addition to a theoretical redefinition of the time in the company, it becomes increasingly necessary in my opinion analysis of time perception at the individual level. This is the purpose of the study The Circles of Time to the work of Reva Berman Brown and Richard Herring. The strategy and strategic decisions regarding implicitly the temporal dimension. The strategy is the ultimate business plan on which work to influence the future. Noting the importance of time in strategic decision-making, should be aware that different perceptions of time will produce consequently different strategic decisions. The questions that underpin the study of the two authors concern the perception of time itself and its variation (or its stability) depending on the responsibility age and sex of individuals organization. The concept of time is considered so important for the perception of reality, which is often different cultures make it a cornerstone of its cognitive structure (Bluedorn and Denhardt 1988, p. 300) . In the multitude of perceptions, there a dialectic between the underlying ontology realist and the nominalist time. The first conceives of time as a external reality linear, homogeneous, divisible and measurable . For the second, however, the time is a psychological linked to memory, perception and expectation. This dialectic is highly visible in the conceptualization of time work of the Greeks as Chronos and Kairos. Kairos is the time of the seasons and stories with a beginning, a middle and an end , human time the intentions and objectives, Chronos is, however, chronological time and measurable succession (Jaques 1982, p. 14). This dichotomy was later reformulated by Gale (1967) with the definition of time time series A and series B. The first is that because at any given time all events may be past, present or future . An event from the future becomes the present when necessary, and then past. In time-division events can be categorized , one against the other, according to their order. This type of relationship clearly remains constant. You can say, with good approximation, that both halves are described relate to our perception of the experience rather than the category itself. Over the past two decades, many researchers have defined different types of time ranging from the biological and psychological to the sacred, profane, private or public. Among these are also the place astronomical time and the social. Silvia Gherardi and Antonio Strati (1988) consider the time as a corporate composed of a plurality of types. The time companies is contained in the dialectic between inside and outside , and is involved in planning company under the form of foreshadowing of possible future to which direct the actions. At the same time governs the sequence of different phases of the events and provides the metaphor which is the basis of life and development organization. The authors point out that despite the prevalence of Newtonian concept of linear time, we all almost certainly have experienced situations where time seemed run slower or faster. Several variables can influence the perception of subjective tempo.William Friedman (1990) cites six: 1. Tasks involving tend to reduce perception of the past. 2. The presence of numerous events tends to prolong the feeling of the time elapsed. 3. The age accelerates the perception of time. 4. An interval of time seems longer if you are asked to judge a priori the life. 5. The frustration, fear and waiting longer perception time. 6.Un time seems all the more long as there are many details that we can remember. The philosophical approach to the issue of time often favors the fundamental question around its existence and essence. Heidegger (1972) and current existentialist deny the reality of time if not as an experience umana.Withrow supports the experience of events within time, but denies the experience of time itself (Green 1975). So even Gibson (1975), which admits only the perception of events and movement. The sense of this is meant as a direct result of our trip over of life and subsequent attempts to define our position in relation to the environment in which we move . The now thus corresponds to a space here and together defines a single point of space and time. 's where the other comes from the familiarity with the linear conception of time and with the concepts of before and after, equivalent to the space and time. The authors highlight the possibility of different attitudes toward time. Like the space, there are people who prefer look forward to the future, while others tend to look back to the past. Still others prefer dwell on this. Researchers define the three types of individuals, listed below, depending relationship with time: orientation to the past, present and future. At the same time, individuals differ, according to the researchers, for grades of freedom, which they attribute to the categories time. Some are more social pressure to conform and likely to meet deadlines, others will act rather more freely, following the own inner rhythms.
My first car was a Fiat Uno, Fire engine. mistreated shamefully walked at full speed Milan-Genoa. Output for Acqui, then Roussillon and then shot up to Tiglieto to visit my girlfriend, now my wife, visiting his mother in the village. The car belonged to Lia, my nanny, who years earlier had looked after my mother and that a few years later, he looked after my children. One pushing the poor beyond belief, uphill and then downhill, both night and day, with rain, the sun, with the fog. He never stopped, except once when the engine simply refused to continue. Quick strike for a few hours to return immediately to march faithful. This is the Fiat. At the time my friends and companions were driving foreign cars, the German major. Yet, at the expense of the less famous of the manufacturer, one could not see my simple mechanics for much longer. I have this conviction: sometimes not always, the product is clotting and other intangible presences within the company. I'm not talking about ghosts, I refer instead to a certain culture at a particular climate, practices, structures, personality, charisma, that somehow end up sublimating in a community of purpose, which in turn leads to the creation of a product that is infused with these, which of these is actually the product (forgive the pun, I promise not to do even more and I shall refer to the Latin etymology of the word). Fiat Giorgio Garuzzo is in my opinion, a rare and precious phenomenon in the Italian context. Our top managers write not (or do you write less) of their fellow Anglo-Saxons. Yet I have enjoyed every single page of the autobiography of the former CEO of Fiat. Compared to the American classic about the visionary leadership, about being successful, which shall at well pleased because part of my culture, I found myself deeply in the words of Garuzzo. Perhaps the tension that characterizes human, or for the humility and sensitivity of the author. After reading, I'm used to classify each text in a personal library of mind whose shelves are sorted by category, a little like the modern commercial libraries. Mental Culture in short, a hypermarket in the East following which I signs along the lane. Sad, but functional. Fiat is one of the lucky few texts that I find it still difficult to place. words Garuzzo accompany me in the company. While array exquisitely descriptive and therefore deeply rooted in history and time, the story takes lightly, even during the reading, a tank size and share. Reflecting on interaction with human relationships and describing different business, the author gives us as if by magic the organic unity of the universe in its business be collegial, plural and often inconsistent. While focusing significantly on structural processes, Garuzzo paradoxically manages to communicate its human dimension, individual and group, which permeates the organization. I think of a parallel school to explain the phenomenon. You learn more by studying the History of Philosophy, or individual philosophy of a thinker? I incline to the latter. Deepening the knowledge of the particular can learn the general. Less emphatically, I appreciate the methodology of "case study". In our case, however, this definition would be tragically limiting. It is perhaps surprising cohesion between the human element within the company, historical, economic reality and reflection of the individual to make the book so unique. own experience I believe the preponderance of a posteriori rationalization of the facts with respect to corporate strategic planning from the outset. Very often I found myself in front of explanations-a rear-linear and seemingly consistent with the work of several managers about the previous processes of which I was personally troubled actor. Over time, the paradox has ceased to trouble me and now I am convinced that the human mind works in a similar way inside and outside the company. The phenomenon of rationalization for their actions then take place in both worlds in equal measure. The irrational component of our behavior plays a fundamental role within the organization. What I find particularly valuable in the words of Garuzzo is the ability to make, without undue emphasis, this dichotomy, declined in several areas in which it occurs, in the sphere of individual and group. doing so and also thanks to an ability to observe any difference in my opinion distinctly Italian, the author allows us to understand a reversal of the normal control logic of the corporation. Certainly in the light of rational models which provide the separation between ownership and management company, the reality of Fiat partially described here makes you smile. The lack of clarity "digital" with regard to the budget, the allocation of property to a single family, promiscuity policy, banking and industrial make those instruments unsuitable for theoretical analysis of the significance of which is discussed today in light of recent scandals involving the world of our business and North America. Yet the Fiat example may help to understand the inability to mount (and thus the obsolescence) of a model that includes as a mechanism of the relationship of government ownership / management, the balance of labor markets and finance. You can certainly argue that only if Fiat is an exception. Yet I can not help but bring to mind the phrase so subtle, yet significant Garuzzo that attaches to Gianni Agnelli: "[...] You feel really part of the company [...]". There will certainly be those who will take in defense of certain models the number of consecutive life sentences accumulated by the leaders of some American companies for operating in a dishonest (or have made out ..) and basically I could not agree with those who see the American capitalism a more "legally clean" of certain local or nearby. However, for dispositional prefer a more analytical and less corporate universe, so to speak-open politics. In this I find that the work in managerial Garuzzo Iveco and before that in Comau can serve as examples of those much sought after "best practices" that scientific research should be pursuing. In line with the thinking of the time I could not imagine work more coherent, strategic and pervasive. The author acting in an extremely complex, stands out even more by his ability to mediate between the size of structural, strategic and human in the recipe that I think is crucial to the success of the company. models of management and strategy most acclaimed dwell on notions of leadership, control of top management, positioning, learning, sustainable competitive advantage and business capabilities. In groped to create control structures for the management General public companies, whose ownership is not due to a natural "relationship" (allow me this term), which are often focused on creating economic mechanisms that lead to a convergence of interests between management and those of property. I think these are much more suitable types of properties "relationship", the interests are clear and relatively stable over time. The pace of public administration is dictated in the financial markets, which rotate around the unit time of the quarter and month. It is time well-known, predictable and repetitive, which influence the choices of a top management contingent upon action of their company stock. If we also associate the presence of a labor market is as dynamic, the result is an extremely difficult to formulate comprehensive strategies. It is not trivially the focus on the short term at the expense of long-term management by an improperly promoted, but a bias endogenous to the system. It is the pace of financial markets, fixed in their reporting, but in freedom volatile equity trading and derivatives to cause this regressive spiral. Garuzzo the structural changes planned and carried out in Fiat are almost utopian in the corporate world today. Not that this does not happen, but it is the intention to be completely different. Paradoxically, the strategy seems to be confined to the "danger zone", where it survives the process of framing that Kahaneman and Tversky have shown recently. It is as if they were suddenly connected risk and strategy. Where the perception of loss is greater, right there you can act strategically, giving less weight to short-term benefit of restructuring in the medium and long term. Instead of reviewing the system of incentives of top management in light of the new corporate structure, in my opinion would be more useful to rework the system of reporting companies. In essence, breaking the fixed rate and predictable quarter in favor of a control public random and unpredictable, the court would be forced to trial strategy and not sclerotic. Measure performance indicators at predetermined times, or analyze past trends and asset structures can certainly shed light on the state of health of a company, but to make these measurements in a dynamic and constant, at irregular intervals, in my view makes the process significantly encourages more efficient and automatically clear and strategic operations. Forces in short, the intentionality and planning to emerge and open to the opinions of stake holders. leave at the moment the issue of governance and management control to return to more "internal" company. In reviewing the story so typically "engineering" by Giorgio Garuzzo, I would take some personal reflections, still rough on the need for greater variation of different models for HR business function. If it is true that the culture of organizations tends to be more or less uniform, I should also consider the different subsystems of HR and business strategies according to different business functions. Indeed, I think it is possible to speak of different subcultures, depending on the business function in question, not to mention the various business units. Research and development, operations, manufacturing, finance, administration, control and other functions should be considered as part of the microcosms. Therefore, any activity within them, in my opinion should be designed specifically. Pooling, the staffing, training, activities regarding the transfer of training, planning, human resources management, thought everything would be perhaps more specific function according to touched. Clearly in this context becomes even more important than the alignment of duties and facilities dedicated to them. From these considerations would seem to take shape a seemingly unmanageable complexity. I am of the opposite. Just because the universe of firms becomes increasingly complex and turbulent, become necessary in my opinion less intuitive models for the understanding and the development of new realities. These, if properly applied, should enable the individual investor in this reality, the conquest of what I like to call the "areas of discretion," those areas within which decisions can significantly affect the progress of the team while respecting the prerogatives of all its members, without exception.
Let me conclude with a sentence of Garuzzo, perhaps trivial, but when I find myself fully:
"[...] my memory is even more pleasantly the large number of people, many in one way or another outstanding, of which I could get acquainted. The people of Fiat, including those working around Fiat, was a world of ability, professionalism, dedication, unique in the context of the country, and hard to find elsewhere, even around the world. "
Here, I believe that really this short epitaph contains all the elements that can characterize a large corporation:
"People" ultimately it is constructed by people. "extraordinary" because the company stands they have to get out of the ordinary, as individuals and as communities. "Doing the knowledge "a great manager has to do deep knowledge of its people. "The people of Fiat [...] around Fiat" is necessary to consider the population inside and around the holding. "Universe" you can not escape the definition of the universe as a collective enterprise. "Competence, [...] seriously [...] commitment" are the three features that have made the difference for Fiat. You need to ask what are those that make a difference for your business. "Context of the country [...] around the world" Today, these are the geo-political areas which should be measured. A personal thanks to Giorgio Garuzzo to have wanted to share his experience.
From the back seat of our car, my son Yair scrutinizes carefully as I fill up with fuel. I am standing right beside him, while I smile and send a worried look at the gas pump. The amount payable exceeds the eighty euro. It's a beautiful day in early spring, and even Milan seems to revive in the sun. Dressed in his blue overalls, the old gas station blends into the sky. He looks at us and after a little closer to offer their help. I make him see that a few years ago a full diesel cost less than fifty thousand dollars. He nods, his eyes smiling in his face wrinkled. His hands tremble and his eyes reddened betray a weariness that when I think back several centuries. The cash that I had prepared and are insufficient to pay by credit card are forced to enter the shop on the side. Delay, I'm not sure if you should leave alone Yair. The attendant sensed my fear and reassures me, will keep an eye on him, the child will not have to worry. I watch him again and I am impressed with the wet eyes. Omnipresent in the service station, in the shade to their generations, and always seems on the verge tears. For this reason we called Willow. I move away from the car and look at Willow happily discuss with Yair. I am ashamed a bit 'for the motion of distrust against the past, but I can not stop me from hoping that my son will not touch with hands calloused and dirty fuel. Through the window of the store keep your eyes on the scene while I offer a credit card to the clerk, who then is the son of forty Willow. Expect the POS confirm payment and look around for a little gift for my children. Failing to find anything, I turn to the son of Willow to help me. He apologizes, do not take more than the kind of merchandise. They only have products for the car now. In fact, some would even gadgets, but they are all reserved to the owners of loyalty cards. He smiles and gives me credit card receipt. I go back to the car and put in motion while addressing a look at Yair asking me what I did in the shop. I reply that I paid for a full tank of petrol. Yair presses and asks me again what I did. "I gave money to the lord in exchange for gasoline," I say. "What are the money, Dad?". ponder for a moment and outline a plausible answer: "Yair, we needed gasoline to go on a trip. The gentleman agreed to give us this in exchange for money. Then he will do the same with other people when he needs something. It will change the money with what they feel the need. And so on. " Yair replied: "Yes dad, like when we buy toys." I remain amazed at the sudden silence that emanates from the back seat. It is the first time that my son does not insist with more precise questions until the root causes of the phenomenon that interests him. It seems to answer your question. But I remain prey to a worm that torments me. I can not find solace in circular and systemic explanation that I gave to Yair and I understand what it has stopped the spiral of questions that usually involves us. I try to make order. Beyond all the classical theories on microeconomics and macroeconomics, as it provides today the price of the goods we buy? It corresponds to the value? (Real or perceived?). As you accumulate wealth? "Our society is violent. Violent and aggressive "I think to myself. few years ago I was in Yerushalaim. It was Saturday night and was walking with my wife from the parts of Ben Yehuda, among the stalls of the souk. The night is always fresh Yerushalaim, which Summer is a great advantage. We stopped to observe a pipette resting on the edge of one of the stalls. He looked like a miniature hookah. The merchant came up and extolling the praises of the object asked us if we wanted to only 40 Shekel. Having no intention of buying anything, I replied that we were only watching. He told us that it would sell for 30 Shekel. refused. Apparently annoyed, the man offered to buy us a pipette for 15 Shekel and another to our refusal in a solemn tone asked us to make ourselves the price. "What do you want to buy?". I replied that I was not really interested, I took my wife hand and began to walk away. The merchant came to us injured. "Take it, take it for free then!" He hissed in the ground as he threw the object. Deeply disturbed continued to wander among the stalls, while the man picked to do his little quiet hookah and puts on display together with its merchandise. Where then is the violence? It lies in the insistence of the negotiation? Invasion of privacy, in the solicitation aggressive? In the object thrown to the ground? For the moment all the answers seemed valid, if the episode when I think back now petrol, or at the counter of any supermarket, I am increasingly convinced of the contrary. The bitter confrontation with the traveler had very little violent. The relationship was turbulent, but the competition for profitability and value was open to the surface. Somehow the rules of the game were not all taxes in advance. We acted both with many degrees of freedom in our report built instantly. The supermarket is different. No one would dare to bargain with the poor cashier that alienated while watching us pass the infrared scanner products. Likewise with the old gas station does not I dare to go beyond the observation that the cost (not even the price, mind you, the cost!) of gasoline has risen. What rose? Who holds the power to decide that the cost should go up? Who has such power to decide that the cost is marked on the product label placed on display in the dim light and artificial neon? Undoubtedly the collective nature of the deal does violence to be found on the individual involved, alienated and silent in the face of a reality without real exchange relations. Triads are the most solid groups of couples. This is because the relationship survives the momentary cracks between two of the three individuals, by virtue of the connection remains between the internal dyads. In the single pair, if a crack is formed, the instability is likely to derail the relationship. The aggressive response -on, the fight is still a report request. I try to bring the other on my positions. Perhaps incorrectly, but the attempt itself is proof of my intention to the link. The shyness, silence and withdrawal from the dialogue are indicative of a de-investment in the report. They are much more violent and aggressive reaction of the absolute and often do not allow replies. If my gas station raises prices, if the local supermarket apparently becomes too expensive compared to discount stores around the corner, I'm going to buy elsewhere. There is no relationship other than that and always renewed on time of purchase. In short distance that separates us from home, while driving and Yair sings with his beautiful voice in the background, I am reminded of a Jewish joke. "Benjamin and Isaac have been friends since childhood. Brought together with crakow you are passionate about both the art and opened two galleries have become quite popular over time. Benjamin bought a Renoir of great value and admired for several weeks after it decides to sell. Do you think pain for the sale of an object so dear to him would be lower if it were to buy the friend Isaac. The negotiations lasted for a few days, but eventually Isaac agrees to buy the painting for a million dollars. Not a week goes by that Benjamin regretted the deal, asks Isaac to buy back the painting. Isaac niche, took only a few days to make sure that you fall in love with the painting, hung on display in the living room of the house. The deal is pretty harsh and some buttons are touched by painful both friends, but eventually come to an agreement. Benjamin retired from the framework for two million dollars and he is happy. Isaac, on the other hand can not find peace. Longs the picture and decides to buy back from Benjamin. The deal looks like a real fight, but the two friends are finally on the exorbitant amount of three million dollars. This tour continues for several months, until one day goes by Benjamin Isaac for yet another counter-purchase of the famous painting. "I give you ten million for our picture!" Carried away screaming. Isaac looks at him a bit 'sad and replied: "See Benjamin, I would sell willingly, but the picture it is no longer mine. I bought it for nine and a half million a Russian art dealer. " Benjamin looks at his friend incredulously and shouts angrily: "You fool, how could you! You and I were doing our best deals for months on the painting! Now everything is lost. " Talk about loyalty and cooperation!
