Boiled Frog Phenomenon

Running head: Boiled Frog Phenomenon 1

Boiled Frog Phenomenon

Sylvonia Banks

MGT680 –Strategic Management

Dr. Friesen

June 6, 2012

Describe the “Boiled Frog” Phenomenon. The “boiled frog” phenomenon refers to killing a frog, this is done by throwing the frog in a pot of boiling water, the frog survival instincts are triggered, and immediately jump out of the pot to safety. If you put the frog into a pot of cold water that is heating slowly to a boil the frog becomes acclimated to the water temperature, and not sensing the danger will fall to asleep and eventually dies as the water temperature increases because he is lulled into a false sense of security (Renesch, 1999). Just when you see someone taking a large amount of money from your business you will immediately fire that person in order to keep the business afloat and competitive, however if a an employee is taking a dollar a day from the business the manager may never recognize that employee stealing. This simply means that companies needs to monitor the employee’s activities before it gets out hand.

How does it apply to business, and strategic management? This relates to companies who think they are doing an outstanding job and overlooks the small issues because they do not expect it cause the company any harm. An example of this is Worldcom because the CEO as well as other employees taking money from the company. This thievery was not noticed at first but greed made allowed the individuals to get caught. No one was expecting this to happen this is the same as putting the frog in tepid water and allowing it to die slowly. The CEO and employees became comfortable and refrained them from doing what it took protect the business from threats and risk. They did not identify the competitors threat or the threats within the organization they were only focuses on stealing the money (Majumdar, 2009)

Another example...