WHERE ARE WE GOING? Sam Thompson had just assumed his new role as manager of administration at Data, Inc.

, a manufacturer of electronic processing equipment. He had worked his way through the ranks since he was hired as a salesperson for the company seven years ago. Along the way, he had been assigned to positions in all phases of the company's operations after the top management group of Data, Inc., saw that he had considerable managerial potential. Sam was known as a very efficient person who always seemed to have a definite plan of action and a strong desire to see it succeed. The other managers in the division of administration, however, had never operated in such a fashion. Rather, they treated their assignments in a "fire-fighting" manner because the entire division always operated on a crisis basis. If emergency demands did not come from customers, they came from other divisions of from top management. Nothing ever seemed to be done in a routine manner -- even planning for a committee meeting was a major production. Sam was aware of this situation and was determined to change it. He believed (and his experience supported his belief) that it was possible to formulate and implement plans for goal accomplishment without having a sense of emergency surrounding the organization. Based on his convictions, Sam called his department heads into a management conference to discuss the situation and to decide how to correct it. At this meeting, he explained his desire to install a new system of management based on carefully formulated goals and plans. He expressed a desire to obtain maximum participation and involvement with the new program so that there would be a team effort. Basically, what Sam proposed was the installation of a Management by Objectives approach to planning and control. Because none of the department heads were familiar with the system, Sam spent this first meeting explaining it and how he proposed to make it operational in the division of administration. As he explained the system and how it would work, however, he noticed what appeared to be resentment from the department heads. Their comments and questions after the explanation did, in fact, affirm that there was considerable opposition to the plan. It seemed that the department heads saw no real justification for the proposed change in the management system. The company, after all, had been a success, and they had all received generous rewards for their performances in the past. They failed to see how the proposed system of MBO could really be worthwhile. The main opposition was expressed by Joe Turner, a good friend of the president of Data, Inc. As comptroller of the company, Joe had known the president since their college days. As Sam pondered this unexpected development, he wondered what he should do now.