...------------------------------------------------- Fall 2013 – Mini project “The World Is Flat” November 18, 2013 Part I “The World Is Flat” The Triple Convergence The ten world flatteners mentioned in chapter two of the book “The World is Flat” together shaped a new global platform and embraced a new workflow system. This new platform permitted the world to join forces and interconnect in ways it had never interconnected before. Thanks to this new platform, geography, time, or distance was no longer a barrier for different sides of the world to collaborate. Due to the creation of “complementary software, the internet, and political factors” (Friedman) countries like China, Russia, India and Latin America, opened their borders and led to the fast pace of globalization mentioned by Friedman. Even though these flatteners were created in the 90’s, as they came together, they had to spread, take root, and connect in order to create this flattening. It didn’t just happen overnight. Friedman mentioned in the opening of chapter two talking about his Southwest experience with them giving people the ability to print their own tickets. And then there were multiple companies developing machines that print, fax, scan, email, and make copies. Needless to say these ten factors (flatteners) that were apparently unconnected came together and create a new global platform. This new global platform (web-enabled platform) is a major part of the lives of the people in the...
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...Goldman Sachs Motivational Profile In 1869, a German immigrant Marcus Goldman formed Goldman Sachs & Company. Over the last century, Goldman Sachs has been an innovator in developing the many aspects of the nation’s current financial system. In 1906 Goldman Sachs managed its first IPO. They were gaining the confidence of companies across the country. As with most financial firms, the depression era was tough. With financial confidence at its lowest point, the government created the Securities Exchange Commission. With the new guidelines set forth, Goldman Sacks provided more information with investment recommendations aiding in their slow but upward recovery. Goldman Sachs continued to grow and expand through the years. After World War II, the economy was booming and Goldman found growth by marketing stock in companies like Ford Motor Company and Alcan Aluminum. Goldman Sachs once again encountered turbulent waters in he 70’s because of Penn Central Railroad. This was a disaster for Goldman Sachs creating lawsuits and credit ratings to drop. Since that time, Goldman Sachs rebounded and expanded to an international market. With this global market, Goldman Sachs became the most profitable company in the world by expanding yet further into Russia and China. Sachs continued to be successful until the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007. They profited by short selling mortgage related securities. By 2008 Berkshire Hathaway had purchase five billion dollars in Goldman’s preferred stock...
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...Understanding the Multicultural Workforce: Challenges, Issues and Differences Michael Widdowson Organizational Behavior November 25, 2012 Understanding the Multicultural Workforce: Challenges, Issues and Differences Multicultural workforces are becoming more prevalent in today's business environment. Businesses that make effective use of the talents of the workforce and value the differences that are present within it will certainly prosper under these conditions. Those employers who realize that diversity relates directly to the bottom line will continue to be successful. Companies must learn to lead, not simply manage their workers. Business will need to go beyond the needs and objectives of affirmative action and look at issues of non-natives and minorities. The challenges of a multicultural workforce In a multicultural workforce there are many obstacles that exist from the company's viewpoint as well as the employee's perspective. Foreign-born and minority employees face an abundance of obstacles in their day-to-day lives. By far, the biggest challenge is the language barrier. However, there are many other areas of concern including economic issues, assertiveness issues, expectations, cultural biases, feelings of isolation, family values, lifestyles, and communication to name a few. An article written by Teresa R. Hammond and Brian H. Kleiner explains several of these fore mentioned obstacles. For example, people from many cultures have been brought up to...
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...Research on Contemporary OD Practitioner Tools Donald Austin Gilbreath Brandman University 4/26/2015 Abstract The goal of this paper is to explore the various ways in which to integrate contemporary organization development (OD) practices and interventions within organizational settings. The following literature research review includes a broad overview of the OD contemporary change methodologies, an in-depth perspective of related OD to change, and an applicable example of a specific organization. Keywords: organizational development, contemporary tools, change Organizational Development & Practitioner Tools The topic of organization development (OD) focuses on the effective implementation of change within an organization and is often broken down into two primary change methodologies of either classic or contemporary change intervention. The following article seeks to provide a broad overview of the OD change methodologies, an in-depth perspective in change initiatives of OD consultants and an actual applicable example of these OD practitioner tools used in real life. “Organization development has emerged to allow the voice of all organizational members to be heard and all organizational talent to be captured” (Jackson, 2006, p. 216). The field has many challenges in addressing both the human and the organizational sides of change initiatives in an attempt to get everyone on board in embracing change. Overview When organizations are resistant to necessary...
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...table of contents Introduction 2 competitive advantage 1.0 2 human resources 2.0 4 technological progress 3.0 5 corporate social responsibility 4.0 6 conclusion 7 introduction| Globalisation in the last decades has attracted much attention and these days the pace and scale associated with the rapid emergence of global value chains as production processes is without precedent. Today more than ever, companies have more options in regards to where and how they produce their products, which target markets and consumers they should approach and how they should communicate with both their suppliers and buyers. Trade liberalization and more open economic policies have facilitated international economic integration and combined with technical advances (mainly in communications and transport) they lower costs and foster globalization further. Companies find the advantages of using various sites and source inputs globally thus becoming increasingly fragmented geographically and that was made possible by information and communication technology which allows the value chain to be sliced in various locations and help reduce costs. As information and communication technology enables the production of various services independent of location, globalization now involves more foreign investment and trade with many service activities becoming internationalized. The need to globalise value chains stems from a number of factors. The desire to become...
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...the legitimate right to use authority. Charismatic authority is the belief that the leader whose mission and visions will inspire others. Legitimate authority is based on formal, system of rules. In the 1930s, Weber introduced that the bureaucratic form as being the ideal way of organizing government agencies. This soon became popular in both the private and public sectors. Weber believes that the development of rational forms to be the most important characteristics in the development of Western society and capitalism. He considered the traditional and charismatic forms as irrational. Rationality is based on reasoning, calculation and logic. One of the many types of rationality includes the formal rationality. The notion of formal rationality is important to the emergence of industrial capitalism as capitalism values reason, calculation and precision, science and logic. Formal rationality is a form of rationality that characterizes bureaucratic organizations. Bureaucracy refers to the execution of tasks that are governed by official administrative and formal rules of an organization. Weber’s bureaucratic management theory focuses on dividing organizations into hierarchies with authorities and control. The ideal type is extreme, empirically based and yardstick for comparison. Weber has 6 major principles for his ideal type of management style. Firstly, the organization has a formal hierarchical structure, which refers to the...
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...develop newer innovative ideas to compete in today’s economy. By implementing a new business plan, a knowledge sharing system and partnering with a design firm, Chrysler can become a dominant force in the auto industry, not just domestically but globally. The initial startup costs for implementing these innovations are quite high, yet the long term payoffs such as lower manufacturing costs, higher quality products, less waste, a variety of innovative designs, better supplier relationships, increased sales, profits, market share, and greater customer retention and loyalty, all support changing to a more innovative company. Introduction The target of this project was to find and research innovative methods to apply to a current existing company. Our team chose Chrysler to apply the innovations researched to help their company domestically and globally. With Fiat recently acquiring a 35% stake in Chrysler, it is necessary for Chrysler to focus on the global market to remain competitive in this day and age. This project takes an in-depth look at TaTa Motors business model, Toyota’s knowledge sharing system and BMW’s DesignWorksUSA design system and proposes ideas for implementing them with Chrysler. We evaluate what it will take to implement these design processes and evaluate the success factors leading to the implementation of these innovations. Innovative Companies In today’s flat world, companies are finding it tougher to remain competitive by being centralized in one...
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...during his year-round visits to local Costco warehouses? Explain. Team building; Managing warehouses like Costco require an organization that is flat, fast, and flexible. Sinegal focuses in on customer and employee needs and wants which gives an understanding of behaviors and attitudes. This abandons the hierarchy of command-and-control mindset while replacing it with coaching, motivation, and empowerment. When Jim travels to Costco warehouses around the world (he tries to visit each location at least once a year), he knows the names of an unusual number of employees, from store managers to forklift drivers. “He is amazingly in tune with the employees who work for him.” It speaks to Jim’s management style: He has always been an in-the-trenches CEO, acknowledging that employees are a key part of meeting the company’s goals. One principle that he continuously stresses to his managers is “If you’re not spending 90 percent of your time teaching, you’re not doing your job.” The foundation that Jim has brought to the company as far as his compassion and to really do what is best and to give back, not just to the employees but to the community, is something that is instilled in everybody here,” she says. “Working for Costco, you see how important that is and what a difference that makes.” - The company philosophy is more than just a business plan, comments Mike Sinegal, Jim’s son, who helped establish Costco in Japan and initiated e¬ orts to launch operations in Europe. Costco hopes...
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...product portfolio is more than 500 products all over the world serving best to their customers. Henri Nestlé endowed his company with the symbol derived from his name. His family coat of arms, the nest with a mother bird protecting her young, became the Company's logo and a symbol of the Company's care and attitude to life-long nutrition. The Nestlé nest represents the nourishment, security and sense of family that are so essential to life. The first product made by Henri Nestlé, a food for babies who were unable to breastfeed. His first success was a premature infant who could not tolerate his mother's milk or any of the usual substitutes. People quickly recognized the value of the new product, after Nestlé's new formula saved the child's life, and soon, Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé was being sold in much of Europe. Nestlé has been serving Pakistani consumers since 1988, when the parent company, the Switzerland-based Nestlé SA, first acquired a share in Milk pack Ltd.(1) Nestlé is committed to the following Business Principles in all countries, taking into account local legislation, cultural and religious practices: • Nestlé's business objective is to manufacture and market the Company's products in such a way as to create value that can be sustained over the long term for shareholders, employees, consumers, and business partners. • Nestlé does not favor short-term profit at the expense of successful long-term business development. • Nestlé recognizes that its consumers have...
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...Introduction Organisational behavior is a subject that covers a wide variety of topics such as, such as motivation, leadership and organizational design- that relate to different aspects of behavior in organizations. Examining these topics has involved incorporating perspectives and insights from a number of disciplines including psychology, economics, sociology and politics.’ (Knights and Willmott, 2007:p.3) Numerous disciplines that explore the complexity and diversity of collective human activity have contributed to the formation and development of OB. Something of this complexity is apparent in the sometimes conflicting purposes and objective embraced by, or attributed to, management and organizations. Given the demanding nature of organizing and managing people, it is not surprising that OB is widely regarded as the foundation of management studies. (Knights and Willmott, 2007:p.3)Within the notion of behavior, including thinking and feeling as well as acting. OB aspires to have relevance for understanding the behavior of people working at all hierarchical levels- from the workers employed part-time or on a casual basis on the shop floor or in the office to the most senior executive. Each is involved in processes of organizing and being organized and managing and being managed. OB should be better to understand how and why people are organized; to identify and assess the likely consequences of making changes; and to introduce changes in ways that anticipate and minimize...
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...------------------------------------------------- Home Appliance Industry ------------------------------------------------- Designing an HR system for a changing industry Gwendolyn Hill, Cheolhyun Park, and Kexin Xu May 7, 2012 Professor Lepak, HR IV Table of Contents I. Industry Trend & Major Business Implications 3 II. Clear explanation of the impact on managing people 4 1. Employee Competencies 5 2. Motivation/Effort 8 3. Opportunities to Contribute (Work Design) 9 III. Ideal HR System 10 1. Work Design & Workforce Planning 10 2. Managing Employee Competencies 12 3. Managing Employee Attitudes & Behaviors 14 IV. Major Hurdles & Strategies to Overcome Them 17 Bibliography 19 I. Industry Trend & Major Business Implications Home appliance industry includes manufactures of household cooking appliances, laundry machine, refrigerator, dishwasher, water heater, and other household appliances. Like other retail industry, household appliance manufacturing business had hard time with recent recession. Especially fallen housing market directly affects the industry because people generally purchase new appliances for new homes. Moreover, cost of raw material and labor as well as government regulations for energy efficiency product raised price of product. Consequently, industry revenue and employment growth rate were below zero in past five years. According to IBIS industry report, in US market, Whirlpool has 43.8% market...
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...Almost everyone in business is aware of Apple’s amazing product success and the extraordinary leadership of Steve Jobs. Some would say that it’s the corporate culture of the company that has allowed them to go from solely a computer company to being known for its ability to come out with path-breaking products. That culture has also been tied to the innovation created at Apple and how they became the pioneer of the “Work Hard Play Hard” ethic. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, he totally change the whole organization. With the help from his Human Resources Director, Jay Elliot, he reorganized the hierarchy of the company from the more traditional functioning vertical organization designed by the previous CEO to a flat organization, launching open communication policies and recruiting employees who were genuinely excited about creating products for the company (Shelly, 2011). Steve Job’s leadership skills and the principles for hiring the right people and developing management policies were the basis for Apple’s start and what has helped shaped the organization and defined their corporate culture. Apple's human resource management attracts a quality workforce by attracting visionary people that think freely and can see the potential in different objects. It does this through excellent human resource planning, job specifications, recruiting and the selection process. It all begins with hiring the right people, so how does Apple go about finding the best people who...
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...EVOLUTION TOWARD STRATEGIC FIT Approved by: ________________________________________________ Program Director ________________________________________________ Advisor ABSTRACT For much of its century long history, Nucor Corporation and its predecessors displayed turbulent financial performance. Several attempts at a strategic realignment proved unsuccessful, and in 1965, the company faced insolvency. Since that time, however, the company has rallied around its steel operations to become the largest steel producer in the United States, with $12.7 billion in net annual sales. This thesis examines Nucor’s development from an unprofitable conglomerate to a highly efficient enterprise. Specific focus on the evolution of the activity system underlying the...
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...EVOLUTION TOWARD STRATEGIC FIT Approved by: ________________________________________________ Program Director ________________________________________________ Advisor ABSTRACT For much of its century long history, Nucor Corporation and its predecessors displayed turbulent financial performance. Several attempts at a strategic realignment proved unsuccessful, and in 1965, the company faced insolvency. Since that time, however, the company has rallied around its steel operations to become the largest steel producer in the United States, with $12.7 billion in net annual sales. This thesis examines Nucor’s development from an unprofitable conglomerate to a highly efficient enterprise. Specific focus on the evolution of the activity system underlying the...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS Topic Page No 1. INTRODUCTION 2 2. OBJECTIVES 2 3. LEADERSHIP STYLE 2 1. Vision and Judgment 2 2. Courage and Determination 3 3. Symbiosis, Charisma and Integrity 3 4. ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY 3 1. Safety First 3 2. High Aircraft Utilization 4 3. Low Cost 4 4. Streamline Operations 4 5. Lean Distribution System 4 6. Point to point network 4 7. Managing Stakeholder’s interests 5 5. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 6 1. Centralization 6 2. Hierarchy level 6 3. Formalization 6 4. Departmentalization 7 6. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 7 1. Open Communication, Break down hierarchy 7 2. Encourage people to pursue their passions 7 3. Work-hard, play-hard culture 8 4. Staff Welfare 8 7. RELATION BETWEEN STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND CULTURE 8 8. CHALLENGES OF AIRASIA 9 9. CONCLUSION 9 10. REFERENCES 10 11. APPENDIX 10 1. Organizational Structure 10 2. Survey 10 1. INTRODUCTION Our group would like to study about successful organization to enhance our learning experience. We have discussed few topics and finally AirAsia...
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