DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC (eBook)

The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation

Edgar Schein, Paul Kampas (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2004
317 Seiten
Berrett-Koehler Publishers (Verlag)
978-1-60509-302-4 (ISBN)

Infos

DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC tells the 40-year story of the creation, demise, and enduring legacy of one of the pioneering companies of the computer age. Digital Equipment Corporation created the minicomputer, networking, the concept of distributed computing, speech recognition, and other major innovations. It was the number two computer maker behind IBM. Yet it ultimately failed as a business and was sold to Compaq Corporation. What happened?

Edgar Schein consulted to DEC throughout its history and so had unparalleled access to all the major players, and an inside view of all the major events. He shows how the unique organizational culture established by DEC's founder, Ken Olsen, gave the company important competitive advantages in its early years, but later became a hindrance and ultimately led to the company's downfall. Schein, Kampas, DeLisi, and Sonduck explain in detail how a particular culture can become so embedded that an organization is unable to adapt to changing circumstances even though it sees the need very clearly.

The essential elements of DEC's culture are still visible in many other organizations today, and most former employees are so positive about their days at DEC that they attempt to reproduce its culture in their current work situations. In the era of post-dot.com meltdown, raging debate about companies "built to last" vs. "built to sell," and more entrepreneurial startups than ever, the rise and fall of DEC is the ultimate case study.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Purpose and Overview 1
2. Three Developmental Streams: A Model for Deciphering the Lessons of the DEC Story

Part 1: THE CREATION OF A CULTURE OF INNOVATION: THE TECHNOLOGY, ORGANIZATION, AND CULTURE STREAMS ARE ONE AND THE SAME
3. Ken Olsen, the Scientist-Engineer
4. Ken Olsen, the Leader and Manager
5. Ken Olsen, the Salesman-Marketer
6. DEC's Cultural Paradigm
7. DEC's “Other” Legacy: The Development of Leaders—Tracy C. Gibbons
8. DEC's Impact on the Evolution of Organization Development


Part 2: THE STREAMS DIVERGE, CAUSING AN ORGANIZATIONAL MIDLIFE CRISIS
9. The Impact of Changing Technology—Paul Kampas
10. The Impact of Success, Growth, and Age
11. Learning Efforts Reveal Cultural Strengths and Rigidities
12. The Turbulent 1980s: Peaking but Weakening
13. The Beginning of the End: Ken Olsen's Final Efforts to Save DEC

Part 3: LESSONS AND LEGACIES
14. Obvious Lessons and Subtle Lessons
15. The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation

Appendixes
A. DEC's Technical Legacy
B. DEC Manufacturing: Contributions Made and Lessons Learned—Michael Sonduck
C. DEC, the First Knowledge Organization—A 1991 Memo by Debra Rogers Amidon
D. Digital: The Strategic Failure—Peter DeLisi
E. What Happened? A Postscript—Gordon Bell

References
Index
About the Author

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.8.2004
• Verlagsort: Oakland
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Wirtschaftsinformatik
• ISBN-10: 1-60509-302-5 / 1605093025
• ISBN-13: 978-1-60509-302-4 / 9781605093024