Dr. Durand H. Crosby
MGMT 5073
November 7, 2017
Flash of Genius
Synopsis
Flash of Genius is about how a family man and engineering professor Robert Kearns inventions the intermittent windshield wiper system for vehicles. Mr. Kearns filed his patent for the invention in 1964. With the help of his friend Mr. Kearns works with Ford Motor Company on purchasing the system direct from Mr. Kearns manufacturing facility. Before Ford Motor Company accepts the offer the company wants the system tested for safety and receives a copy of the invention. Soon after ford drops the Mr. Kearns invention and manufactures the system in-house without royalties or crediting Mr. Kearns. After many years of Lawsuits, Mr. Kearns wins a total of $10 …show more content…
There are many people that do benefit from this type of decision approach, the people that drive cars in the rain. These people will have safer cars because they can control how fast their windshield wipers move. This can help them to drive safer in the rain and will help reduce the sound of windshield wiper squeaking. There are the stakeholders of the company, the benefit from higher stock prices as the Ford Motor Company had the system in their vehicles. There are the employees that making the cars. There are many people that benefit from this new system. Now there are those that did not benefit and the is Mr. Kearns, his wife, and his family. There is Mr. Kearns friend that help him get the patent and also worked with him on the Ford Motor Company deal with the system. These People did not benefit from the decisions, these people in the sense of how Mr. Kearns took the apparent infringement so hard that he had a mental break down. This can go on and on, but the problem is that there is no way to know all of the people that would and would not benefit from this type of decision making. There are so many factors that go into what makes people satisfied with the thing around them and one thing may make one person happy and that same thing will not make another happy. People are too complicated for such a …show more content…
With the case of Ford Motor Company wanting the intermittent wiper system in their vehicles then they have to pay for it and do it the way that it is being requested. Mr. Kearns wanted the manufacture the system ion his own and the Ford Motor Company should honor that decision. At this point, the only thing that Ford Motor Company could do is follow what is being requested. Ford Motor Company would have to think, would the company want some other person or place take our ideas and say that it was their own? This is about being aware of cognitive barriers that try to make people think that what they are doing is not bad. This is about knowing that we can make bad decisions and that we can overcome our own rationale and make the proper decision. The engineers can think to themselves that they are doing what is best for the people they are making vehicles for, but if they know about their own cognitive barriers then they will know that they are making the wrong decision. The company has to have moral awareness in this process, know how their decision and influence those around them If the Ford Motor Company wants a company culture that is based on this they have to know how their decision on this issue will affect the other employees of the company. This is one of the most important influences that is in this system, know how this can affect those around the