Organizational Training: Xerox CEO speaks her mind & The “Boss Free” Company

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING
Organizational Training
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1ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING
Xerox CEO speaks her mind
Answer 1
A culture of candor is highly important when a company is nearing bankruptcy as a
company can get benefitted from honest opinions or openness of their employees. If the
company is nearing bankruptcy, then the organizational leaders are obviously doing
something wrong. The culture of candor helps the organization to pin point the issues that the
company or organization is struggling with (Bennis, Sample & Asghar, 2015). In the case of
the Xerox Company, Paul Allaire, who is the president of the company, knew that they had to
do something better, in terms of finance. However, they never executed the plan and stopped
hiring people for the firm. Ursula Burns was actually tired of hiring more and more
individuals for the month and conveyed this message to the President of the company. This is
turn, resulted in her promotion. Having a conscious freedom for addressing the issues as well
as concerns of the company is considered to be a crucial part. It also helps in avoiding
biasness inside the organization.
Answer 2
The first African-American woman to lead a major corporation in United States had
to face certain challenges. It is evident from the fact when she was being asked in an
interview regarding her work pressures. After her promotion, Ursula Burns had to come
across several interviews from the media representatives. The media personnel wanted to
know whether she was ready to cope up with the work pressures or not, which came with her
job position. She mentioned that she is a black lady and that too from the Lower East Side of
the New York and not a lot intimidates her (Doherty, 2012). This proved the fact that she had
to face lots of criticism and troubles in her entire work life, due to her skin color. Burns is

2ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING
very tough in nature, who has the courage to face the reality and speak her mind (Murray,
2016). Therefore, it can be said that even though the CEO of the company faced various
challenges or difficulties in her life, nothing could stop her ever.
Answer 3
Ursula Burns had to face many challenges and difficulties in her early days. She is an
African-American woman, who lived at the Lower East Side of New York. She did many odd
jobs to support her family, financially. These challenges of her early life helped her prepare
for the executive positions of the major corporation. She started her career in a Xerox
Company as an intern, followed by full time roles in planning and development. Today, she is
the CEO of the company and holds her past responsible for her success. Her past shaped her
into what she is today (Ndubuizu & Britton, 2016). In her fight for survival, Ursula pushed
herself all through the tough times and worked hard to reach the position. She faced many
criticisms in her life and fought for her rights. In her words, dreams come true, but obviously
not without others’ help. According to her, a good education, courage to lean in and a strong
ethic of work will help people survive in this competitive world (Cross, 2014).
The “Boss Free” Company
Answer 1
Valve Corporation is a video game maker, which has been “boss free” since its
foundation. The company has no leaders, managers or assigned projects instead, the
employees work on their own. In the American society a boss free culture will not have any
positive impact, where majority of the workers are not at all engaged with their work. This is
because the flat hierarchy model does not work for every organizational culture. As the Valve
Corporation will grow, the employees will have problems in maintaining a complete flat