"View it in this light. There will always be a skeptic in the group (probably a financial control person) who doesn't understand the, ah, necessity of the consultant's function. And this person inevitably will say, 'Faust, with the money you put into those charts, I bet we could have declared a stockholders' dividend. What's all this going to cost, anyway?' Well, that is the type of question one likes to avoid, as it only distracts from the matter at hand. So, one's charts should not give the appearance of, ah, professional preparation. Doing the charts up this way, by myself, cost The Company a bit more than it would have cost to send them to the graphics department." "Okay, I think I can understand that," Stanley allowed, "but don't you think you've overdone it? I mean, look, if you can correctly spell 'mnemonic,' I know you can spell 'personnel' and 'permanent."" "Of course I can . . . but he can't." "Can't what?" "Can't spell 'mnemonic.' That's why one has to choose words like 'personnel'; he'll spot that one right away." " He ... ? " "Why Franklyn, of course. He always feels honor-bound to put in his two cents, to find something wrong. It doesn't matter to him what it is, as long as he can take you to task on something. The first chance that comes up, he'll say, Faust, they ought to send you doctors back to grade school for reeducation. Personnel has two n's, not two I's.' I will be slightly embarrassed, of course, but now he'll quiet down. Otherwise, he would continually interrupt the presentation." "Contingency management," thought Stanley. Faust continued with the presentation. After a few more charts, Stanley said, "Could I interrupt?" "Certainly," said Dr. Faust. "Do you find something amiss?" "Well, I don't know," said Stanley, "but it seems to me that this part of the program you just explained doesn't have any real application here. There is no value at all to The Company that I can see. It looks suspiciously academic." "Interesting that you should see it in that light," said Dr. Faust. "Is there anyone in particular who you think might see it similarly?" "Why, Kerry Drake, of course," said Stanley. "You know how he feels about . . ." As Stanley says these words, he has already anticipated Faust's next line. "Precisely! That will take care of Kerry. Oh, I won't give this up easily, of course. But I'll agree reluctantly to let it go, and Kerry will feel that he has cut his share of 'fat' out of the program." Two more charts and Faust is through with his presentation. He flips up the final page, and Stanley is surprised to find a new title page beneath it: SUBORDINATE READINESS PROGRAM-PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL: FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS. "What's that?" asked Stanley. "Oh, pay no attention to that," said Dr. Faust. "I just did it up in advance. I won't use it for several months." "But how can you have the findings and the conclusions already?" "No problem," explained Dr. Faust. "I already know what I have to find." He noticed the suspicious look Stanley was giving him. "Oh, have no fear, the study will be done. But with subordinate readiness, as with nearly all change initiatives, ultimately it is a matter of judgment: How 'ready' is 'ready"? I can guarantee you that after we finish interviewing all our plant managers and executives, plus our top professional personnel, we'll find that they aren't ready. We will thus come up with the findings and conclusions here in the charts." "You're sure this isn't some kind of cheating?" asked Stanley.Gliapiero Just in Case With the CATCH-UP program (Company Approach to Technical Change and Update) getting into full swing, just about everyone on The Company's staff was preparing presentations to describe the benefits gained from the project they were proposing. Project proposals were Dr. Faust's bread and butter, and he did not take them lightly. This was one area in which he had turned art into science, and one of the axioms of his science was something he termed "contingency management." That is, he left nothing to chance, practicing endless dry runs of his presentations to ensure that all problems (or contingencies) had been anticipated and that the proper responses had been concocted just in case. Thus it was that one day Dr. Faust had invited Stanley to "react" to the presentation of his proposal for the Subordinate Readiness Program for Professional Personnel. "You understand," he explained, "that I want you to be as critical and petty as possible, to, ah, simulate the type of reaction we can expect from the management review committee." "Right," said Stanley. "Fire away." Now you might have thought that Dr. Faust would employ the latest multimedia-driven technology for his presentations. But such was not the case. Faust disdained such things for intimate gatherings like that of the corporate management committee. The technology of the easel chart had the singular virtue of placing himself as the primary focus of attention. Furthermore, surreptitious notes lightly penciled in the margins and invisible to the audience provided the aura of an overwhelming grasp of the ancillary facts of the situation. Better still, these were the fallout from many previous dry runs and thus anticipated likely questions from the group. And there were other reasons, too. Stanley watched as the cover sheet was removed from the presentation easel, much as a painting by a leading artist might be unveiled for the first time. "But what the... ?" Given the importance Faust placed on "the presentation," and the amount of time he had spent on this particular one, Stanley was completely taken by surprise. There, boldly sitting on the easel, was a crude, hand-lettered chart entitled: SUBORDINATE READINESS PROGRAM-PROFESSIONAL PERSONELL. Obviously, Dr. Faust had done it all by himself. And it hadn't been just dashed off, either, but elaborately, painstakingly constructed. It bordered on illegibility. It was crimped up against the right-hand margin as though Faust had run out of space and had to compress the second half to get it all on the board, and there were several blatantly misspelled words such as "personell," "permanant," and others. But not, Stanley noticed, "mnemonic." Words like that were invariably spelled correctly. "Um, Dr. Faust, when you have your charts put in final shape by the graphics department, make sure to remind them to correct the spelling of 'personnel' and 'permanent," Stanley noted diplomatically. "These charts are in final shape unless of course, you come up with something new," Faust said decisively. "But they don't look very, ah, professional," suggested Stanley. "Won't they make a poor impression?" "Precisely!" Dr. Faust declared. "A poor impression as draftsmanship . . . but a proper one as charts." "Huh?" 20"The naive observer might come to such a conclusion," admitted Faust, "but you must understand that in all my experience I have yet to encounter a group of professional people who were at an acceptable level of 'readiness' for change. No large organization rates highly with respect to 'subordinate readiness,' and the higher in the corporate ranks one goes, the truer that is. "But the crucial thing for you to understand is that Marsh wants this program badly. I wouldn't be here if he did not." Again, Stanley was eyeing him suspiciously, so Faust went on. "Let me tell you about a distinguished colleague of mine. He was once making a presentation to Marsh and his aides. It happened that Marsh believed in that particular product, and my colleague was expressing doubts. Marsh finally said, "I can't accept that!' 'But,' my colleague said, those are the facts.' At which point Marsh said simply, "Well, I don't like those facts. Get me some new facts." "And, you know, Marsh turned out to be right. He had understood the market potential of that product and wanted it so badly that he made it go, in spite of my colleague's facts. After all, there are plenty of facts around, and one is free to select from them at will." "So, you should see that my role as consultant here is to help Marsh get done what he wants to get done. He well knows that I'm sympathetic to The Company's need for a Professional Subordinate Readiness Program. This way, he knows that he'll have my report to back him up . . . just in case. Discussion Questions 1. How would Ben and Kerry react if they were aware of Faust's calculated efforts to manage/manipulate their behavior? 2. How do you assess the ethical validity of Faust's approach? 3. Is Faust's strategy of giving management what it wants to hear viable in the long run? 4. Consider the paragraph where Marsh tells a consultant to "get me some new facts." Have you observed similar behavior from a manager or possibly a spouse or parent? Did the person turn out to be correct in spite of your "facts?" 5. Have you engaged in calculated impression management (of your work product) and, if so, with what results