The Dynamics of Organizational Collapse: The Case of Barings Bank

ISBN-13: 9780415399616 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 144 str.

Helga Drummond

Opis

The collapse of Barings' Bank was a commercial catastrophe that resonated worldwide, showing what kind of secrets can lie behind an apparently successful organization. Following Nick Leeson's arrest and subsequent conviction for fraud, investment banks anxiously reviewed their risk management controls to make sure that it could never happen again.

Helga Drummond's exploration is conducted against a backdrop of social and psychological theories of decision error that seeks to go beyond media style accusations of greed and incompetence. She challenges the myth that Barings 'must have known' that mischief was afoot. The book offers lessons for all organizations as it shows how easily managers can end up living in a world of fantasy believing that everything is under control when the precise opposite may be true. It is not risk and uncertainty that should worry organizations, concludes Drummond, but what they are most sure of.

The collapse of Barings Bank had international ramifications, and this scholarly analysis will have an international audience as a result. The book will be of great interest to all those interested in social psychology, the application of psychology in management theory, sociology, and organizational behaviour. It is also suitable as recommended reading for a management or organization behaviour course.

Recenzje

"Her sast chapter's fascinating water analogy nicely summarizes the issues, and her final sentence may well generalize the background of the current financial crisis ... well worth reading." -- CHOICE September 2008, Vol. 46 (J. Prager, New York University)

Spis treści

1. The Paradox of Consequences  2. ‘A Third Rate Pisspot Bank’  3. Failing Most Successfully  4. The Dynamics of Power  5. Did Nick Leeson Have an Accomplice?  6. Analysing the Fatal Disconnect  7. Agency, Structure and Organizational Collapse  8. From Order Filler to Star Trader  9. Analysis of Leeson’s Early Days  10. Decision Error  11. ‘A Million Bucks a Day’  12. Analysis of the Final Weeks  13. The Illusion of Control  14. The Last Line of Defence  15. Analysing the Illusion of Control  16. Summary and Conclusions

O autorze

Helga Drummond is Professor of Decision Sciences at the University of Liverpool Management School.