Building Castles From Sand: The Art of Strategy at HP

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Building castles from sand: Unlocking CEO mythopoetical behaviourin Hewlett Packard from 1978 to 2005

Sotirios Paroutis a*, Max Mckeown b and Simon Collinson c

a Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK; b Maverick & Strong Ltd, Leeds,UK; c Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

How do successive CEOs use myths in an organization over time? While studies start toprovide us with understanding of the discourse employed by particular organizationalactors, we lack studies about the discourse used by successive strategic actors over long

periods of time and the precise mechanisms of such use. To address this gap we theorisethe components of mythopoetical behaviour of CEOs and apply critical discourseanalysis to unpack the discursive mechanisms used by three CEOs at Hewlett Packardover a 27-year period. We offer two contributions: rst, we elaborate on the concept of mythopoetical behaviour ( mythopoesis ) and show how it forms part of the fourdiscursive mechanisms of authorization , moral evaluation , rationalization andmythopoesis that allow incoming CEOs to construct and legitimise their identityas strategic actors. Second, we develop the notion of mythopoetical distance toprovide a method to examine how myths developed by CEOs are compared to theinstitutionalised myths in their rms.

Keywords: CEO; discourse; critical discourse analysis; leadership; large rms;mythopoetical behaviour; strategy

The plaque outside the ramshackle two-family house at 367 Addison St. in Palo Alto, Calif.,identies the dusty one-car garage out back as the birthplace of Silicon Valley. But the site,where Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett rst set up shop, in 1938, is more than that. Its thebirthplace of a new approach to management, a West Coast alternative to the traditional,hierarchical corporation. ( Businessweek , March 28, 2004)

Introduction

How do successive CEOs use myths in their organization over time? To address thisquestion we follow the broader linguistic turn in management studies. 1 More specically,our study is located at the intersections of strategy, discourse and history in an effort togain a greater understanding of the nature of CEO strategy discourse over time. We followa discursive approach and apply critical discourse analysis (CDA) to a longitudinal casestudy of the internal and external communication by three CEOs in a large corporation,Hewlett Packard (HP), from 1978 to 2005, with a particular focus on the discourse utilisedby CEO Fiorina (19992005), an outsider appointed in an attempt to transform HP.

A number of studies have shown that managers can employ discourse to legitimisetheir position or encourage change. 2 More recently, studies have focused on power,

q 2013 Taylor & Francis

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Business History , 2013Vol. 55, No. 7, 12001227, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2013.838038

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discourse and practice in particular contexts, such as the creative industries and accountingrms. 3,4 What is less clear is how, in more complicated settings, with long historicalfootprints, leaders synthesise the past and future discourses to create their own strategicdiscourse. 5 Accordingly, we contribute to discourse studies by focusing on CEO discoursein a complex organizational setting. In what follows, we theorise about CEO discourse asfeaturing instances of mythopoetical activity and offer empirical insights from a multi-level analysis of discursive strategies used by three CEOs in HP. Our ndings reveal themulti-faceted and intertextual nature of myths that CEOs utilise during their tenure.

Theoretical components of CEO discourse

CEO discourse: when leadership, language and strategy collide

Leadership has the potential to shape the ways organizations strategise and the waystrategy work is organised, even in complex organizational settings. 6 Within theleadership realm, the CEO is a key strategic actor, 7 working with the top managementteam and other collective organizational structures, comprising history and culture around

strategic activity.8

Alongside leadership studies, a stream of research in organizational theory has focusedon the discourse managers utilise to legitimise their position or encourage change. 9

Johnson, Scholes and Whittington propose that effective use of discourse can be a distinctadvantage for an individual and note that it can help legitimise the CEO as a crediblestrategist making a difference and dealing with the most important (i.e. strategic) areas of the business. 10 This attention to particular strategists and their discourse resonates withthe recent attention to practice theory 11 and, within the strategy domain, the strategy-as-practice perspective. 12 For example, adopt a critical perspective to identify discourses thatseem to systematically impede or promote participation in the strategy process. 13 Tsoukasargues that what is empirically interesting to explore is how the unit, between changes inlanguage and changes in practices, works, as well as through what discursive strategies anew discourse is made to resonate with individuals. 14 A discursive approach makes

this mediating role researchable in that the subjects, concepts and objects of study areall accessible or observable via words. 15 As such, a discursive approach to the study of particular strategists, such as the CEO, the chief strategy ofcer or strategy teams, 16 canhelp reveal how their performances relate to strategy and institutional phenomena. 17

Further, if leadership is language, and attempted strategy is constituted through language,then strategy leadership can be tracked, studied and considered by examining the linguisticfragments, traces and patterns left in the empirical, often textual, record. Of course, textdoes not, and cannot, represent all that strategy is, as a large part of strategy work is aboutshaping and adapting to the future. 18 For one thing the record is incomplete, as is ourability to interpret what is available, and yet no data collection method can ever offer us adenitive, multi-dimensional account of what has happened, by whom and for whatreason. We can, however, by making the assumption that leaders tend to communicatestrategy, look with enthusiasm at the written record as representative of how the discourseof strategy develops over time, and at multiple levels. Leaders have very few direct leversopen to them in accomplishing strategy through other people and so must explain somepart of what is intended to subordinates, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders, andmuch of this explanation, for reasons of clarity, tradition and practicality, when faced withthe demands of employee-leader ratios and dispersed geographical location, is committedto text in various publications, including employee magazines, memoranda, press releasesand annual reports.

Business History 1201

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Another assumption, following the linguistic turn, is that organizations are constituted,in large part, by language and the social context in which language is used. 19 As such,efforts to accomplish strategy will involve the use of language by the CEO both tocommunicate strategic intention and to encourage certain patterns of individual andcollective actions. 20 Notably, Vaara follows a CDA approach to call for more studiesexamining strategy discourse at different levels of analysis (at the meta, meso and microlevels) and the processes linking these levels. 21 We address his call and contribute tostudies examining the discursive aspects of strategy by focusing on the multi-levelconstruction of strategy discourse by CEOs. Additionally, our study is unique in taking ahistorical perspective and revealing the discourses used over the tenureships of threesuccessive CEOs in a single rm, allowing for the examination of CEO discourse and itsimpact over a long period of time.

CEO mythopoetical behaviour: the inter-textual nature of CEO myths

Myths can be perceived as ideology in narrative form; 22 in other words as particular types

of narratives or stories that have moral/ideological foundations, for example whenparticular actors from the past are perceived as heroes (for instance when an organizationalmyth is about the founders of the rm who are perceived as heroes because they usedinnovative methods, for their era, to grow the rm). Van Leeuwen distinguishes betweenmoral tales (in which actors are rewarded for doing what is considered good or for restoringorder after facing difculty and taking risks, with a happy ending for our heroes) andcautionary tales (which convey the negative consequences of being bad, for failing toconform or perform). 23 The ending of each tale, happy for good people and terrible for badpeople, is part of its legitimating force, but the story itself, its characters, their behaviourand the context may subtly or brashly emphasise or support certain views of the world that,as a result, legitimise or delegitimise certain courses of action, behaviours, outcomes oreven style. Table 1 summarises pertinent aspects of the concepts of myth narrative/ storytelling and rhetoric and helps us demonstrate the distinctive features of myths

compared to other discursive phenomena. Importantly, we develop a set of researchablequestions and gaps for each concept in relation to the strategic management literature. Ouraim is to showcase the potential from the study of discourse for strategy scholars andstrategy-as-practice in particular. 24

In order to address our research question, we conceptualise CEO mythopoeticalbehaviour as the creation by the CEO of a story (myth-making) that has ideologicaldimensions and that she or he communicates to internal and external audiences. Theseaudiences, in turn, produce discursive reactions to these myths that can take variousforms, for instance counter-myths. This phenomenon over time for successive CEOscan be visually presented by Figure 1 . Related to the content of the myth, the CEO mayseek to tell a narrative, or shape a moral tale, in which she or he is the hero or even onein a series of heroes who from time to time have to save the organization from the evilforces of, for instance, inertia and complacency, while other CEOs may becharacterised as either villains or, more likely, as failed heroes who have attempted thequest but been variously put to the sword, turned to stone or burnt to a cinder,dependent on the particular variation of the moral or cautionary tale. Employees, at thelevel of text (surtext and subtext), and others in the context (society) may assesslegitimacy of the proposed tale against its moral values, its arguments and whether theversion of the tale ts with their memory and interpretation of events, of the actions,motives and character of the CEO, and of their interest in playing supporting parts that

1202 S. Paroutis et al.

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T a b l e 1 . D e n i t i o n s o f d i s c o u r s e c o n c e p t s a n d t h e i r a p p l i c a t i o n t o s t r a t e g i c m a n a g e m e n t s t u d i e s .

C o n c e p t

M y t h

N a r r a t i v e / s t o r y t e l l i n g

R h e t o r i c

M e t a p h o r

D e n i t i o n

A p a r t i c u l a r f o r m o f n a r r a t i v e

t h a t h a s i d e o l o g i c a l d i m e n -

s i o n s . A t r a d i t i o n a l o r

l e g e n d a r y s t o r y c o n c e r n i n g a

h e r o o r e v e n t .

T h e s y m

b o l i c r e c o n s t r u c t i o n s

o f e v e n t s i n t o s t o r i e s b y

s t o r y t e l l e r s .

T h e u s e o f d i s c o u r s e a s a w a y

t o p e r s u a d e a c t o r s i n s p e c i c

s i t u a t i o n s .

A p a r t i c u l a r g u r e o f s p e e c h i n

w h i c h a t e r m i s a p p l i e d o n

s o m e t h i n g t o w h i c h i t i s n o t l i t e r a l l y

a p p l i c a b l e i n o r d e r t o s u g g e s t

r e s e m b l a n c e .

P r i m a r y r e s e a r c h

q u e s t i o n f o r s t r a t e g y

r e s e a r c h

H o w d o s t r a t e g i s t s c r e a t e a n d

e m p l o y m y t h s d u r i n g t h e

s t r a t e g y - m a k i n g p r o c e s s ?

W h a t a r e t h e f o r m s o f

n a r r a t i v e e m p l o y e d b y s t r a t e -

g i s t s a n d h o w a r e t h e s e u s e d

i n a c t i o n ?

H o w d o s t r a t e g i s t s e m p l o y

r h e t o r i c a l p r a c t i c e s t o i n u e n c e

o r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d i n s t i t u t i o n s ?

H o w d o s t r a t e g i s t s e m p l o y f a m i l i a r

a n d r e c u r r i n g m e t a p h o r s t o c r e a t e

p e r s u a s i v e a p p e a l a c r o s s t i m e a n d

s u b - c u l t u r e s ?

P r i m a r y r e s e a r c h

m e t h o d

c r i t i c a l d i s c o u r s e a n a l y s i s

( C D A )

N a r r a t i v e ( a n d a n t e - n a r r a t i v e )

a n a l y s i s

R h e t o r i c a l a n a l y s i s

M e t a p h o r i c a l a n a l y s i s

R e l a t e d r e a d i n g s

H i r s c h h e i m a n d N e w m a n

( 1 9 9 1 ) ; J a r n a g i n a n d S l o c u m

( 2 0 0 7 ) ; T h o m p s o n ( 2 0 0 4 )

B o j e ( 1 9 9 3 , 2 0 0 1 ) , B a r r y a n d

E l m e s ( 1 9 9 7 ) ; B r o w n a n d

R h o d e s ( 2 0 0 5 ) ; D e n n i n g

( 2 0 0 6 ) ; G a b r i e l ( 2 0 0 0 ) ;

P h i l i p s ( 1 9 9 3 ) ; W h i t t l e a n d

M u e l l e r ( 2 0 1 2 ) ; V a a r a ( 2 0 0 2 )

A l v e s s o n ( 1 9 9 3 ) ; B r o w n e t a l .

( 2 0 1 2 ) ; S i l l i n c e a n d S u d d a b y

( 2 0 0 8 )

C o r n e l i s s e n ( 2 0 0 4 , 2 0 0 5 ) ; L a k o f f

a n d J o h n s o n ( 1 9 8 0 ) ; M a n n i n g

( 1 9 7 9 ) ; M o r g a n ( 1 9 8 0 ) ; T s o u k a s

( 1 9 9 1 )

F u r t h e r r e s e a r c h

q u e s t i o n s a n d g a p s

H o w d o s t r a t e g i s t s c o n s t r u c t

m y t h s ? W h a t i s t h e e f f e c t o f

s t r a t e g y - r e l a t e d m y t h s a n d

c o u n t e r - m y t h s o n t h e s t r a t e g y

p r o c e s s ?

W h a t a r e t h e f e a t u r e s o f

e n d u r i n g s t r a t e g y n a r r a t i v e s ?

H o w d o

s t r a t e g i s t s e m p l o y

n a r r a t i v e s t o i n u e n c e t h e

e m e r g e n c e o f i n s t i t u t i o n s ?

H o w d o r h e t o r i c a l p r a c t i c e s b y

s t r a t e g i s t s d i f f e r f r o m t h o s e o f

o t h e r p r o f e s s i o n s ? W h a t a r e t h e

f e a t u r e s o f r h e t o r i c a l p r a c t i c e s

e m p l o y e d b y s t r a t e g i s t s a c r o s s

d i f f e r e n t g e o g r a p h i e s ?

H o w d o p a r t i c u l a r s t r a t e g y m e t a -

p h o r s d e v e l o p o v e r t i m e a n d w h y ?

H o w d o s t r a t e g y m e t a p h o r s d i f f e r i n

t h e i r u s e a c c o r d i n g t o t h e

p a r t i c u l a r

s e t t i n g ( s t r a t e g y w o r k s h o p , a w a y

d a y , s t r a t e g y p r e s e n t a t i o n ) ?


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lead to a desirable happy ending. The extent to which this tale, story or narrative isanimating, engages effort, is orientating and gives direction, and the extent to which theheroic story can be inuenced and made the accepted version determines the success of the CEO, since the outcome is, essentially, one that is based on sharing meaning

rather than an objective measure. Studies in information technology and marketinghave relied upon the concept of myths to explain organizational phenomena andconsumer behaviours. 25,26 Closer to the topic of this paper, leadership studies havefocused on the notion of mythopoetical leadership. For instance, Jarnagin andSlocum, 27 based on the work of cultural anthropologist Joseph Campbell, 28 explain thatmyths are analogies used to explain the unexplainable. That is, myths help peoplemake sense of chaos 29 and develop the notion of mythopoetic leadership as aframework for developing robust corporate cultures based on myths. 30 More recently,OGorman and Gillespie have used a hermeneutic approach to study the use of mythsby hospitality leaders. 31 Yet, what remains unclear is a more nuanced and theoreticallyprofound understanding of myth-making by CEOs over longer period of times. Suchhistorical perspectives in the study of myths and mythopoetical behaviour alsoaddresses recent calls for more work in these areas. 32

In order to unpack the ways CEO mythopoetical behaviour occurs over time across itsmultiple dimensions of discourse, we use CDA by Fairclough. 33 This approach allows usto examine three distinctive levels of discourse: rst, the analytical level of context,whichexamines the relationship between CEO discourse and external discourse of strategy;second, the analytical level of discourse, at which the CEO discourse of strategic renewalis examined, including the way that CEOs seek to legitimate their discourse; 34 and third,the analytical level of text, the way that people other than the authors respond to the CEOdiscourse, 35 including acceptance, counter narratives and ironic acquisition of CEOnarratives. Phillips, Sewell and Jaynes propose that these three levels of CDA be appliedto strategy literature and illustrate this application with empirical data collected foranother research project. 36 They identify research approaches at the three levels of analysis to specic, existing parts of the strategy literature that are particularly interestedin the effects of language at macro, meso and micro levels. This approach also echoesVaara, who argues that a multifaceted interdiscursive approach [ . . .] can help to gobeyond simplistic views on strategy as unied discourse and pave the way for newresearch efforts. 37

For all its strengths in examining strategy, CDA has yet to offer convincing answerswhen it comes to explaining the mechanisms through which discourse transforms socialreality. 38 The discourse analysis literature may occasionally examine the language of organizational change, however it does not offer many explanations of how it works; it

Internal & External Audiences

CEO 1 CEO 2 CEO 3

Mythopoesis Mythopoesis Mythopoesis

Discursive response

Discursive response

Discursive response

Figure 1. Conceptual framework about the mythopoetical behaviour of successive CEOs.


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does not propose precise generative mechanisms by which a discursive strategy, forexample, leads to individual or organizational action. If words are actions, how dowords lead to actions in others? This is a pertinent issue for an incoming CEO as she orhe deals with multiple discourses, most notably the strategy discourse supported by theoutgoing CEO. These multiple discourses that successive CEOs in a single organizationhave to deal with are the focus of our paper. In applying CDA, we also follow therecommendation by Pye and Pettigrew, who concluded that working across or betweenlevels, that is, in the dynamic complement of relationships between individuals andgroup, organization, and societal levels is a more appropriate focus and would restattention on meaning in relationships, shifting with time and context. 39 As Vaarastresses, there frequently are alternative and competing strategy discourses the interplayof which is one of the most important issues to advance analysis of strategy discourse. 40

Our study addresses this call by providing a detailed analysis of the generativemechanisms employed by successive CEOs in their attempt to discursively transformthe social reality of their organization. Overall, we are guided in our investigation by thequestion: How do successive CEOs use discourse, and particularly myths, in a large

organization over time?

Research design

Our study is based on analysis of longitudinal data from a single in-depth case examinationof Hewlett Packard (HP) and three CEOs (Young, Platt and Fiorina) from 1978 to 2005.The third CEO, Carly Fiorina, is an outsider hired during a period of nancial crisis for therm.

Research context

We selected HP because it is a large, established rm, with a long, well-documentedhistory and famous, inuential founders, which allowed us to collect case data and

examine CEO discourse over a long time period and across levels. We can justify a single-case approach because our intention is to develop theory, not to test it. 41 HP was alsooffered an unusual level of research access necessary to enable the rich, multi-level data-gathering process described below. 42

HP is a large technology product and services organization. It was founded in 1939,has headquarters in Palo Alto, California, and in 2006 became the worlds largesttechnology vendor by sales, with US$91.7 billion. 43 In 2008, it was the largest worldwideseller of personal computers and the sixth largest software company in the world. 44 In1999, under intense media and shareholder scrutiny owing to poor nancial results, itdeparted from tradition and appointed its rst outsider CEO, Carly Fiorina, who stayed inpost until she was forced out by the Board in 2005 owing to differences about how toimplement strategy. The institutional myth in the HP case relates to the HP Way myth of the two founders, Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett, who based the culture of the rm in veprinciples that were novel for their era and are seen by many as having contributed to thecreation and growth of Silicon Valley. These principles are: we have trust and respect forindividuals; we focus on a high level of achievement and contribution; we conduct ourbusiness with uncompromising integrity; we achieve our common objectives throughteamwork; and we encourage exibility and innovation. 45 Overall, our aim is totheoretically elaborate the components of CEO discourse and examine the role of mythopoetical behaviour in such discourse over time and its relation to the HP Way myth.


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Third analytical level (text) . The challenge facing the researcher operating atFaircloughs analytical level of text is to identify the local narratives that are developed inresponse to the truth effects of discourse. 55 These include authoritative responses thataccept or defend CEO discourse, including the legitimacy of the leader and the proposedcorporate identity, as well as any plan put forward to accomplish change. They also includedissenting responses that may offer counter narratives, that resist the CEO discourse orironic narratives, that modify CEO discourse and authoritative narratives, using rhetoricalstrategies such as irony, humour or cynicism. We chose to zoom in our analysis at this levelon the CEO who has been associated with a period of radical change and is an outsider(Fiorina). That way we are able to provide a focused and in-depth analysis of the variouscounter-discourses by analysing a variety of both internal and external texts. Table 2summarises our key questions, data and analytical levels. In the following section, we usethese levels to present our ndings.

Grand discourse

In what follows we examine how CEOs construct the discourse of strategic renewal fromexternal texts, and discourse in intertextual themes that move between global social andlocal contexts. We reveal the grand discourses argued for by three HP CEOs, in order of tenure: Young, Platt and Fiorina.

The discourse of quality (19801992)

During his 15 years of tenure, CEO Young utilises the discourse of quality, for instancein the HP internal magazine Measure (1980, February), when he spells out issues of the80s with challenges, to be dealt with during the next decade, including the need tofocus on cost and quality as competitive elements; with another article, in the sameissue, noting that the month end rush was causing quality problems that newercustomers are less able to deal with defects and less tolerant of problems and that a

signicant contribution to customer satisfaction and HP protability can be made byeliminating problems at the design stage. The term Total Quality Control (TQC)occurs regularly within Measure articles in 1984, May/Jun, in 1984, Jul/Aug, and 1985,Mar/Apr.

In the 1987 Measure (1987, May/Jun), a four-page feature about increased competitionstated that customers expect the best of both worlds - quality and price advantages - in ourproducts and services. And internally, our combat preparations have turned up many newand better ways to compete, to become a total-quality organization and then offers a seriesof examples, including one in which unhappy customers in 1985 led to a trio of managerslistening to the philosophy and methodology of Total Quality Control (TQC), so that by1986, as narrated in the 1987 Measure (1987, Sep/Oct), the Japanese Quality Conferenceinvited them to make a formal presentation as a rst for any non-Japanese company; allof which suggests continuing acceptance by employees of the discourse of quality and theimportance to the CEO of showing employee acceptance and products that actually leadthe pack in innovation and quality to internal and external audiences, including journalists. CEO Young reasserts this discourse of quality in his letter to employees in the1987 Measure (1987, Nov/Dec) by assigning one of his strategic issues to makecontinuous process improvements using TQC methods as an integral part of every HPactivity because its one of the most important companywide skills [ . . .] acquired sincewe started working on quality in 1980 since it gives a way of improving our operations


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T a b l e 2 . Q u e s t i o n s

, d a t a c o l l e c t e d a n d l e v e l s o f a n a l y s i s

.

L e v e l o f a n a l y s i s

A p p l i c a t i o n t o s t r a t e g y

R e l a t e d q u e s t i o n s

( F a i r c l o u g h , 2 0 0 5 )

( P h i l l i p s e t a l . 2

0 0 8 )

A n a l y t i c a l m e t h o d

D a t a s o u r c e s

H o w d o C E O s r e - u s e

e x t e r n a l s t r a t e g i c

d i s c o u r s e ?

L e v e l o f s o c i a l c o n t e x t

( M A C R O )

M e a n i n g : D i s c o u r s e s e x i s t o u t s i d e

t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n b u t c a n b e i n v o k e d

t o s u p p o r t t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f b o d i e s

o f k n o w

l e d g e a n d s y s t e m s o f t r u t h

i n s i d e t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n .

I d e n t i c a t i o n a n d a n a l y s i s o f

g r a n d d i s c o u r s e o u t s i d e t h e

o r g a n i z a t i o n t h a t i s r e - u s e d

i n s i d e t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n a s p a r t

o f C E O s t r a t e g i c d i s c o u r s e .

( B o j e 2 0 0 1 )

I n t e r n a l m a g a z i n e s

n 1 1 8 ( 1 9 7 8 2 0 0 1 )

B i o g r a p h y

T o u g h C h o i c e s ( 2 0 0 7 )

H o w d o C E O s u s e

l a n g u a g e t o c o n s t r u c t

l e g i t i m a t i o n ?

L e v e l o f d i s c o u r s e

( M E S O )

T r u t h a n d i t s e f f e c t s : D r a w i n g o n

e x t e r n a l d i s c o u r s e s , i n t e r n a l

d i s c o u r s e s o f s t r a t e g i c c h a n g e c a n b e

d e v e l o p e d .


C E O l a n g u a g e t h a t c o n s t r u c t s

l e g i t i m a t i o n

t h r o u g h :

( 1 ) A u t h o r i s a t i o n ,

( 2 ) M o r a l e v a l u a t i o n ,

I n t e r n a l m a g a z i n e s

n 1 1 8 ( 1 9 7 8 2 0 0 1 )

A n n u a l r e p o r t s

n 2 5 ( 1 9 8 0 2 0 0 5 )

( 3 ) R a t i o n a l i s a t i o n

( 4 ) M y t h o p o e s i s

( V a n L e e u w

e n 2 0 0 8 )

H o w d o o r g a n i z a t i o n a l

m e m b e r s r e s p o n d t o C E O

s t r a t e g i c d i s c o u r s e ?

H o w i s C E O l a n g u a g e

p r o d u c e d , d

i s s e m i n a t e d

a n d c o n s u m e d

i n t e r t e x t u a l l y ?

L e v e l o f t e x t

( M I C R O )

T e x t / T a l k : R e s p o n s e t o t r u t h

e f f e c t s o f d i s c o u r s e .

A u t h o r i t a t i v e n a r r a t i v e s : r e p r o d u c e d

b y m e m b e r s o f t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n

( a c c e p t a n c e )

I r o n i c a l n a r r a t i v e s : r h e t o r i c a l

s t r a t e g i e s , e . g . i

r o n y a n d c y n i c i s m ,

t o m o d i f y o r c h a l l e n g e a u t h o r i t a t i v e

n a r r a t i v e s ( r e s i s t a n c e ) .

C o u n t e r - n a r r a t i v e s : o v e r t l y

c h a l l e n g e a u t h o r i t a t i v e

n a r r a t i v e s ( a p r o d u c t o f o v e r t

r e s i s t a n c e ) .


t e x t u a l r e s p o n s e s t o C E O

d i s c o u r s e t h a t i s a c c e p t i n g ,

i r o n i c a l o r c o u n t e r - n a r r a t i v e

( F a i r c l o u g h 2 0 0 5 )


i n t e r t e x t u a l p r o d u c t i o n , d i s s e -

m i n a t i o n a n d c o n s u m p t i o n o f

C E O l a n g u a g e a n d n a r r a t i v e

( F a i r c l o u g h 2 0 0 5 ; B o j e , 2 0 0 1 )

W e b - s

i t e s a n d d i s c u s s i o n b o a r d s

m e s s a g e s . n a n c e . y a h o o . c

o m

g l a s s d o o r . c o m

I n t e r v i e w s

I n t e r n a l m a g a z i n e e d i t o r s n 4

N e w s p a p e r a n d m a g a z i n e a r t i c l e s

n e w s . g o o g l e . c o m

W a l l S t r e e t J o u r n a l a r t i c l e s

n 2 5 0

B i o g r a p h y

T o u g h C h o i c e s ( 2 0 0 7 )


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and increasing productivity at a faster rate than our competitors. By 1992, CEO Youngacknowledges that there have been problems when he reports in the 1992 Measure (1992,May/Jun) that the quality movement at HP has survived its midlife crisis in what isprobably his most passionate defence of quality, and his part in it, and an admission thatproblems have existed that is possible only after they have, according to him, been solved:

Consider the enthusiasm of youth. Upon entering adulthood, people begin to feel their ownpotential. Nothings impossible. No mountain is too steep to climb. Then, one moves towardsmaturity. This is a stage marked by lots of hard work, when people have little time to reviewtheir direction or progress. Sometime along the way, peoples lives reach a plateau. Theypause for breath, survey the scenery and think about what path to take next. Some evenwonder if the mountains too steep to climb [ . . .] Its an apt description of what HPs qualitymovement has recently experienced.

The discourse of reengineering (19921999)

In the 1993 internal newsletter Think (page 11), there is a segue provided between the old

discourse of quality and the new discourse of reengineering, described as a popularmovement in quality circles. It is not until the rst letter to employees from Youngssuccessor, CEO Platt, in the 1993 Measure (1993, Jan/Feb) that the term is explained whenhe outlines, over both pages, the two company Hoshin goals for 1993. Platt brings Hoshinto the foreground as a tentative candidate for his discourse of strategic renewal, whereaspreviously employees have heard the term, he suggests there have been misconceptionsand that he would like to clear up any confusion people have about what exactly Hoshinsare:

Hoshin is a systematic planning process that allows an organization to plan and executestrategic organizational breakthroughs. Indeed, the Japanese word Hoshin literally meansbreakthrough. It is a component of the total quality management system. First used in Japanin 1965, it has become one of the most widely recognised and used elements of the totalquality management system.

In the 1999 Measure (1999, May/Jun), CEO Platt announced that the Measure magazinewill no longer be printed, but assures the reader that the HP Way isnt dead; it prolesLucent Technologies as an example of innovation, the company from which CEO Fiorinawill be recruited, and dedicates a long feature to e-services about how a seeminglyimpossible vision nearly 20 years ago at HP is transforming the Web into a huge virtualcomputer that attempts to position HP as the inventor of e-services years before it was usedas a term. It also makes the big announcement that HP will split into two companies; thatthe heads of the four business groups will act as autonomous presidents and CEOs, and thatCEO Platt will after retire having overseen the changes. It also included and an articleabout the reaction to the changes following communication with employees via coffeetalks, email, and the internal Web.

The discourse of reinvention (19992005)

Even before the new outsider CEO, Fiorina, was appointed, she introduced the phrasepreservation and reinvention during her rst informal meeting with the complete HPboard in July 1999. 56 In her account, she felt the need to speak about her objectives and,unrehearsed, used the term as a way of reassuring the board about the need for change andcontinuity:


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I talked about the opportunity the split of the company represented: an opportunity to injectnew energy and speed into HP. And I talked about the HP Way. I said the most importantthing I could do was strike the right balance between preservation and reinvention. It wasthe rst time Id used those words. I said the word preservation because the legacy of the

company was a powerful symbol and motivator. I chose the term reinvention becauseinvention was a core virtue of Bill and Daves, and I needed to nd a word for change thatcaptured their pioneering spirit. The phrase seemed to resonate with the Board, and I woulduse it over and over again. 57

In her rst letter to employees, published in Measure in October 1999, she conrmed herbelief in HP as one of the worlds greatest companies [, something to be preserved alongwith] growth of one of the worlds great brands [ . . .] and the HP Way which would act as acompass [that would] guide [the company] unerringly into the 21st century. She alsoimmediately emphasises the need to reinvent the company since there are several areas inwhich she knows they can achieve and contribute more, including a (new) vision that mustbe compelling and inspire the company to even greater growth with a focus that is strongand deep that allows the company to play to win and leverage the brand with much clearermessages to make this great company an even better one. She includes her twin themes of

preservation and reinvention,but there is a signicantly greater emphasis throughout on theneed for and nature of reinvention, yet without, at this stage, clearly dening reinvention asa corporation objective.

CEO discourse

This section considers how HP CEOs discursively construct legitimation to gain attentionand followers for their objectives by examining our empirical evidence.

Authorisation

CEO Young is able to state simply that he foresaw few surprises in the future calling uponhis personal authority, or at least his personal formal authority, and his assumption that

employees shared a common view, in which the CEO had the ability to see into the futureand the organization had the ability to work on those issues ahead of time [1] (Thenumbers in brackets correspond to the numbered quotes in Table 3 ). He often refers back to the authority of tradition, such as when he argues that the open door management policyis a fundamental tenet of the HP Way that has been practiced since the inception of thecompany, and then turns to legitimation by moral evaluation by stating that thistraditional practice is central to the HP attitude of trust and understanding [2]. Hissuccessor, CEO Platt, tends refer less to his own personal authority but instead depends onthe authority of others, such as when he justies his view of Y2K readiness by sayingthats not just my opinion but the opinion of independent consultants [3]. In completecontrast, outsider CEO Fiorina often, and particularly at the start of her tenure, attempts tolegitimate her strategic discourse with personal authority, such as when she states that tome, the rules are the HP Way [4], suggesting a strong preference for personal authoritybut a lack of total condence in whether others will accept her assertion. On occasions shewill attempt to blend this with authorisation via presumed conformity, such as when shestates that we all own the reinvention of HP [5], and attempts to strengthen her ownauthority, such as when she states that her opinion is based on being an HP customer forthe past 10 years, which qualies her to say from experience that the company has anenormous opportunity to preserve whats best and reinvent the rest [6]. Her decision to rstchange the title, then remove the editor, and then discontinue the internal magazine are


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T a b l e 3 . C E O d i s c u r s i v e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f l e g i t i m a t i o n a t H P ( 1 9 7 8 2 0 0 5 ) .

C E O

A u t h o r i s a t i o n

M o r a l e v a l u a t i o n

R a t i o n a l i s a t i o n

M y t h o p o e s i s

Y o u n g

( 1 9 7 8 1 9 9 2 )

[ 1 ] I n h i s r e p o r t t o H P m a n a g e r s o n

i s s u e s o f t h e 8 0 s

, P r e s i d e n t J o h n

Y o u n g f o r e s a w f e w s u r p r i s e s .

T h e

i s s u e s w i l l n o t b e e s o t e r i c o n e s , b

u t a r e a s

t h a t w e c a n a l l w o r k o n t o d a y a n d a r e

a l r e a d y w o r k i n g o n i n m o s t c a s e s .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 8 0

, F e b r u a r y )

[ 7 ] A s w e e n t e r t h e 8 0 s w e d o s o

w i t h s t r e n g t h a n d w i t h t h e

e x p e c t a t i o n t h a t o u r f u t u r e

o p p o r t u n i t i e s a r e a t l e a s t a s g o o d

a n d p r o b a b l y b e t t e r t h a n a n y t i m e

i n t h e p a s t .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 7 9

, D e c e m b e r )

[ 1 2 ] T o p u t i t i n p e r s p e c t i v e ,

i f w e w e r e w o r k i n g a t t h e

s a m e l e v e l o f e f f e c t i v e n e s s

t o d a y a s i n t h e 1 9 6 0 s w e

w o u l d r e q u i r e a n a d d i t i o n a l

6 0 , 0

0 0 p e o p l e !

( M e a s u r e 1 9 7 9

, D e c e m b e r )

[ 1 6 ] E m p l o y e e s t h e n , a s

w e l l a s n o w , e

x p r e s s e d

t h e i d e n t i c a l f e e l i n g s a n d

c o n c e r n s a b o u t t h e s p e c i a l

r e l a t i o n s h i p s w e n o w c a l l t h e

H P W a y .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 8 0

, J u l / A u g )

[ 2 ] O p e n D o o r i s a f u n d a m e n t a l

t e n e t o f t h e H P W a y . I

t s b e e n

p r a c t i c e d s i n c e t h e i n c e p t i o n o f t h e

c o m p a n y , a

n d i s c e n t r a l t o t h e H P

a t t i t u d e o f t r u s t a n d u n d e r s t a n d i n g

t h a t m u s t e x i s t b e t w e e n m a n a g e r s

a n d e m p l o y e e s a t a l l l e v e l s .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 8 0

, S e p / O c t )

[ 8 ] I n f a c t , t

h e r e t u r n s w e r e v e r y

f a v o r a b l e t o H P . L e s s t h a n 2

p e r c e n t o f U S c o m p a n i e s s t u d i e d

i n t h e p a s t t w o d e c a d e s a r e i n a

c l a s s w i t h H P .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 8 1

, M a r / A p r )

[ 1 3 ] S o m e t i m e s

t h e w o r d w a n d e r -

i n g i s r e p l a c e d b y w a l k i n g w h i c h

i s l i t e r a l l y t h e w a y m a n y H P

m a n a g e r s p u t M B W A i n t o p r a c t i c e .

S u c h w a l k i n g m a y s e e m r a n d o m b u t

i t s h o u l d b e r e g u l a r , c

r e a t i n g a

f e e l i n g o f o p e n n e s s a n d p r o v i d i n g

i n f o r m a l o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r e v e r y o n e

t o h e a r a n d b e h e a r d . [ .

. . ] I c a n

t h i n k o f n o g r e a t e r r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r

a n H P m a n a g e r .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 8 0

, N o v / D e c )

[ 1 7 ] I n d i v i d u a l p e r f o r m a n c e

r e l a t i v e t o t h e p e r f o r m a n c e o f

o t h e r p e o p l e d o i n g t h e s a m e o r

s i m i l a r j o b s i s t h e k e y m e a s u r e .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 8 0

, N o v / D e c )

[ 1 8 ] H P o f f e r s n o c a r e e r p a t h s

f o r p e o p l e t o f o l l o w n o m a s t e r

p l a n t h a t s a y s w h e r e a n d w h e n

t o m a k e a c h a n g e . N

o r d o w e

v i e w p r o m o t i o n a s a r o u t i n e

a d v a n c e m e n t . W h a t t h e c o m -

p a n y d o e s o f f e r i s o p p o r t u n i t y .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 8 1

, J u l / A u g )

( c o n t i n u e d )


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suggestive of a discomfort with having to legitimate her authority to an internal audiencein a genre so reminiscent of her predecessors.

Moral evaluationCEO Young seeks to legitimate his strategic discourse by, for example, suggesting thatfuture opportunities are [ . . .] probably better than any time in the past [7], with the use of the evaluative adjective better shielding the strategic actions from debate and argument,and a description of how only two percent of US companies are in a class with HP [8],with use of the word class suggesting that HP is superior in ways that legitimates thestrategic actions and discourse of the CEO as natural, so that employees should not takeany concerns they have with the strategic plans as evidence that there is anything wrong.When CEO Platt described additional work by employees in abstract ways that imbuedthem with a moral quality, such as when he explains that we may need to put customer priorities ahead of our personal priorities [9] during holidays, thus suggesting a certainmoral choice instead of emphasising the unpaid interruption of family time. CEO Fiorina

calls upon moral evaluation when, for example, she uses analogy to claim that the HPWay is our compass, dening its nature in a way that suggests the actions taken at HP,including the strategic actions of the CEO, will unerringly lead the company in the rightdirection [10], and also when she links the abstract qualities of the middle game in chessand its need for strategy with the need for her strategic discourse [11].

Rationalisation

CEO Young uses instrumental rationalisation when he presents his proposed strategicchanges as part of a long line of improvements, seeking to put in perspective past changesby saying that that working at the same level of effectiveness as the 1960s would require anadditional 60,000 employees [12]. Thus, what has happened is because CEOs have decidedto act on the world and succeeded, and, similarly, managers are described as deliberately

walking about to create a feeling of openness and explain that this activity is a greatresponsibility for HP managers, who need to listen to the unfailing advice or discourse of the CEO [13]. This is in contrast to CEO Platt, who describes employees spending yearsdebating whether thestrategic choices of the organizationcould be accomplished in a betterway, suggesting at rst that this is open to debate but then nesting this in an attempt atprediction, in which we feel condent that we made the right decision and that futurebusiness results will prove him right [14], such that the employees accept it as legitimate.

CEO Fiorina uses goal-oriented instrumental rationalisation to legitimise the need forher strategic vision to be compelling, including whatever she then denes as compellingby using the term so that to link it with the goal of uniting HP, seen as a morally attractiveoutcome that is intentionally pursued and that will, in turn, inspire greater growth orrequire greater effort, such that, taken together, they comprise an activity sequence inwhich greater growth is the main strategic purpose for the corporation, while unitingHP may be seen as the main purpose for the HP community [15]. She also appears to usethe words of the editor of the internal magazine to offer a theoretical explanation for herstyle of strategic leadership when she is described as the answer to what else is new?,such that the message and medium are both new, leading to an expectation that makinglots of changes is the natural state of affairs for Fiorina, who is just being truthful to herfeelings; any other expectation would be going against the way it is and the way she is,which needs to be accepted.


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Mythopoesis

In response to employee concerns about the HP Way, CEO Young tells a moral tale abouthow employees in the past expressed identical feelings about the special relationships that

are now called the HP Way, with the implication that good employees worry about itbecause it is important and that their good leader will, as in the past, continue to protect theHP Way [16]. He also offers two brief moral tales to show how HP offers no career pathsfor people to follow and no master plan for promotion but does offer opportunity [18], suchthat individual performance leads to advancement [17], which, if accepted, would ignorethe possibility of poor management or prejudice leading to lack of advancement forindividuals or, by extension, the organization.

CEO Platt, attempting to keep the organization focused as he makes signicant, orstrategic, changes, tells the cautionary tale of a rash of commercial airline crashes thatwere caused because no one remembered to y the airplane when dealing with otherproblems [19], and further emphasises that this was only discovered after extensiveinvestigations, suggesting that this kind of complacency or distraction, perhaps inquestioning strategic direction or worrying about strategic outcomes, would not be obvious

and might even look like positive and productive concern and so requires additionalscrutiny on the part of individuals.

CEO Fiorina uses an anticipatory moral tale with founders as heroes who createdsomething magical which has been lost, and her as hero who will return to its roots toreinvent the organization with any good employee who joins her reinvention army [20];reminding employees that weve reinvented ourselves over and over, suggesting that thisis part of a natural teleological process that responds to dissatisfaction with the renewal of social construction and purposeful enactment by individuals who commit their creativityand energy to make it happen, such that if anything goes wrong it would be becauseindividuals were not committed rather than as a result of failings in the strategy or structurecommunicated via CEO discourse. Table 3 summarises the discourses used by the threeHP CEOs.

This analysis has been a detailed examination of the discursive strategies utilised bythe three HP CEOs in their efforts to legitimise particular strategic initiatives and, in sodoing, their grand strategic directions at particular points over three decades. Our ndingsshowcase the central role myths play in shaping the CEO discourse. In the next section wefocus on the third level of text that forms responses to the CEO discourse and their mythsover time.

Responses to CEO discourse: the case of an outsider CEO

This section will examine authoritative, counter, and ironic discursive response to thelegitimacy of the new outsider CEO (Fiorina) and her proposed transformation of corporate identity by analysing local texts produced by organizational members and otherstakeholders, contained within internal and external documents, including employeenewsletters and web sites.

Talking back to Fiorina: authoritative, counter and ironic responses to CEO discourse

The rst issue of Measure, after Fiorina is appointed, (1999, Sep/Oct) contains textproduced in support of the strategic change, such as the editor who comments, in aneditorial praising the former CEO, that it looks like HP has found an able replacement inCarly Fiorina[1] (The numbers in brackets correspond to the numbered quotes in Table 4 ),


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T a b l e 4 . A u t h o r i t a t i v e , c

o u n t e r a n d i r o n i c a l r e s p o n s e s t o C E O F i o r i n a .

A u t h o r i t a t i v e

C o u n t e r

I r o n i c a l

[ 1 ] I t l o o k s l i k e H P h a s f o u n d a n a b l e

r e p l a c e m e n t i n C a r l y F i o r i n a . S h e s b r i g h t

,

w a r m , f

o c u s e d , a

n d a b i g b e l i e v e r i n e m p l o y e e

c o m m u n i c a t i o n s .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 9 9 S e p / O c t )

[ 2 ] H P w i l l b e c o m e a n o t h e r D E C u n l e s s t h e y t a k e t h e

f o l l o w i n g s t e p s :

1 . S p i n o f f C a r l y F i o r i n a

2 . S p i n o f f A n n L i v e r m o r e

3 . S p i n o f f 5 0 % o f m a n a g e r s

4 . S p i n o f f 2 0 , 0 0 0 e m p l o y e e s

5 . S p i n o f f e - s e r v i c e

6 . S p i n o f f n e w p r o t s h a r i n g f o r m u l a

a n d g o b a c k t o o l d f o r m u l a .

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 2 7 - O c t - 9

9 )

[ 3 ] R e : R u l e s o f t h e g a r a g e

T h e s e r u l e s a r e s o p o o r l y w r i t t e n , a n d s o i l l - t h o u g h t

o u t , I b e t C a r l y w r o t e t h e m h e r s e l f . I f I w e r e h e r

p r o f e s s o r , I d g i v e h e r a D - .

B u t t h e n a g a i n

, M e d i e v a l

H i s t o r y i s h e r s p e c i a l t y , i

s n t i t ?

N o w r e p e a t a f t e r m e : I N V E N T , I N V E N T ,

I N V E N T

. O k , w h e r e s m y 7 0 m i l l i o n b u c k s I j u s t

e a r n e d ?

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 3 0 - J u n - 0

1 )

[ 4 ] W e c a n a l w a y s n d a w a y t o s h a r e o u r

t i m e a n d s k i l l s w i t h p e o p l e w h o r e a l l y n e e d

a h e l p i n g h a n d . B

e a r i n m i n d t h i s r u l e o f t h e

g a r a g e ,

B e l i e v e y o u c a n c h a n g e t h e w o r l d

.

( M e a s u r e 2 0 0 1 M a y / J u n )

[ 5 ] N o m a t t e r w h o y o u s p e a k t o , s

p e e d ,

m o t i o n a n d p e r s o n a l m

a g n e t i s m a r e t h e

q u a l i t i e s t h a t k e e p p o p p i n g u p w h e n p e o p l e

d e s c r i b e t h e r s t w o m a n t o h e a d a D o w

3 0 c o m p a n y .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 9 9 S e p / O c t )

[ 6 ] S o I s a y c h a n g e y o u r I m e n t i t l e d t o

a j o b a t H P m e n t a l i t y

, b r u s h o f f y o u r r e s u m e ,

g e t o f f t h e s e b o a r d s , a n d G E T A J O B A N D A

L I F E ! ! ! !

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 3 0 - N o v - 0 1 )

[ 7 ] R e : C l a r k e s d e p a r t u r e b i g l o s s t o n e w H P

N o t e . . . C

a r l y s W a y i s N O T T H E H P W A Y

. . . . m

a k e

n o m i s t a k e ( Y a h o o B o a r d , 2 5 - N o v - 0

3 )

[ 8 ] H e r t i m e i n C o r v a l l i s w a s n o t h i n g l i k e t h e v i s i t s

o f D a v e a n d B i l l

, b o t h o f w h o m I s a w o n s e v e r a l

o c c a s i o n s a s t h e y v i s i t e d m y d i v i s i o n s . [ .

. . ] T h e r e

w a s n o m i n g l i n g w i t h t h e o r d i n a r y t r o o p s , n o

w a n d e r i n g a r o u n d t h e s i t e m e e t i n g p e o p l e i n t h e i r

o w n w o r k a r e a s a n d c o n v e r s i n g w i t h t h e m q u i e t l y

a n d o f f t h e r e c o r d . T h i s a l o o f n e s s h a s c h a r a c t e r i s e d h e r

e n t i r e t e n u r e a t H P , a n d i t h a s b e e n h e r d o w n f a l l .

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 1 6 - D e c - 0

1 )

[ 9 ] C a r l y F a i l u r i n a , I s a y t h a t i t s t i m e f o r y o u t o s t o p

c r y i n g a b o u t i t , a c c e p t i t , a n d m o v e o n . I k n o w i t s

p a i n f u l t o a d m i t t h a t y o u w e r e a l o w p e r f o r m e r . A

n d I

k n o w t h a t y o u r e i n d e e p d e n i a l . H

o w e v e r , t

h e

d e c i s i o n w a s m a d e a n d y o u w e r e c u t .

F e a r n o t , t h o , b e c a u s e i t s n o t t h e e n d o f t h e w o r l d

. H P

i s b u t o n e c o m p a n y f o r y o u t o r u n i n t o t h e g r o u n d .

T h e r e a r e o t h e r s . L

i k e L u c e n t ; w h o o p s , y o u a l r e a d y

d i d t h a t o n e .

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 3 0 - N o v - 0

1 )

( c o n t i n u e d )


D o w n l o a


i t y o f

W a r w

i c k ] a t

0 4 : 2

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T a b l e 4 . ( C o n t i n u e d ) .

A u t h o r i t a t i v e

C o u n t e r

I r o n i c a l

[ 1 0 ] B a r e l y t w o m o n t h s i n t o h e r j o b [ .

. . ]

C a r l y h a s q u i c k e n e d t h e p a c e . T

h e p u l s e

r a t e f o r t h i s 6 0 - y e a r - o l d c o m p a n y i s b e a t i n g

j u s t a l i t t l e b i t f a s t e r s i n c e t h e 4 4 - y e a r - o l d

l e a d e r a r r i v e d [ .

. . ] T h e d e m a n d s o n

C a r l y s t i m e w e r e i n c r e d i b l e a n d y e t , s h e

s e e m e d t o k e e p a s t e p

a h e a d o f e v e r y o n e .

( M e a s u r e 1 9 9 9 S e p / O c t )

[ 1 2 ] H i r i n g C a r l y g i v e s H P a s o r t o f

s p e e d i n j e c t i o n I n d u s t r y a n a l y s t f o r G o l d m a n

S a c h s

( M e a s u r e 1 9 9 9 S e p / O c t )

[ 1 1 ] I t r e a l l y l i g h t s m y r o c k e t w h e n m a n a g e r s o v e r r i d e H P

p o l i c i e s t h a t f r o n t l i n e p e r s o n n e l m u s t a d h e r e t o b y p r o v i d i n g

s p e c i a l t r e a t m e n t t o c u s t o m e r s t h a t a r e p e r s i s t e n t e n o u g h t o

c o n t a c t t h e m . I f

e e l t h i s m a k e s t h e c u s t o m e r - s u p p o r t p e r s o n

l o o k b a d i n t h e e y e s o f t h e c u s t o m e r . [ . . . ]

W e r e t h e p o l i c i e s

a n d p r o c e d u r e s t h a t c a u s e d t h i s c u s t o m e r t o l o s e c o n d e n c e

i n H P c h a n g e d ? S h o u l d n t w e l o o k a t w h a t c a u s e d t h e

d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n i n t h e r s t p l a c e , x t h a t a n d t h e n t r u m p e t t h e

x a s a s u c c e s s s t o r y ?

( M e a s u r e 2 0 0 0 J a n / F e b )

[ 1 3 ] W h e r e v e r I g o , I

g e t a n e n t h u s i a s t i c

r e s p o n s e f r o m H P e m p l o y e e s . T h e y s h a k e

m y h a n d a n d h u g m e a n d s a y , O h , t h a n k

y o u s o m u c h f o r n d i n g w h a t r e a l l y l o o k s

l i k e a g r e a t H P C E O

.

( D i c k H a c k b o r n , M e a s u r e 1 9 9 9 S e p / O c t )

[ 1 4 ] R e : C a r l y F i o r i n a i n t e r v i e w w i t h F o r b e s

H P

m a n a g e m e n t s a y i n g t h a t a m a j o r i t y o f p r e - m e r g e r H P

e m p l o y e e s f a v o u r e d t h e m e r g e r , b a s i n g t h e s e

s t a t e m e n t s o n a b o g u s e m p l o y e e p u l s e t a k e n w i t h o u t

a n o n y m i t y f r o m a g r o u p o f h a n d - s e l e c t e d e m p l o y e e s

w h o h a d j u s t h e a r d C a r l y g i v e a t a l k a b o u t t h e

b e n e t s o f t h e m e r g e r .

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 0 6 - A u g - 0

3 )

[ 1 5 ] H m m . . . R

e m e m b e r t h e s e H P C a r l y i s m s ?

S h i n i n g s o u l s ,

e s e r v i c e s ,

J u s t w a t c h

, a p p s o n

t a p ,

R u l e s o f t h e G a r a g e ,

L e a d e r s h i p i s a

p e r f o r m a n c e , w e m a y h a v e t o d o s o m e t h i n g

e x t r a o r d i n a r y

. . .

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 0 8 - M a r - 0

3 )

[ 1 6 ] I e n j o y e d r e - r e a d i n g t h e a r t i c l e a b o u t

L u c e n t ( M a y - J u n e , 1 9 9 9 ) , e s p e c i a l l y a f t e r

o u r n e w C E O w a s n a m e d . T

h a n k s f o r

h a v i n g t h e i n s i g h t t o f e a t u r e a n a r t i c l e

a b o u t L u c e n t !

( W e n d y F o n g , M

e a s u r e 1 9 9 9 S e p / O c t )

[ 1 7 ] R e : A n e w b e g i n n i n g . I t s t i l l l o o k s l i k e L u c e n t I I

t h e S e q u e l , t

o m e C a r l y - S u e . L

i e s , l i e s , a n d m o r e l i e s

r i g h t u p t o w h e n s h e p o p s t h e g o l d e n p a r a c h u t e .

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 2 1 - N o v - 0

2 )

[ 1 8 ] G i v e C a r l y s o m e c r e d i t - h p q

S o , I B

M h a s b e e n

l u c k y e n o u g h n o t t o h a v e a n e g o t i s t i c a l l e a d e r l i k e

C a r l y

. W h a t i d i o t , o

t h e r t h a n t h e c r e a t o r o f t h e L u c e n t

c o f f e e r i n g , w o u l d t h i n k t h a t H W P C P Q

. H P Q w a s a s i n n o v a t i v e a m a r k e t i n g m

e s s a g e a s

a d d i n g i n v e n t t o t h e H P l o g o .

( Y a h o o B o a r d , 1 8 - A u g - 0

5 )


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i t y o f

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i c k ] a t

0 4 : 2

3 2 2 O c t o b e r 2

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with the term it looks like a signal that the editor retains some independence of expression and feels the need to position his text with the rest of HP rather than theincoming outsider CEO. However, on an online message board in the same month, amember overtly challenges the legitimacy of Fiorina and her approach with his argumentthat HP will become another DEC, a failed competitor, if they do not get rid of CarlyFiorina, 50% of managers, 20,000 employees and the new prot sharing formula. Fiorinasrules of the garage were central to her discursive attempts to transform corporate identityand received particular attention from those supporting, countering and appropriating thetext of strategic renewal; for example, just a few issues later, an employee is able to applythe afrmative, self-help sentiment of the garage text to his own situation [4], a way of supporting, and to some extent internalising, the corporate discourse of strategic renewal [5].Elsewhere, the rule of the garage was subject to resistance, as with the thread on Yahoosmessage board with a humorous reference to her undergraduate major, intended toundermine the credibility of the rules and an attempt at belittling the role of the CEO [3],demonstrating the way in which the words and concepts that underpin the Fiorinadiscourse of strategic renewal can be accepted and assimilated, taken as life-changing

wisdom, rejected directly or mocked in a way that removes their rhetorical power totransform corporate identity or legitimate the CEO, as in comments calling on readers toremember what are termed as these HP Carlyisms [15].

One counter narrative is offered [7] in which a clear distinction is made between thesuperior Hewlett and Packard version of the HP Way and the inferior Fiorina version, tothe point that the new version is something totally different. Another story [8] describedhow Fiorinas approach characterised her entire tenure at HP and how it was her downfall,and one member made it clear that the rules of the garage are Carlys version of the HPway, adding hypocrisy and inconsistency to a list of cynical responses to Fiorinasdiscourse, in marked contrast to the language used by Dick Hackborn [13]. Resistance is of varying levels of intensity and focus, mirroring the lack of sympathy expressed by Fiorinasupporters [6, 9].

Overall, Fiorinas attempts to legitimate her formal authority, discourse of strategic

renewal, the transformation of corporate identity and the creation of the myth of the newHP depend on acceptance by others, internally and externally. To some extent, the levelof acceptance or engagement with Fiorinas discourse will alter the level of effort, fromemployees and partners, in making her proposed strategies successful, either byimplementing them as proposed or by modifying them to make them successful and thencrediting the success to the proposed strategic renewal. The CEO will be viewed assuccessful and in control if the dominant narrative, as told and repeated outside of herdirect control, is one in which the CEO is the hero rather than villain or tragic gure, partof a romance, rather than a quixotic quest, ill-fated adventure or comedy. Next we discussfurther the implications of our ndings.

Discussion and conclusion

This paper contributes to studies examining the discursive aspects of strategy 58 and,specically, recent efforts to understand the way discourse is used by particularstrategists 59 by providing a detailed analysis of the discourse employed by threesuccessive CEOs in Hewlett Packard over a 27-year period. Our results provide two keyinsights. First, they help us conceptualise mythopoetical behaviour as one of the fou

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