? If you don't regard his approach as the best way of implementing participative practicesor his email as the best means of introducing the subjectdiscuss some ways in which he could have improved his approach.