Page 279 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes

Caselet COCO Raynes Associates

t takes a leader to have a vision, pursue it, and institute change. Coco Raynes, an
architectural designer, has done all three. Not only has she effected change in and
Ithrough her organisation, she has used her organisation to change other people’s lives
for the better.
“I developed an idea that was sitting in my head and patented it,” Raynes (a French native
now based in Boston) recalls. The idea become the Raynes Rail, a Braille and audio handrail
system designed to guide the visually impaired through the corridors of office buildings,
hospitals, libraries, and the like. In 1994, the Raynes Rail won the Gold award from the
Industrial Designers Society of America. Twenty years ago, when Raynes first got the
idea, she was told that Braille was outdated. Now, people are realizing that Braille is,
indeed, very much up-to-date. Use of the Braille system (a tactile system of writing and
printing for the blind) is on the raise again. Raynes held onto her vision and pursued it to
its fulfillment.
Coco Raynes Associates (which employs only five people, including Raynes) reflects
Rayne’s personality, behaviour, and leadership style. Raynes says her design firm, “ has
no signature. You can’t identify our style, because we change from one project to the next.
We don’t follow trends; we serve the client”.
But within this antistyle lies a subtle philosophy devoted to setting standards rather than
adapting to them – an example of transformational leadership. Coco Raynes Associates
gets people thinking one step further. For instance, federal law requires all public doors
be encoded in Braille, but as Raynes says, “the gesture means nothing. A blind person
doesn’t know how to find the door. We’re bringing in the missing link”. Don Stull, a
principal of the architectural firm Stull and Lee, concurs. “Some designers work by
rearranging existing solutions. Coco starts with a process of asking and answering questions
and, as a result, creates extremely inventive solutions that come from that.”
Coco Raynes associates specializes in creating a certain amount of freedom for the physically
impaired – not only in the United States but also overseas. The firm has designed graphic
programs for the St. Regis Sheraton in New York as well as the Bosphorus Swissotel in
Istanbul. It takes a persistent, creative leader to motivate a tiny organisation toward a
huge goal. Coco Raynes can do it.

13.7 Leadership Styles

1. The Manager makes decision and announces it: It is an extreme form of autocratic leadership
whereby decisions are made by the boss who identifies the problem, considers alternative
solutions, selects one of them and then reports his decision to his subordinates for
implementation.
2. The manager sells his decisions: It is a slightly improved form of leadership wherein the
manager takes the additional step of persuading the subordinates to accept his decision.
3. The Manager presents his ideas and invites questions: There is greater involvement of the
employees in this pattern. The boss arrives at the decision, but provides a full opportunity
to his subordinates to get fuller explanation of his thinking and intentions.

4. The manager presents a tentative decision subject to change: Herein the decision is
tentatively taken by the manager but he is amenable to change and influence from the
employees.

274 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY