As of 2010, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) is a $22 billion,
multinational company founded in 1906 and operating in 160
countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, and
employs 130,000 people. How does a company of such size and
magnitude effectively manage and motivate employees from diverse
backgrounds and experiences? Such companies depend on the
productivity and performance of their employees. The journey over
the last 100 years has withstood many successes and failures. In
2000, Xerox was facing bankruptcy after years of mismanagement,
piles of debt, and mounting questions about its accounting
practices.
Anne Mulcahy turned Xerox around. Mulcahy joined Xerox as an
employee in 1976 and moved up the corporate ladder, holding several
management positions until she became CEO in 2001. In 2005, Mulcahy
was named by Fortune magazine as the
second most powerful woman in business. Based on a lifetime of
experience with Xerox, she knew that the company had powerful
employees who were not motivated when she took over. Mulcahy
believed that among other key businesses changes, motivating
employees at Xerox was a key way to pull the company back from the
brink of failure. One of her guiding principles was a belief that
in order to achieve customer satisfaction, employees must be
interested and motivated in their work. Mulcahy not only
successfully saw the company through this difficult time but also
was able to create a stronger and more focused company.
In 2009, Mulcahy became the chairman of Xerox’s board of
directors and passed the torch to Ursula Burns, who became the new
CEO of Xerox. Burns became not only the first African American
woman CEO to head a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) company but
also the first woman to succeed another woman as the head of an
S&P 100 company. Burns is also a lifetime Xerox employee who
has been with the company for over 30 years. She began as a
graduate intern and was hired full time after graduation. Because
of her tenure with Xerox, she has close relationships with many of
the employees, which provides a level of comfort and teamwork. She
describes Xerox as a nice family. She maintains that Mulcahy
created a strong and successful business but encouraged individuals
to speak their mind, to not worry about hurting one another’s
feelings, and to be more critical.
Burns explains that she learned early on in her career, from her
mentors at Xerox, the importance of managing individuals in
different ways and not intentionally intimidating people but rather
relating to them and their individual perspectives. As CEO, she
wants to encourage people to get things done, take risks, and not
be afraid of those risks. She motivates her teams by letting them
know what her intentions and priorities are. The correlation
between a manager’s leadership style and the productivity and
motivation of employees is apparent at Xerox, where employees feel
a sense of importance and a part of the process necessary to
maintain a successful and profitable business. In 2010, Anne
Mulcahy retired from her position on the board of directors to
pursue new projects.
Based on information from Tompkins, N. C. (1992, November 1).
Employee satisfaction leads to customer service. AllBusiness. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from
www.allbusiness.com/marketing.../341288-1.html; 50 most powerful
women. (2006). Fortune. Retrieved April
5, 2010, from http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/fortune/mostpowerfulwomen/2.html;
Profile: Anne M. Mulcahy. (2010). Forbes.
Retrieved April 5, 2010, from
people.forbes.com/profile/anne-m-mulcahy/19732; Whitney, L. (2010,
March 30). Anne Mulcahy to retire as Xerox chairman. CNET News. Retrieved April 5, 2010, from
news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-20001412-92.html; Bryant, A. (2010,
February 20). Xerox’s new chief tries to redefine its culture.
New York Times. Retrieved April 5, 2010,
from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21xerox.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc.
Discussion Questions
- How do you think Xerox was able to motivate its employees
through the crisis it faced in 2000?
- How does a CEO with such a large number of employees
communicate priorities to a worldwide workforce?
- How might Ursula Burns motivate employees to take calculated
risks?
- Both Anne Mulcahy and Ursula Burns were lifetime employees of
Xerox. How does an organization attract and keep individuals for
such a long period of time?