Page 47 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

46 Part 1 • Introduction
that you’re in the clear. The newest targets for data thieves are issues requires special talents. The response-center team is a
smartphones and other mobile devices. However, the good diverse group whose members weren’t easy to find. “It’s not as
guys are fighting back. For instance, security technology com- if colleges are creating thousands of anti-malware or security
pany Symantec Corporation set up a sting called Operation experts every year that we can hire. If you find them in any part
HoneyStick, in which it distributed 50 smartphones in Silicon of the world, you just go after them.” The response-center team’s
Valley; Washington, DC; New York; Los Angeles; and Ottawa, makeup reflects that. For instance, one senior researcher is from
Canada. The phones were loaded with a lot of important but Hungary; another is from Iceland; and another works out of her
fake data and left in locations where thieves would be tempted home in Melbourne, Florida. But they all share something in
to pick them up, such as restaurants, elevators, convenience common: They’re all motivated by solving problems.
stores, and college student The launch of the
gathering places. Oh, and one Managing talented people in Blaster-B worm, a particularly
other thing: the smartphones nasty virus, in late summer
were equipped with monitor- a work environment that’s 2003 changed the company’s
ing software so the security quickly shifting can be quite approach to dealing with vi-
experts could track where the challenging! ruses. The domino effect of
devices were taken once found Blaster-B and other viruses
and what type of information spawned by it meant that
was accessed by the finders. This is just one example of how frontline software analysts were working around the clock for
Symantec’s employees are trying to “save the world” one step almost two weeks. The “employee burn-out” potential made
at a time—not an easy thing to do. the company realize that its virus-hunting team would now
“Imagine what life would be like if your product were have to be much deeper talent-wise. Now, the response cen-
never finished, if your work were never done, if your mar- ter’s team numbers in the hundreds and managers can rotate
ket shifted 30 times a day.” Sounds pretty crazy, doesn’t it? people from the front lines—where they’re responsible for
However, the computer-virus hunters and security experts at responding to new security threats that crop up—into groups
Symantec don’t have to imagine—that’s the reality of their where they can help with new-product development. Others
daily work. For instance, at the company’s well-obscured write internal research papers. Still others are assigned to
Dublin facility (one of three around the globe), operations develop new tools that will help their colleagues battle the
manager Patrick Fitzgerald must keep his engineers and re- next wave of threats. There’s even an individual who tries
searchers focused 24/7 on identifying and combating what the to figure out what makes the virus writers tick—and the day
bad guys are throwing out there. Right now, they’re trying to never ends for these virus hunters. When Dublin’s team fin-
stay ahead of a big virus threat, Stuxnet, which targets com- ishes its day, colleagues in Santa Monica take over. When the
puter systems running the environmental controls in industrial U.S. team finishes its day, it hands off to the team in Tokyo,
facilities, such as temperature in power plants, pressure in who then hands back to Dublin for the new day. It’s a frenetic,
pipelines, automated timing, and so forth. The consequences of chaotic, challenging work environment that spans the entire
someone intent on doing evil getting control over such critical globe. But the goals for managing the virus hunters are to “try
functions could be disastrous. to take the chaos out, to make the exciting boring,” to have a
Symantec, which designs content and network security predictable and well-defined process for dealing with the virus
software for both consumers and businesses, reflects the threats, and to spread work evenly to the company’s facilities
realities facing many organizations today—quickly shifting around the world. It’s a managerial challenge that company
customer expectations and continuously emerging global com- managers have embraced.
petitors and global threats. Managing talented people in such
an environment can be quite challenging. Discussion Questions
Symantec’s virus hunters around the world deal with some
20,000 virus samples each month, not all of which are unique, 1-22 Keeping professionals excited about work that is routine,
standardized, and chaotic is a major challenge for Symantec’s
stand-alone viruses. To make the hunters’ jobs even more inter- managers. How could they use technical, human, and con-
esting is that computer attacks are increasingly being spread by ceptual skills to maintain an environment that encourages
criminals around the world wanting to steal information, whether innovation and professionalism among the virus hunters?
corporate data or personal user account information that can be 1-23 What managerial competencies might be important for these
used in fraud. Dealing with these critical and time-sensitive managers and why are these important?