CHANGE MANAGEMENT
MENTOR GRAPHICS
THE ROLE OF VISION

ORGB 2605 Group 5
Taylor Nicholson - A00839192
Courtenay Anderson - A00665468
Wendy McLeod - A00545182 Ana Cielo Tanjuaquio - A00748789
When Gerald Langelar first imagined his “Vision” for Mentor Graphics he failed to remember that, “It is imperative that change is aligned with a clear vision and business strategy and that subsequent activities and interventions are coordinated and consistent.” (Victor and Franckeiss pg. 249)

1.
Mentor Graphics used vision several different ways over the years. Their initial vision of “Build something people will buy” was, as stated in the text, an unarticulated vision. The vision of the company is meant to be inspiring, motivating, and resonate emotion. Mentor Graphics was thought to have missed the mark with this by creating a far too simple vision. The initial intentions were good but the process in the creation of the subsequent visions, which were primarily good, however, as time passed, became vague, confusing, and ultimately the vision returned to the original vision of getting back to the core principles of the organization.

2.
The multiple visions both strengthened and weakened the company during the process. The visions strengthened the company by being able to connect the vision to the organization's inner voice. This was true of the original vision, however the two of visions; the “10X Imperative” and “Changing the Way the World Designs Together” were not understood by customers and had little to do with the actual business that Mentor Graphics was operating. This was a weakness in the organization in that it did not portray what they potentially wanted to convey.
It strengthened the company in that the visions were based on “beating” its competitors and the visions initially had a good relationship of vision to market strategy. To create a competitive advantage, “vision and strategy must be unconventional, often counterintuitive, and differentiation from those of other companies” (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). The visions were based upon being better than their competitors, and this way of thinking helped Mentor Graphics eventually exceed the revenue of their competitor Daisy. Once they had achieved that goal they then changed it to garner market leadership in six different businesses.
A weakness that emerged was when they stalled in using Sun platforms, because of the existence of their vision - “Six Boxes.” This vision was developed to represent six different businesses in which they sought market leadership. Unfortunately one of the businesses, computer-aided publishing, was not paying dividends. Mentor Graphics felt it could not shut it down because it would be left with only “Five Boxes.” This delay stopped them from moving forward with the new Sun platform. It is important to adapt to new situations and environments, and overhaul them to become more relevant (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). Not adapting to computer-aided publishing, not paying its dividends, and “sticking” to its vision, ultimately weakened Mentor Graphics vision to be an industry leader.

3.
There are many reasons why visions fail and Mentor Graphics has dealt with many of these in their vision failures. One of the reasons was mentioned previously when they did not adapt when computer-aided publishing and did not pay its dividends, which caused the initial vision to be inapplicable. This could also be viewed as too disconnected from the present. This did not allow for current obstacles so that they can be achievable and believable (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). When computer-aided publishing caused issues, the vision made it so they couldn’t shut it down, which disrupted the ability of Mentor Graphics to make sound financial judgements. However, Mentor Graphics did change its vision once they “Beat Daisy” which allowed them to focus on a different vision.

As some of the visions were changed and as the company grew and fulfilled the visions, others did fail: * Too complex - Even though the “10X Imperative” mirrored what other companies were making toward quality through six-sigma programs, it was difficult for customers to understand the vision, as it was too difficult to understand * Irrelevant - The vision “Changing the Way the World Designs Together” was not depicting what Mentor Graphics actually did or was going to do. The picture was clear, yet not strongly attached to the business * Blurred - All of the visions could arguably have been blurred as there was no clear picture of the future. The “Beat Daisy” was a great vision to have, but didn’t give any clear direction once that was accomplished * Inadequate - Many of the visions only partially addressed the problem it was directed towards (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). This is why there were so many visions in such a short time frame.

We think that the leader of the organization had good intentions to create his idea of a perfect vision but somehow lost direction and forgot the foundation that a vision needs. The original vision might have succeeded had Mentor Graphics transitioned to the Sun Platform sooner than they did.

4.
Vision is one that encompasses all three vision debates. In reference to Mentor Graphics we see the following:

Vision Drives Change or Emerges During Change: * Drive - Build something people will buy * Drive - Interview potential customers for research * Drive - Based on research design a workstation product * Emerge - Beat Daisy Systems
We see that Gerald Langelar had a vision to improve output however the initial drive of the vision gets lost along the way.

Vision Helps or Hinders Change: * Help - The realization that to stay competitive they needed to improve their product * Hinder - Initial vision to build a better product got lost * Hinder - The vision was unarticulated * Hinder - Following the latest vision craze “10x Imperative” and “Changing the Way the World Designs together”
For a vision to be successful it must be communicated to the people involved. No matter how good the fundamental idea of the vision is, it must have a good foundation and approach or it will not work.

Vision as an attribute of Heroic Leaders or Heroic Organizations
While one may want to be thought of as a heroic leader, it is the organization as a whole that makes a vision heroic. The vision must be shared, explained, and planned as we saw in chapter eight by following the basic principles: * Discussion * Plan * Time-line * Communication * Implementation * Follow-up
Mentor Graphics did not follow through with the basic principles of implementing change and as a result the vision got lost. We see that the only thing Mentor Graphics did correctly, initially, was interview potential customers, however the errors in the process of Gerald Langelar’s vision were too numerous: * Unarticulated vision * Growth problems * Decline in product quality * Problems with internal coordination * When something was failing the inability to let it go or rethink the process * Computer aided publishing not paying dividends * Unwilling to go from 6 Boxes to 5 Boxes * Not transitioning to Sun Systems sooner * Inability to make sound business decision
Mentor Graphics failure to develop a sound vision which would be understood, not only by the employees but the community as a whole, was a hard lesson learned by Gerald Langelar.

We need to remember that change has an impact on everyone and the vision that is seen by the leader(s) which includes the content, context, and process of the vision, must be shared and explained, which will in turn give the employees a clear path to follow and be able to implement the vision that is imagined. Mentor Graphics realized that going back to their initial simple vision, which was understood by both the employees and the consumers, was what was best for the organization.