MARKET LEADER Network Website Lessons
9 October 2003
U P P E R I N T E R M E D I A T E I N T E R ME D I A T E
I N T E R M E D I A T E
UNIT 12 Management Styles UNIT 6 Risk UNIT 7 Innovation
Before you read
When can failure be a good thing?
What is the best way to learn and find new ways of doing things?
Reading
A new book by an American management professor claims that failure should be seen as a learning
experience. To find out more, read this article and then do the exercises that follow.
Failure is a factor in the learning equation
 This policy is especially true in to outlaw sloppy behaviour. It is
FT Correspondent workplaces that have adopted 'zero difficult to be kind about failure. The
tolerance for failure' or 'error-free' key is to seize some learning from
If we do not face up to our mistakes work environments, writes Professor the experience.
and accept that they happen in every Thomke. This work appears to be proving
job, if we are fearful of punishment,  The result is waste, not only the sense of the old proverb: to err is
the chances are that errors will be the kind of waste that comes from human; to forgive, divine. Perhaps
concealed, overlooked and, in some lower productivity and longer time to you could add a rider, that to
cases, compounded. In these market but waste from not taking congratulate in these circumstances is
circumstances we can forget advantage of the innovation potential extraordinary.
innovation, according to Stefan that new technologies can provide. Of course, in safety-related jobs
Thomke, associate professor of Managers, he says, need to such as air traffic control and train
technology and operations rethink the role of failure in their driving, mistakes can be a matter of
management at Harvard Business businesses. More bosses, he suggests, life and death. But training for these
School. should adopt the attitude of Tom roles can allow mistakes in
In a new book, Watson Sr, the founder of simulation exercises. This is not to
Experimentation Matters,
International Business Machines, say that all workplace mistakes or
who is said to have called into his failures are acceptable. Gross
Professor Thomke concedes that
office a young executive who had negligence cannot be excused.
careless mistakes are something we
lost $10m while trying to develop a Yet work that can tolerate
should try to weed out. But failure
new venture. When the executive experimentation - and much of it can
when experimenting with something
offered his resignation, Watson said: - appears to feed off errors and
new, he says, should be rewarded,
 You can't be serious. We've just failures. If necessity is the
not punished, when lessons are
spent $10m educating you. acknowledged mother of invention, it
learnt.
In a further experiment, may be time to recognise failure as
Self-recrimination is one thing.
Professor Thomke found that people the father.
The threat of punishment from above
were more willing to try new ideas
is something else. Too often, he
when managers explicitly encouraged
notes, employees are embarrassed by
experiment and were consistent in
failure that they believe will lead to a
refusing to censure failure. This is a From the Financial Times
loss of standing in their company.
tough lesson for managers who seek
www.market leader.net © Pearson Education Limited 2002 Photocopiable
MARKET LEADER Network Website Lessons
9 October 2003
U P P E R I N T E R M E D I A T E I N T E R ME D I A T E
I N T E R M E D I A T E
UNIT 12 Management Styles UNIT 6 Risk UNIT 7 Innovation
Reading Comprehension - getting the general meaning
Based on the information in the article, say whether the following statements are true (T), false (F) or
there is not enough information in the text (N).
1 Fear of failure often prevents innovation
2 Professor Thomke believes that failure is always acceptable
3 Some companies do not tolerate errors or mistakes
4 IBM is quoted as an example of a company that does not tolerate failure
5 Failure should be encouraged because you can always learn from it
6 Failure is acceptable if you learn from it
7 Professor Thomke believes that managers should not criticise and punish failure
8 He does not recommend trying learn from mistakes in safety related jobs which can affect life and
death, such as air traffic controllers or train drivers
Vocabulary building 1
Find two proverbs or sayings used in the article, which correspond to these meanings
a It is natural for people to make mistakes and it is important to forgive people when they do
b If you really need to do something, you will think of a way of doing it
Vocabulary building 2
Match words or phrases from the two columns below to form expressions from the article
Gross death
To face up to out
Loss of recrimination
To weed tolerance
Life and standing
Self negligence
Zero mistakes
Vocabulary building 3
Complete these sentences using some of the expressions from the previous exercise
1 If you make a mistake, it is better to ______________________ it than to try and hide it
2 In legal terms, a very serious and careless mistake is known as ________________
3 In some jobs, a mistake can mean the difference between _________________
4 Some countries have a policy of _____________________ as far as drinking and driving is
concerned, which means that drivers drink no alcohol at all
5 Making a bad mistake that everyone knows about can result in a ________________ and reputation
6 The first set of job interviews is designed to __________________ the very weakest applicants
7 If you blame yourself for something, you are guilty of _________________
Discussion activities
Do you agree with Professor Thomke's ideas? Do you think they are widely applied in organisations?
If you can, describe an occasion when you have learned something significant from making a mistake.
www.market leader.net © Pearson Education Limited 2002 Photocopiable
MARKET LEADER Network Website Lessons
9 October 2003
U P P E R I N T E R M E D I A T E I N T E R ME D I A T E
I N T E R M E D I A T E
UNIT 12 Management Styles UNIT 6 Risk UNIT 7 Innovation
KEY
Reading comprehension
1 T
2 F. He does not approve of careless mistakes, failure in safety related jobs or gross negligence
3 T. They have a policy of zero tolerance
4 F. It is quoted as an example of a company that believes failure can be a valuable learning
experience
5 F. Professor Thomke does not advocate failure as an objective to aim for, but rather that failure
should be tolerated in some situations as it can be a valuable learning experience
6 T
7 T
8 T
Vocabulary building 1
To err is human, to forgive divine
Necessity is the mother of invention
Vocabulary building 2
Gross negligence
To face up to mistakes
Loss of standing
To weed out
Life and death
Self-recrimination
Zero tolerance
Vocabulary building 3
1 face up to
2 gross negligence
3 life and death
4 zero tolerance
5 loss of standing
6 weed out
7 self-recrimination
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