...of the business through the purchases you make to support your race team and the activities that support the team. Your role in this industry, from an economic system perspective, is to supply entertainment to the race fans. That is the value-added function that racers supply. Racers are in fact part of a much larger entertainment machine. You may not think of your individual team as a racing business, but it is-especially if you have any type of sponsor and you are providing value to that sponsor through advertising, product development, and general awareness of the sponsor's product to the race fans that may see your car. That is the chief reason that we have sponsors-to help them develop specific brand awareness. The goal is to motivate fans to purchase the product or services advertised on the car you race. You may generate other forms of revenue via prize money from winning races or by offering a good or a service to other racers that enables you to earn money. Starting a Racing Business Starting a racecar business can seem like a simple enough job for the average mechanic. They buy a car, build it to the track or sanctioning rules and specifications, and they race it. Win or lose, they did it as a hobby and they lost nothing more than a few hours in the garage and a few dollar bills. Starting a competitive racecar business is a little bit different. You must hire key people to ensure the team has the best possible equipment to be competitive week in and week out...
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...INTRODUCTION Asda had its modest beginnings in 1920 by a group of dairy farmers in Yorkshire County for a means to sell milk. Before going public in 1949 Asda expanded by acquiring and diversifying into bakeries, meat processing plans, and non-food businesses. Asda Stores Ltd. business philosophy was to always have the customer in mind and therefore have low prices goods. With this notion Asda started setting stores in suburbs and targeted value-conscious customers. In 1981, Asda wanted to increase profits by reducing costs and offering higher-priced products. With this change, Asda lost the price-leadership position and started to lose its customers. In 1991, the £4.5 billion organization had a debt over £1 billion and Asda’s stock price had crashed from over 100 pence to below 30 and had become highly bureaucratic and hierarchical. Archie Norman was offered the position as the chief executive who hired Allan Leighton shortly after. During 1991 – 1997 they turned an organization nearing bankruptcy into a profitable one. In 1999 Walmart bought over Asda for 8 times the price at 1991. How did Norman and Leighton do this? This was achieved by simultaneously integrating Theories E and O effectively they were able to implement a successful approach to the organizational change. Listed below are changes that were made to the respective dimensions using the integration of the Theories O and E to improve both Economic Value and Organizational Development....
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...Financial Corporation was no performing to BOK’s standards. The CRA Department is necessary for regulated banks to expand. This department was meeting the minimal standards, which resulted in “satisfactory”. BOK expected “outstanding“ performance ratings for all of its banking departments. The CRA Department had five locations with nineteen that were very unorganized. The head of the Department was located in Tulsa Oklahoma. A few of the major issues involved inside the CRA Department include issues with the CRA personnel reporting compliance issues, a lack of automation, and a bad reputation. Steven Bradshaw was assigned to turn the department around Discussion of the Decisions Two of Bradshaw’s major concerns were the department was not profitable and did not meet BOK’s standards. The first step he took to turn the department around was a change of leadership. Bradshaw hired Paula Ellis as the new leader. Ellis worked under Bradshaw in the past and was very well qualified for the position. The leadership of a department is extremely important and in this case Paula was a great decision. She has experience working with banks and in the community. Together, Ellis and Bradshaw helped create a good “tone at the top”. There were four key points the team wanted enact. They include establishing a new direction, building an effective group, automating the review process, and creating a culture of collaboration with business units. These were the building block Bradshaw and Ellis...
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...analyzing data to determine the root causes of given problems. I would then identify and evaluate all possible alternatives before suggesting solutions. Most of these decisions had to be quick, concise and clearly conveyed to people at all organizational levels. As a result of my efforts, the company was able to save over $25K in material costs. During my tenure, I was often praised for thinking about problems innovatively and for never losing sight of the “big picture.” These skills will definitely aid me in consulting. At Duke, I continue to look for leadership opportunities within a team setting. In the Small Business Consulting Program, I currently lead a team of four classmates redesigning marketing, sales, and distribution strategies for one of North Carolina’s largest microbreweries. I am also deeply involved in Habitat for Humanity and have been an active member of the team working on building the Fuqua House. Please consider me for your January 19th closed interview schedule when I can discuss my qualifications with you. Should you need to contact me, I can be reached at (919)...
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...Performance Executive Teams Sonia Taneja Texas A&M University-Commerce Scott Sewell Texas A&M University-Commerce Mildred Golden Pryor Texas A&M University-Commerce Strategically and tactically, organizational leaders often establish teams to accomplish the missions, visions, goals and objectives of their respective organizations. Teams exist in all types of organizations including financial institutions, factories, healthcare organizations, and educational institutions. Yet executives often struggle to maintain high performance of their own leadership teams. This research seeks to answer several questions, including: (1) What are the characteristics of a high performance executive team? (2) What problems do executive teams face that negatively impact their potential for high performance? And (3) What can executives do to increase their respective teams’ potential for high performance? INTRODUCTION Holmes (2012) recognized that organizations are changing from traditional hierarchical work structures to team-based approaches to work. He noted that high-performance teams must “develop goals and plans, enhance communication among members, develop and maintain positive relationships among members, solve problems and make decisions on a timely basis, successfully manage conflict, facilitate productive meetings, clarify roles for team members, operate in a productive manner, exhibit effective team leadership, provide development opportunities for team members” (Holmes...
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...Best Practices for Curing Bad Politics 1. Leadership and Performance The subject of leadership has been greatly covered by scholars, academicians and consultants, yet building high-performance teams remains elusive to most companies. Leadership is the most important competitive advantage of a company, not technology, finance, operations or anything else. Leadership formulates the company's business strategy and builds its resources, including its people, finances and operations. The leadership team is the most important asset of the company and can be its worst liability. A failed business is the result of poor performance. Poor performance is the result of an incompetent or dysfunctional leadership team. To paraphrase Tolstoy, All successful companies are successful for different reasons, but dysfunctional companies are dysfunctional in the same way. In my experience, the main reason for poor organizational performance is not the lack of business knowledge, but rather negative internal politics. 2. Performance and Strategic Alignment Classic management science has defined four management functions: planning, organizing, motivating and controlling. Simply put, sustaining high business performance is a product of strategic alignment. Strategic alignment can be achieved only when all teams across the organization communicate and work closely together. In other words,...
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...like to be a project manager. It also underscores that being a project manager is more social than technical and that project managers spend the majority of their time interacting with various people who impact a project. 1. How effectively do you think Rachel spent her day? You may argue that she is inefficient and does not have control over her time. You may also argue that this is the nature of the job as expected, and that she is appropriately spending her time managing relations and keeping on top of things that affect the project. Students with little work experience are often much more critical than those with work experience. 2. What does the case tell you about what it is like to be a project manager? Rachel’s day underscores three key functions project managers spend their time performing: a. Building and sustaining interpersonal relations. Project managers have to network and develop good working relations with team members and other project stakeholders. b. Information gathering and dissemination. Project managers are the information hub for their projects. They are in constant communication with various stakeholders, collecting information from various sources, and sending it to those who have a need to know. c. Decision-making. Project managers consult with various people to make decisions necessary to complete the project. Chapter 2: Problems 2-5 2. Two new software projects are proposed to a young, start-up...
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...reasons. The next step would be to diagnose what is needed. While applying the mergers and acquisitions stages: (precombination, legal combination and operation combination), the particular stage that I believe to be critical is within the precombination phase of developing a merger integration plan. This plan specifically identifies how the two organization will be combined, as well as when, how, and who will do what. By identifying this particular step in comparison to the two mergers, I would be able to identify what is needed. (Cummings & Worley, 2009, p.566). The operational combination phase addresses the cultural integration process in order for these two mergers to consist with one another. This phase is “aimed at building new values and norms in the combined organization” (Cummings & Worley, 2009, p. 567). Encouraging members from both organizations to work together and solve problems is a great way for forming a successful merger. Effectively managing change in an atmosphere where two organizations have merged is crucial for it affects both employees and stakeholders. When managing change, managers should keep in mind the affects it has on employees for they the important asset of the organization. Ways to bring about change so that it is easier on the employees is by motivating change. In doing so it creates readiness and helps to overcome the resistance to the change being implemented. Creating a vision by illustrating the reasons behind...
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...Team B will discuss a development and training issue for AT&T that can be improved within the program. Team B will use the five step process to develop the plan. Team will consider AT&T’s training needs. Team B will then discuss how we would design the training plan. Team B will follow the previous objective by discussing the training mediums outlined in the syllabus. Team B will further discuss how the training will be implemented and maintained within AT&T. Team B will then provide an evaluation on how effective we thought our training and development plan would be and how we would maintain it to remain valuable to the company. Needs Assessment A needs assessment approach, which is a exploration of the way things are and the way they should be, need to be completed about the training needs of the company chosen by our team, AT&T. The assessment should include organizational and individual performance (Rouda, 1995). AT&T, has focused on customer satisfaction in their many Company Owned Retail (COR) locations. The company vision is connecting people with their world everywhere they live and work and to do it better than anyone else. The goal is to train every Retail Sales Consultant continuously by using a policy known as The Customer Rules. A Retail Sales Consultant will need to be trained on the following: • Taking ownership. Show the customers are valued. • Be Responsive and Deliver: Listening to our customers and delivering results. • Do...
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...onIntroduction: National Bank Limited is one of the front ranking first generation private sector banks in Bangladesh. The Bank started its commercial operation on 23rd March 1983. Motivation: Motivation is the process of directing, energizing, and sustaining any individual’s effort, quality, and skills for attaining the organizational goal through performing his /her responsibilities. It leads to a great deal of self-satisfaction when the individual goals become aligned with the organizational. The satisfaction acts as a performance variable and acts as tool of change in performance and outcome. Theory of Motivation: There is various theory of motivation. Various experts define motivation in various ways. Here we will discuss about the Maslow’s hierarchy need theory and Herzberg’s Motivation – Hygiene Theory. Maslow’s Hierarchy need Theory: Maslow’s Hierarchy Need theory is based on the 5 human needs based upon the 2 hierarchical categories are: physiological, safety, social, esteem and Self-Actualizations arranged in the ascending order in a Pyramid. Each of the unique needs cannot be attained without another and once achieved they are normally not sought. Thus, these needs are dynamic and not stable. This theory further explained human psychology relating to the need acquisition. It describes that human investment and effort increases for attainment of higher and higher order of needs and each need are related. Here needs are categorized into two types –...
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...its growing employee base. The Human Resources department has been tasked with creating the new enhanced training system based and mentoring program. This paper will discuss the development of the training and mentoring program at InterClean, Inc. It will discuss new training and mentoring needs, training and mentoring program objectives, performance standards, delivery methods, training and mentoring content, time frame, evaluation methods, feedback, and alternative learning options. In order for InterClean to effectively create a successful training and mentoring program, the company must align training needs with organizational achievement goals and strategies. An effective training program has the following characteristics: Top management is committed to training and development, Training is tied to business strategy and development, Organizational environments are...
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...Park Place Lexus (PPL) sells and services new and pre-owned Lexus vehicles, and sells Lexus parts to the wholesale and retail markets. PPL is part of the family of Park Place Dealerships (PPD), which includes eight dealerships with 12 franchises. In 1994, PPL began benchmarking business practices outside of the automobile industry, with the intent of emulating the best business practices it could find and bringing innovation to the industry. Four years later, the company conducted its first internal assessment using the Baldrige criteria for performance excellence to identify areas for improvement, and adopted the brand “Experts in Excellence” as a sign of its dedication to quality. Today, PPL ranks among the country’s top Lexus dealers. With its mission, “To provide an extraordinary automotive purchase and ownership experience” as a foundation, the dealership’s “House of Quality” graphically depicts the organization’s direction and represents its culture. The four Core Convictions—integrity, outstanding client experience, commitment, and winning—provide the structure of the house. Known as “The Big Hairy Audacious Goal,” the organization’s vision, “Be the unparalleled retail automotive group in the United States,” forms the roof of the house. The dealership uses many means to identify ways to improve, including an annual strategic planning process and self-assessment using the Baldrige criteria for performance excellence. A quarterly meeting...
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...way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually The triple constraint of project management: Scope, cost & time. Project management: is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements” 10 knowledge areas (project management framework): 1. Scope management 2. Time management 3. Cost man. 4. Quality man. 5. Human Resource man. 6. Communication man. 7. Risk man. 8. Procurement man. 9. Stakeholder man. 10. Project integration man. Stakeholders are the people involved in or affected by project activities Stakeholders include: * the project sponsor * the project manager * the project team * support staff * customers * users *...
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...customers with good values on basic merchandise for the family and home in a small-box, neighborhood format. Its merchandise is sold at everyday low prices in a no frills, convenient, self-service environment. Most merchandise is priced under $10.00. Stores are located in a contiguous 44-state area ranging northeast to Maine, southeast to Florida, as far northwest as Idaho and southwest to Arizona. Family Dollar stores generally range in size from 7,500 to 9,500 square feet, and most are operated in leased facilities. The relatively small size permits the Company to open new stores in rural areas and small towns, as well as in large urban neighborhoods. Within these markets, the stores are located in shopping centers or as freestanding buildings or in urban storefronts convenient to the Company’s value-conscious customer base. During the fiscal year ended September 1, 2007, the Company opened 300 new stores and closed 43 stores to bring the number of stores in operation at fiscal year-end to 6,430. Family Dollar’s headquarters are located in Matthews, North Carolina, just outside of Charlotte. The Company operates automated full-service distribution centers in Matthews; West Memphis, Arkansas; Front Royal, Virginia; Duncan, Oklahoma; Morehead, Kentucky; Maquoketa, Iowa; Odessa, Texas; Marianna, Florida; and Rome, New York. The Company has been a publicly held corporation since 1970 and its Common Stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FDO. For...
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...A RESEARCH STUDY OF HOW THE LEADER BUILDS A HEALTHY TEAM [pic] A Research Project Presented to The Faculty of the School of Professional Studies Adult Degree Programs Central Christian College of Kansas [pic] In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Business - Organizational Leadership [pic] By Jeff Dugger May 2011 Copyright ( 2011 by Jeffrey Paul Dugger ABSTRACT A RESEARCH STUDY OF HOW THE LEADER BUILDS A HEALTHY TEAM Author First/Last Name This applied leadership study was conducted to …… TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER ONE: Statement and Description of the Leadership Issue 4 Introduction 4 Statement of the Leadership (Thesis Statement) 4 Statement of Purpose 4 The Setting 5 History and Background 5 Scope of the Project 6 Importance of the Project 6 Conclusion 6 CHAPTER TWO: Survey of Secular Literature 8 Introduction 8 Leadership Principle One: Healthy teams are established through skilled communication, personal integrity and enabling of others 8 Leadership Principle Two: Healthy teams grow as they educate, motivate and innovate 10 Leadership Principle Thee: Healthy teams are sustained by strong group dynamics, organized behavior and visionary intuitiveness...
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