Overview & Review of “Gung Ho!” Book

Gung Ho! was written by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles and it is about a unique way to manage people and companies. It is a very direct book with a very real example of how one factory of a company, “Walton Works #2”, was turned around from the worst factory in the company, to the best factory. There are six aspects of this book that will be specifically looked at: Who the characters of the book are, what I have learned from each character, each creature of management that is discussed, the traits from the book that I would like to emulate, what changes I would like to see in my own life through this book, and discuss what I liked or did not like.

Peggy Sinclair was the main character of Gung Ho! and was the manager sent to Walton Works #2 to turn the factory around from failing to successful. She did not realize how bad the factory was until she arrived and was able to see the factory at work. There was a bright spot though, and that was the finishing department. The finishing department was very successful and ran on its own separate of all the other departments. The finishing department was run by our second lead character, Andy Longclaw. Andy had been working at the factory for a very long time and had started the Gung Ho! movement in the finishing department because he was the supervisor of that specific department.

Peggy and Andy are the only two lead characters throughout the entire book. It is their story of success. They come to life through the book to show how Gung Ho! works and how it came to be. Through these characters, Gung Ho! is shown very clearly and is an easy process to follow. I learned from Peggy that it is important to be interested and to ask a lot of questions. Often managers assume that they already know what the workers are thinking or how they are feeling about the organization, but really, the managers have no clue unless they have asked the workers. Peggy knew how to relate to the workers in a way where they would answer her questions honestly and she would gain more knowledge about the factory. That is something that I will definitely need to work on as I progress as a manager.

From Andy I learned a great deal about value of work and how to change people’s attitudes towards work. Andy was very patient with Peggy and often times I forget to be patient with people, especially people I am working with. I almost expect them to read my mind and know what I want them to do ahead of time, which can put a strain on a working relationship. Andy also had a very calm way of teaching and interacting with people. I can sometimes be too high energy or overwhelming because I am a loud extrovert but I should work on being more calm and clear when relating to others.

Andy had three points of how to manage people to get them Gung Ho! and each of these points was presented through a creature of nature. The first creature of nature was a squirrel and the point was “Spirit of the Squirrel”. The secret of this point was “Worthwhile Work”. The workers need to see the difference that their work makes in the community and that it is for the betterment of society as a whole. When the workers see value in their work then they are more inclined to work harder and to enjoy it more than to actually see it as work. Andy’s Grandfather said about this: The Spirit of the Squirrel Fulfills God’s Plan for the Forest. As it is implied by the saying, the squirrel’s effort is for the overall good of their society.

The second Gung Ho! point was represented in the beaver and was called “Way of the Beaver”. The secret of this point was “In Control of Achieving the Goal”. Andy explained to Peggy that each beaver had control of what they do individually. For the workers to be Gung Ho! they should not have to do everything “by the book” because that kills creativity and Andy said that the workers’ way of doing stuff is usually much better. Andy described it as chipping away at the workers’ self-esteem every time management came down on them for not doing something the proper way even when the workers’ way was faster or better. When employees have a say it what is done and how, the organization will become successful. Andy’s Grandfather told him: The Way of the Beaver Fulfills God’s Plan for the Beaver. Andy said that this point addresses the individual since the “Spirit of the Squirrel” addresses the community/society. Even though each beaver is in control of their own work, there is a great respect for all the other beavers and their work.

The third management point was represented by the goose and was called “The Gift of the Goose”. The secret of this management point is “Cheering Others On”. Encouragement is a key to having a successful organization. People love being praised when they do something correctly or achieve a high goal. Encouragement pushes people on to higher heights because they want to achieve more and receive more encouragement. Encouragement is an expression of support and workers who are supported by their superiors will do much more than workers who have no support and are motivating themselves. Andy’s Grandfather said: The Gift of the Goose Is God’s Gift We Give Each Other. It is very true that encouragement and cheering each other on can be a huge gift and blessing between people.

The traits of the book that I would like to emulate were many. Besides wanting to be able to have some of the traits of Andy and Peggy, I would also like to have a strong grasp of the three creature management points. Those are each traits that a manager must be able to put into practice. They are simple points but very powerful. I would also like to emulate the drive that Peggy and Andy both showed while turning around “Walton Works #2”. Peggy expressed that she felt overwhelmed with how much there was to do to turn around the plant and too little time to do it in. She did not give up on the plant though and neither did Andy. They both pushed themselves to work hard every day and to instill in the plant and the workers the idea of Gung Ho!. It takes a lot of courage and self-esteem to put your neck on the line the way Peggy did and I would like to be able to emulate strong leadership like she had when she stuck with “Walton Works #2” and did not give up.

The changes I would like to see in myself somewhat revolve around the traits that I mentioned I would like to emulate. In the book Peggy said when she woke up one morning that she repeated a bible verse a couple times until she ended up yelling it at the top of her lungs. The verse says, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” I think if more managers started off their day(s) by instilling this verse, or other scripture, in their hearts and minds, then there would be a huge difference in treatment of employees and how organizations are managed. It was encouraging to see Peggy incorporate her faith and express it in her life. I would like to manage myself better and also instill my faith more into my everyday life and this book has pushed me to work towards those changes.

I really liked this book as a whole. I definitely liked more about the book than I disliked. One of the division managers really upset me at the beginning of the book because he was somewhat racist towards Andy Longclaw. I was glad that Peggy fired that division manager pretty much immediately and it showed that she had good character and was not going to keep negative people around her. I really liked the fact that Peggy was willing to take risks. It was a huge risk to trust her entire career on the random explanations of Gung Ho! by Andy. Peggy is a very strong female manager and I liked reading about her and her story of turning around “Walton Works #2”.

References:

Blanchard K., Bowles S. (1998). Gung Ho!. New York City: William Morrow.