Question

Recap the book, "The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company", by Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham, ISBN: 978-0-385-34833-1. and provide your reflection on this book

Answer 1

Not many employees of the public and private sector have any understanding of how their job is related to the failure or success of a company. The book by Jack Stack "The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company" explores this deficit and comes up with ways through which all employees can better understand their position and can contribute in ways through which business performance is improved.

The book may be based on the experiences of its author Jack Stack, who in the year 1983 purchased a company by the name Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation (SRC), which was near to its bankruptcy at that time. The new owners of the business had to do lots of learning to build a business that was set to fail.

Jack Stack comes up with a new approach to deal with business, which is to treat it like a game. In his view, a business resembles a game and a competition having its own sets of strategies, rules, winners, losers, courses, skills, and even an element of luck. Jack Stack along with other owners of the SRC demystified the SRC business and made employees more learned about its structure, organization, finances, and other business aspects (including accounting and reading of financial statements). By the time the book was published in the year 1992, the revenues of the company grew to $ 83 million from $ 16 million in the year 1983. Another approach was to improve on employee stake and participation, and the employee stock ownership plan (which helped the employees by their houses) was a step in the same direction. As of now, SRC has diversified into many businesses including warehousing, distribution, failure analysis, and logistics. Its share prices were around $348 in the year 2013 from $ 0.10 in the year 1983, and its revenues had also increased exponentially.

Jack Stack also details the open-book management principles, and the tools that were applied for transforming SRC. These are described in brief below.

Teaching employees more about money: Employees often do not know how their work and job relate to cash flows and profits, and hence it is important for them to know how the organization actually makes money.

Appropriate management philosophies: Management philosophies should focus on improving performance, which is improved through appealing to the highest level of employee thoughtfulness. The entire workforce should be engaged in addressing the business challenges, and employees should have an understanding of the finances to know how the business actually survives and prospers. For instance, they should know how financial statements can be broken down into simple numbers and can be used to gain appropriate insights.

Getting into the gameplay mode: The credibility of the management, as well as a desire to win, is important for playing the great game of books.

Help employees know the big picture: When employees are solely concerned about their jobs, they fail to see the big picture and are affected by conflicts and silos. Hence how the smaller task structures contribute to the big picture should be explained to the employees. The book emphasizes that there should be a strong financial model developed for a company. These elements and numbers should not only be visible to the employees but also owned by them. There should be financial transparency so that all the employees, which are also the shareholders of the firm have convenient and easy access to the different financial aspects of the organization, including the accounts and accountancy books.

Setting standards: Setting standards may improve performance as targets are measurable. Organizations should also identify the critical numbers that make the biggest impact on the outcomes and performance.

Rewards and bonuses: Rewards and bonuses are good motivation for employees and also provide a signal on the priorities of a company.

Game plant development: A business annual game plan will reflect on the numbers or quantifiable outcomes that a company wishes to achieve in a year, and the monthly milestones can also be set.

Establishing the cycles, rhythm, and momentum: SRC uses the "Great Huddles" or weekly staff meetings to ensure that the people and employees remain motivated and see the outcomes and fruits of the labor they accomplish. Firms should use huddles for keeping employees updated and for driving actions.

Employee ownership: employees should be provided a stake in the organization, which will have a great positive impact on the long-term sustainability and success of a company. Educated and informed owners contribute their best to accomplish common objectives. Even when the owners are not ready to provide a stock option to their employees, they can still use the great game of books approach for instilling a business mindset in the employees

There are also other details and discussions in the book. For instance, the book discusses how businesses are quite important for economies and help people know how they can take initiatives, understand business activities, be self-reliant, and match the standards. Businesses may help in creating more businesses, and create greater wealth and jobs in society.