Van Riper believed empowered decision making was not only necessary to allow people to act instinctively, but also essential to run an effective platoon. For example, Van Riper ran his men through extensive physical training on the days between missions. However, once fighting started out in the field, Van Riper did not want introspection. He wanted his men to resolve their own problems. As a result, he refused to radio his men when he heard gunfire unless they initiated contact first. He wanted them to think for themselves. In the words of Van Riper "The danger in calling is that they'll tell you anything to get you off their backs, and if you act on it and take it at face value, you could make a mistake. Plus, now they are looking upward instead of downward. You're preventing them from resolving the situation." We saw this type of behavior from the young marketing director when we read "The Micromanager". Her boss disabled her ability to act instinctively by constantly correcting her work. As a result, she lost confidence in her abilities and became more concerned with whether her boss would approve of her work than the quality of the work itself. This case demonstrated that people who are micromanaged lose the ability to think for themselves. This is precisely what Van Riper was trying to
Van Riper believed empowered decision making was not only necessary to allow people to act instinctively, but also essential to run an effective platoon. For example, Van Riper ran his men through extensive physical training on the days between missions. However, once fighting started out in the field, Van Riper did not want introspection. He wanted his men to resolve their own problems. As a result, he refused to radio his men when he heard gunfire unless they initiated contact first. He wanted them to think for themselves. In the words of Van Riper "The danger in calling is that they'll tell you anything to get you off their backs, and if you act on it and take it at face value, you could make a mistake. Plus, now they are looking upward instead of downward. You're preventing them from resolving the situation." We saw this type of behavior from the young marketing director when we read "The Micromanager". Her boss disabled her ability to act instinctively by constantly correcting her work. As a result, she lost confidence in her abilities and became more concerned with whether her boss would approve of her work than the quality of the work itself. This case demonstrated that people who are micromanaged lose the ability to think for themselves. This is precisely what Van Riper was trying to