Japan's Nuclear Plant Crisis due to Bad Management.

The Fukushima Daiichi Plant in Japan operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company must solve its management and culture crisis first if it wants to achieve any positive result.
As management guru Peter Drucker said, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." TEPCO failed in doing both. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that when the earthquake and the tsunami struck, TEPCO hesitated to flood overheating nuclear reactors with seawater because of worries about ruining their investment, even tough these steps were included in their emergency plan (contingency plan). The media reported other delays in taking action by the Japanese government, the military and other agencies.
A lot could be avoided if the Japanese Nuclear Plant had an effective management that at least followed its contingency plan.

Book recommendation

I" m reading an amazing book that really changed my perception of Management. It talks about Management as an essential part of business enterprises in the 21st century; the evolution of Business and Management; the Managers' function, tasks, and work; the history of Management; and the Management theories we studies in class.

"People and Performances"
by Peter Drucker
Harvard Business School Press

Decision Making.

Well, the Mid-Term was not as good as the class thought it would be but we were given a chance to collectively decide on a way to change the grades as well as to create an easier test format for the class. However, the way the decision making process was handled by the class was quite chaotic. Because of the sensitivity of the issue, everyone was trying to make the changes that were better for themselves (what is normal, we are all human beings). Each one of us had different difficulties and results in the exam, therefore wanted different changes. It seemed that everyone was Competing to Win, until the professor said that the decision had to be unanimous in order to be effective. This information made the class collaborate towards a conclusion that would benefit the group and compromise that everyone would vote for the agreed changes and would not change their minds.
I initially accommodated due to the big confusion and difficulty to be heard by the group. But when I heard that the class could lose the curve and the extra-credit I decided to collaborate and compromise with the group's decision.
When everyone is forced to cooperate in a decision process in which the result interests everyone equally, the best approach is to collaborate and compromise.