1. Read the following case study: The Norton Company Versus 3M (Links to an
external site.)
2. Use examples from your readings, and when possible, current events, and personal
experience to support your answers to the following:
o Which schools of management thought are illustrated in the case?
o What caused Norton to decline in the very market it dominated for so long?
1. Norton declined for a few reasons. The first reason was because
they wouldn’t like middle managers or even to level management
make purchasing decisions over $1,000 without the board’s
approval. The other main reason that Norton failed was because
they were unwilling to be flexible. A current example that I have
with my job is that my company doesn’t allow its staff to make
decisions. We have different staff members assigned to different
areas. One area told this other group that we can’t do that specific
activity because it was too expensive and not a good use of the
budget, let’s try to come up with something else. Instead of
listening, they went to the executive director who then didn’t back
his staff up and told the group that yes we will do that activity
because you want too. The executive director undermined his staff
and that makes the staff not want to work for him.
