Managers

Chapter One Introduction to Management and Organizations

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hundreds, and managers can rotate people from the frontlines, where they're responsible for responding to new security threats that crop up, into groups where they can help with new-product development. Others write internal research papers. Still others are assigned to develop new tools that will help their colleagues battle the next wave of threats. There's even an individual who tries to figure out what makes the virus writers tick—and the day never ends for these virus hunters. When Santa Monica's team finishes its day, colleagues in Tokyo take over. When the Japanese team finishes its day, it hands off to Dublin, which then hands back to Santa Monica for the new day. It's a frenetic, chaotic, challenging work environment that spans the entire globe. But Weafer said his goals are to "try to take the chaos out, to make the exciting boring," to have a predictable and well-defined process for dealing with the virus threats, and to spread work evenly to the company's facilities around the world. It's a managerial challenge that Weafer has embraced. Discussion Questions 1. Keeping professionals excited about work that ¡s routine and standardized andchaotic ¡s a major challenge for Vincent Weafer. How could he use technical, human, and conceptual skills to maintain an

environment that encourages innovation and professionalism among the virus hunters? 2. What management roles would Vincent be playing as he (a) had weekly security briefing conference calis with coworkers around the globe, (b) assessed the feasibility-of adding a new network security consulting sen/ice, and (c) kept employees focused on the company's commitments to customers? 3. Go to Symantec's Web site, www.symantec.com, and look up information about the company. What can you tell about its emphasis on customer service and innovation? In what ways does the organization support its employees ¡n servicing customers and in being...