The Founders & MIT Connection
Joe Scanlon
Joe Scanlon was a man of many talents. He was a steelworker and union president, a prize fighter, and an accountant. Douglas McGregor brought Joe to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he pioneered many modern leadership practices, including open book management, employee involvement, and gainsharing. Joe’s clients became the model for McGregor’s “Theory Y” leadership. A true servant leader, Joe never copyrighted his work so that anyone could benefit from his ideas. It is a tribute to Joe’s genius that many of his ideas are now widespread throughout the world. Joe had an abiding conviction that together people could achieve the impossible.
What we are actually trying to say is simply this: That the average worker knows his own job better than anyone else, and that there are a great many things that he could do if he has a complete understanding of the necessary. Given this opportunity of expressing his intelligence and ingenuity, he becomes a more useful and more valuable citizen in any given community or in any industrial operation.
Fred Lesieur
Fred was a machinist and Union President at the Lapointe Machine Tool Company when he met Joe Scanlon. Fred partnered with Joe until Joe’s death and became one of the most prolific Scanlon Consultants. Lesieur Scanlon Plans are still in place in organizations such as the Dana Corporation and National Manufacturing. Fred worked closely with MIT organizing the annual Scanlon Conference and editing The Scanlon Plan: a frontier in labor-management cooperation, which remains one of the best books on Scanlon Plans.
The Scanlon Plan is difficult to explain because it is not a simple formula. Actually what we are really talking about is a set of principles or ideals...
Douglas McGregor
Dr. Douglas McGregor was a psychologist and a great scholar of organizations. He developed Theory X and Theory Y to describe the underlying assumptions managers make about people. His books including The Human Side of Enterprise remain classics in the field of organizational development. Douglas McGregor was responsible for bringing both Joe Scanlon and Carl Frost to MIT.
Participative and Consultative Management… I need only mention the Scanlon Plan as the outstanding embodiment of these ideas in practice.
Carl Frost
Dr. Carl Frost was a colleague of Joe Scanlon and Douglas McGregor at MIT. After World War II, Dr. Frost came to Michigan State University (MSU). As the nation’s first land grant university, MSU has a long history of serving farmers — Dr. Frost’s charge was to serve Michigan’s growing industries. One of his first clients was a small West Michigan furniture maker called Herman Miller. Soon Dr. Frost was working with a variety of industries including Donnelly, Motorola, Sligh, Firestone, and Beth Israel Hospital. Dr. Frost continued Joe’s work and developed the Frost/Scanlon Principles of Identity, Participation, Equity, and Competence. He also developed a “roadmap” for personal, professional, and organizational change — described in his book Changing Forever: The Well-Kept Secret of America’s Leading Companies, published by MSU Press. Dr. Frost was the 1998 recipient of the Scanlon Stewardship Award.
Throughout the four Processes, there is a singleness of purpose for every employee. The purpose is to enable all employees to become literate about their companies’ realities, to become responsible in owning problems and solutions, to become accountable for actions and to become committed to personal, professional, and organizational competence.
The Herman Miller Connection
D.J. DePree
D.J. DePree founded Herman Miller (named after his father-in-law). D.J. was one of the first businessmen in the Midwest to develop a Scanlon Plan with Dr. Carl Frost. D.J. believed it was not honest to copy traditional designs — instead Herman Miller became a leader in modern design. He believed every encounter with another human being should be a “fortuitous encounter” that enriches all participants. He experienced a transformation from a traditional manager to a great leader upon the death of Herman Rummelt, the Herman Miller millwright. D.J. DePree is an inductee of the National Business Hall of Fame and received the 1999 Scanlon Stewardship Award posthumously.
A company is rightly judged by its products and services — but it must also face scrutiny and judgement as to its humanity.
Hugh DePree
Hugh DePree was the oldest son of D.J. DePree. During his tenure as CEO at Herman Miller, Hugh worked with Carl Frost to further refine and apply the Scanlon Principles and Processes. Hugh DePree wrote Business as Unusual, which described Herman Miller leadership and design philosophy. The book is out of print, but well worth seeking out. Hugh was honored with the Scanlon Stewardship Award in 1999.
We were warmed as a family is warmed by good news, when we embraced the Scanlon Plan as the way to manage the company.
Max DePree
Max DePree was the youngest son of D.J. DePree and an inductee of the Business Hall of Fame. As CEO of Herman Miller he continued to develop Scanlon Leadership thought and practice. An extremely gifted writer, he authored Leadership is an Art — at first unable to find a publisher, Carl Frost convinced Michigan State University Press to publish it. It became a bestseller and was one of eight books Inc. Magazine advised every business person to own. His Leadership Jazz was widely read, and he published Leading Without Power: Finding Hope in Serving Community on nonprofit leadership. Max was honored with the Scanlon Stewardship Award in 1999.
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.
Dick Ruch
Dick Ruch was CEO of Herman Miller and served on the Herman Miller Board of Directors for many years. He was known as “Mr. Scanlon” and has been a frequent Scanlon speaker. He was awarded the first Scanlon Stewardship Award in 1996 for his years of service to the Scanlon Plan Associates and for his dedication in promoting Scanlon practices in American business. In 2002 he wrote Leaders & Followers: Lessons from 45 Years at Herman Miller, Inc.
I believe: Management should be based on caring or love for people… I believe: Each of us must take a stewardship responsibility for the gifts we have been given… I believe: In hard work and commitment to a cause… I believe: In servant leadership.
The Donnelly Connection
John Donnelly
John Donnelly was a brilliant multifaceted man. He studied engineering at Notre Dame and then decided to join the priesthood. He left the seminary to lead the family business when his father unexpectedly died. Donnelly Corporation was the second West Michigan company to develop a Scanlon Process with Dr. Carl Frost. His “Participative Management at Work: An interview with John F. Donnelly” remains one of the most requested Harvard Business Review reprints. John helped Donnelly become one of the first team-based organizations. His interest in employee involvement led him to work with Francis Likert, providing a model for System 4 Participative Management. John was awarded the Scanlon Stewardship Award posthumously.
Does all this sound too good to be true? Does it presume that mankind is better than it really is? Does it demand a change of heart by many people? Are we being presumptuous? Yes to all four of these questions.
Dwane Baumgardner
Dwane Baumgardner was the CEO of Donnelly Corporation. Technically trained with a Ph.D. in optics, Dwane was nonetheless recognized in Leading People as one of 36 best leaders of people in business. He received the Scanlon Stewardship Award in 1997 for his long-standing contribution to the Scanlon Associates. Dwane teamed with Russ Schafede to write The Leadership Roadmap, which combines the Scanlon EPIC Principles with Lean.
I see the Scanlon Principles as allowing us to unleash the tremendous energy within the company through participation… to direct the beam toward the desired target through Principles of identity, to constantly keep the powerful beam in tune through equity, and to continually strengthen the beam through competence.
Bob Doyle
Bob Doyle served as Personnel Director for many years at Donnelly, where he helped pioneer Donnelly’s team-based structure and create their Equity structure. He was instrumental in the founding of the Scanlon Plan Associates. He authored two books, Gainsharing and Productivity and Gain Management.
A business that satisfies all partners will be able to attract a greater contribution from all partners. A management team that creates a culture where all of the partners are actively looking for ways to serve one another may well discover the most powerful motivational force ever seen in business.
Consultants & Thought Leaders
Bill Greenwood
Dr. Bill Greenwood was a student and former partner of Dr. Carl Frost. He also served as Human Resource Director for Herman Miller. Bill was one of the most active Scanlon Consultants — his clients included organizations like Wescast, Sears, and Trans-Matic. Bill worked with Dr. Frost to develop the Scanlon Roadmap and has been an active supporter of the Scanlon Plan Associates. Dr. Greenwood was given the Scanlon Stewardship Award for his years of service to the Scanlon movement.
Is there a compelling need to change? Is there a significant opportunity for improvement? Are we willing, able, and ready?
Terry Vandewater
Terry worked for over 26 years in organizational communications at Herman Miller and is now an independent consultant and author of Principle Based Participative Management. Terry’s book made several major contributions to Scanlon Leadership practice and theory. He advocated precision in the use of Scanlon-related terms and offered definitions for the most commonly used. He introduced the concept of the “gap” that often occurs between participative management promises and actual practices, and offered suggestions on how to manage it.
Organizations must deliberately work to keep their management principles and mechanisms aligned to protect their most important asset — integrity.
Paul Davis
Paul Davis served as President of the Scanlon Leadership Network from 1993–2008. Working with Scanlon Network members throughout North America he created the Scanlon 101 and Scanlon Leadership Programs, the E.P.I.C. Culture Inventory™ and the Scanlon Roadmap learning map. He co-edited the definitive anthology of Scanlon thought and practice, Scanlon EPIC Leadership (2008), and The Human Treatment of Human Beings: the writings of Scanlon Steward John Donnelly. His most recent work with Larry Spears is Fortuitous Encounters: Wisdom Stories for Learning and Growth (Paulist Press, 2013). The Scanlon Network presented Paul with the Scanlon Stewardship Award for his service.
The Scanlon Movement and later the Scanlon Leadership Network pioneered many organizational and leadership ideas including labor management cooperation, suggestion systems, gainsharing, goalsharing, employee involvement, teams, open-book management, Lean and Servant Leadership. It has truly been a movement where the Best Ideas come Together. These ideas began with the remarkable life of Joe Scanlon but many thought leaders, consultants, practitioners added to the dream of the Steelworker. It is time for a new generation to pick up the torch and build new people centered high performance organizations. These archives have been rescued from storage to help make it possible. As Joe was fond of saying “Together we can achieve the impossible.”
