Running head: EVALUATION OF A CASE STUDY 1
Evaluation of a Case Study
Cruz, Gabriela
Behavior/Ethic/LeadrshipII-CBE
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Evaluation of a problematic issue in leadership
Business entities are established with the aim of attaining a specific objective. Profit
maximization is one of the critical business objectives. The desire of every investor is to make a
reasonable return on capital investment on a continuous basis. Many business entities have
reportedly witnessed failure in one form or the other. Failure is considered to be a key factor that
propels individuals towards the path of success. The social conditioning has made failure to a big
and scary phenomenon. Failure is inevitable and is prerequisite for success. The most successful
businesses and personalities succeeded due to failure. The key to success is the ability to learn
from failure. Every success has an associated story of failure (Raspin, 2011). Stephen King’s
novel was rejected more than thirty times before it got published. Bill Gate’s first attempt at
starting a company flopped. Successful individuals are failures who refused to quit. They learn
from their failures and use them to achieve success. Kodak is one of the multinational company
that significantly declined due to the failure to create an environment where its innovators and
employees can freely develop and experiment with new ideas with no fear.
Most entrepreneurs consider business failure as something they wished never happened
since it is a negative and depressing event that has no value. A failed business causes stress in
various aspect in the life of a person such as financial, personal and professional. It is indeed
devastating for something one has sacrificed a lot of time and energy fall apart. Facing and
coping with failure is a big struggle. No one would like to put themselves through failure due to
the misery and darkness associated with it. The flipside of a failed business entity is that it is a
path towards success. It provides insights that are critical in finding success in the future. An
attempt to accomplish a dream is worthy irrespective of the outcome (Casuto, 2016). Many
people fear taking risks and to go after their dreams. Recent failure is a small stumbling block in
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attaining defined goals if individuals are passionate enough about their pursuits. Failing arms one
with an invaluable wealth of real-world experience. Real world experience cannot be learned
unless tried.
The company was unwilling to change its efficient ability to making and selling the film
in developing digital technologies. The company lost the opportunity that could have been
critical in maintaining its leading position in digital image processing. The fear of disruptive
innovation denied Kodak the opportunity of being the market leader in digital photography. Lack
of agility in the organizational culture made its employees fear to fail and could not freely
experiment with disruptive technology to gain insight from it. Favourable destiny and fate can be
influenced by trying something and not failing to try. Other companies that embraced the
technology perfected the art and overtook Kodak (Lucas & Goh, 2009). The case study of
Kodak is an eye-opener that offers many insights into embracing digital technology with no fear
of anything. The company could have maintained its success by moving into digital technology
fast enough. The rapid and continuous technological advancement should encourage an attitude
of preparedness. A company cannot be future-proof by holding on to its status quo. It needs to
encourage its employees to try new things with the aim of appealing to the changing taste of
customers.
A critical review of the proposed solution
Creating a culture of innovation entails learning to celebrate failure. Innovation can be
fostered by changing the way people see failure. Kodak should create an environment where
employees are free to try new things without fear. Most employees fail to innovate due to lack of
passion in what they do and the fear of failing to meet the objectives set by their companies.
Great innovations were created out of numerous failed trials. Failure, mishaps, and mistakes
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facilitate learning and growth in individuals. Penalizing mistakes and focusing on risk-aversion
makes employees to shy away from trying new things. The most successful companies in the
world are defined by three essential aspects that include encouraging failure, embracing
divergent thinking, and giving room for employees to learn from their mistakes.
Making mistakes make the brain expand as it compiles information about
experiences throughout the learning scenario. It retains new neural pathways as it takes new
information. The brain becomes mature by making mistakes resulting in efficient synapse and
altered neurons. Failures can make employees become smarter.
The fear of failure is human nature. Individuals often feel scared when they go outside
their comfort zone. When the self-esteem and identity of entrepreneurs are wrapped in their
work, they are easily upset when all is not well. Learning to use failure as a stepping stone to the
next milestone is critical for success. Loder (2015) asserts that a number of strategies have
proven to be effective in overcoming the fear of failure. They include reframing goals,
visualizing obstacles, uncovering the story, asking three personal questions, surrendering and
feeling the fear (Loder, 2015). Edmondson (2014) posit that learning from failure is
incontrovertible wisdom that is extraordinarily rare in most organizations. Organizations often
fail to learn from failure due to a lack of commitment to learning (Edmondson, 2014). Kodak can
only improve their future performance by encouraging their employees to learn from their
failures failure.
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References
Casuto, S. (2016, July 27). Why Failure Is The Key To Workplace Culture Success. Retrieved
from [Link]
workplace-culture-success/#3c9acc4648f4
Edmondson, A. C. (2014, August 01). Strategies for Learning from Failure. Retrieved from
[Link]
Loder, V. (2015, May 06). How To Conquer The Fear Of Failure - 5 Proven Strategies. Retrieved
from [Link]
fear-of-failure-5-proven-strategies/#51731fdb1b78
Lucas Jr, H. C., & Goh, J. M. (2009). Disruptive technology: How Kodak missed the digital
photography revolution. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 18(1), 46-55.
Raspin, P. (2011). Failing to learn? How organizations can learn from failure. Strategic Direction,
27(1), 4-6.