...TBEST PRACTICES: Ten Steps to Selecting the Right Supply Chain Management Software The Ten Steps for Supply Chain Management Software Selection In this brief guide, we’ll review a ten-step process that will help you select the right supply chain management (SCM) software. Each of these steps include five critical tasks. If you follow this process, you’ll be far more effective in your search for new software. 1 2 3 4 5 RESEARCH THE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE MARKET PRIORITIZE YOUR SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS MAKE THE CASE TO MANAGEMENT BUILD A SHORT LIST OF SOFTWARE VENDORS EDUCATE THE VENDORS ON YOUR PROJECT 6 7 8 9 10 EVALUATE LIVE SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATIONS SCORE & RANK THE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS GATHER & COMPARE PRICE QUOTES VERIFY REFERENCES & SOFTWARE VENDOR VIABILITY REVIEW THE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (SLA) Research Supply Chain Management Software Market 1 The research phase is one of the more enjoyable steps in the software selection process. You can surf the net, read blogs and download white papers - all in an effort to “get smart” on the state of the supply chain management software market. If you already know a fair bit about supply chain management software, use this step to learn what’s new. If not, don’t worry about becoming a software expert, but work to gain context for the evaluations you will be performing. You’ll need to learn what functions these systems perform, understand the various deployment models (e...
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...problems you confront in academic life. To make sense of them and come to conclusions that will help you succeed in the long run, it helps to develop a discipline in sorting out facts. This handout is designed to help you create that discipline. The basic process outlined here will help you prepare for discussion of a case in class, prepare an essay on an exam, prepare a paper on a business question, or prepare to present a recommendation or make a decision in many (probably most) real-world business situations. The process described here parallels that described in Hill & Jones’ text, Strategic Management Theory, pp. C2-C9 (at the back of the text), and that may be reviewed for further guidance. Start by stating clearly (to yourself) what question you are trying to answer. Write it at the top of the page or computer file where you are taking notes. For analysis of a case in a business school class, it is appropriate to select one of the “study questions” from the syllabus that is most interesting to you. Step 1. Analyze the history and development of the company and the situation. You are likely to receive information on the situation from confusing sources. Many different facts and dates will be out of chronological order. Usually the best first step for understanding the situation is simply to list the key events in chronological order. For example, the following list of facts was created in an effort to make sense of a Sun Microsystems case. (available from...
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...should your organization use VMOSA? * When should you use VMOSA? Like everyone else, community organizers often dream about goals they would like to accomplish, such as an end to drug abuse; every child being wanted, cared for, and nurtured; a home for everyone; peace in our lifetime. These are just a few of many people's visions for our community. Unfortunately, like many individual dreams, we think these objectives are too lofty and unattainable to ever be realized. But, in fact, realizing these dreams is possible. Look, for example, at our global success in eradicating small pox, or how far we have come since the 1950s in the United States towards reaching racial and gender equality. As Henry David Thoreau said over a century ago, "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; there is where they should be. Now, put foundations under them." Building foundations for your community dreams is what VMOSA, the strategic planning process that is the focus of this chapter, is all about. It's about groups of people deciding together what they want to accomplish, and how they are going to get there. What is VMOSA? One way to make that journey is through strategic planning, the process by which a group defines its own "VMOSA;" that is, its Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans. VMOSA is a practical planning process that can be used by any community organization or initiative. This comprehensive planning tool can help your organization by providing...
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... Preface The Heart of Change is a book that tells stories of large scale change within organizations. These stories all revolve around eight key steps that should guide the reader from the beginning to the end of the change process. The book Organizational Behavior and Management is a great tool to support the concepts that are presented. My goal is to describe and discuss what is needed to make these types of large scale change efforts work using the examples provided to me along with more academic information to support or go against these stories. There are many components that are used in conjunction in order to make an organization run. Each one of these components is equally important to successful change. Hopefully by the end of this paper the change process won’t seem so bad. Step One: Increase Urgency When working in many professional settings, you will hear the phrase “act with a sense of urgency”. People who work with a sense of urgency are normally seen as go getters or movers and shakers. In chapter 14 of Organizational Behavior and Management, urgency is said to relate to time (Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2014, p. 406). This is the way many managers see urgency as well. “Time is Money” is not just a saying. In most cases, a full time employee is expected to work an 8 hour shift or 40 hours per week. When management assumes that one is not moving with a sense of urgency, this could lead to possible termination. Urgency can be different depending on...
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...Swot Analysis And Why Your Business Needs It. SWOT analysis or 'position' analysis is a crucial exercise that all businesses should undertake at regular intervals, whether they are new or old. By: Elizabeth Cromwell Published Date: 06-28-2010 SWOT analysis or 'position' analysis is a crucial exercise that all businesses should undertake at regular intervals, whether they are new or old. It is basically a critical appraisal of the Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in relation to the internal and environmental factors affecting a business. SWOT very simply stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and the easiest form of SWOT analysis is to take a sheet of paper or Excel spreadsheet and head four columns with these four categories. Once you have done this you can begin to list things under each heading; giving you an honest in-depth analysis of your business. By undertaking a SWOT analysis a business will be able to prepare much better short and long term plans. It will also allow them to identify gaps between their actual and desired performance and aid them in closing these gaps. It is however important that you are completely honest when it comes to the negative parts of your examination for the SWOT to be an effective tool. Let us have a look at the various elements that make up SWOT analysis in more detail. Strengths These are the things that your business does well. It may be that the marketing of your organisation is better...
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...of leading. Creating or finding your leadership philosophy means that you must explore and reflect upon your personal values, assumptions, and beliefs about leadership. Personal values are qualities or characteristics that you value. You would rather leave an organization or step down as a leader than violate your values. Your values guide your intentions and they influence how you lead. When your personal values are clear and you are conscious of them, you create a solid foundation for leading. Assumptions are ideas that are assumed or believed to be true. As a leader it is important to understand what assumptions fuel your leadership thinking. Often leaders are not aware of the assumptions because they are operating from certain paradigms that will not allow them to see assumptions. Reflection into one’s leadership is an excellent way to uncover assumptions. Beliefs are ideas that we hold to be true; they shape our realities. If a leader believes that the only individuals in an organization that can make decisions is the management staff, then that belief will influence how the leader treats others. Beliefs can also be unconscious; they are for us a habitual way of thinking and acting that it doesn’t cross our minds that our beliefs may be prohibiting us. The following is an exercise to help you create, find, or define your personal philosophy of leadership. Exercise 1: Identifying Your Leadership Values From the list below, pick five core...
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...Department of Education website. Retrieved May 5, 2014 http://www2.ed.gov/about/landing.jhtml http://www.nea.org/home/40991.htm John P. Kotter (1996). Leading Change. Harvard Business Review Press; 1st edition http://www.kotterinternational.com - See more at: http://www.relationsandmore.com/kotters-8-step-change-model.html#sthash.rjg9E4N1.dpuf Almost everyone that reads this will have graduated from a long-established high school where we went to an old-style building five days a week and learned from the quintessential school teachers that no doubt fill at least one stereotype. Traditional classrooms that are part of these brick-and-mortar schools are no longer competitive and vital to the learning process. Instead, students now pay most attention to the information they get off the internet. Sites like Wiki and Facebook have figured out the formula to keeping our young people’s attention. Why should we as tax payers continue to supplement this dying form of education when the answers can be found by researching the success of the online college education system and the top ranked education countries around the world? While on vacation in Phoenix I noticed TV commercials toting an online education that the state sponsors. I could not believe that I was hearing this, state sanctioned home schooling. Let’s think outside the box for a moment. Think of the savings we could make with rethinking the way we teach our students. I am a firm believer that all students...
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...process within organizations. He has been observing the change process for about 30 years. He studies a paradigm shift of old management models that are not compatible with today’s fast paced changing business environment and shifting global economy. The book has a lot of helpful advice about dealing with this change process. The book is a guide for today’s organizations to deal with the new technology innovation, economic uncertainty, and ever changing. It’s divided into three sections. The first two chapters discuss the reasons behind the failure of more than 100 companies of making themselves better competitors. The author discusses the reasons behind the failure of most organizations even though they throw money and effort to win, and how executives and leaders can turn the thinking processes and behavior of large groups around. Many organizations are failing because they follow the philosophy “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. The author calls companies to embrace transformations from the old strategy of micro-managing, constant strategizing, downsizing, and new cost-cutting approaches to the twenty-first century strategy of leading change. The author talks about how managers and leaders are quite different, and explains that manager is trained to think in a risk-limiting manner. The next section discusses Kotter’s Eight Stage Change Process that provides a detailed framework to guide leaders for change. The eight stage process are: (1) Establishing a sense of urgency, (2)...
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...Praise for Getting Things Done "The Season's Best Reads for Work-Life Advice .. . my favorite on organizing your life: Getting Things Done . . . offers help building the new mental skills needed in an age of multitasking and overload." —Sue Shellenbarger, The Wall Street Journal "I recently attended David's seminar on getting organized, and after seeing him in action I have hope . .. David Allen's seminar was an eye-opener." —Stewart Alsop, Fortune "Allen drops down from high-level philosophizing to the fine details of time management. Take a minute to check this one out." —Mark Henricks, Entrepreneur "David Allen's productivity principles are rooted in big ideas ... but they're also eminently practical." —Keith H. Hammonds, Fast Company "David Allen brings new clarity to the power of purpose, the essential nature of relaxation, and deceptively simple guidelines for getting things done. He employs extensive experience, personal stories, and his own recipe for simplicity, speed, and fun." —Frances Hesselbein, chairman, board of governors, The Drucker Foundation "Anyone who reads this book can apply this knowledge and these skills in their lives for immediate results." —Stephen P. Magee, chaired professor of business and economics, University of Texas at Austin "A true skeptic of most management fixes, I have to say David's program is a winner!" —Joline Godfrey, CEO, Independent Means, Inc. and author of Our Wildest Dreams "Getting Things Done describes an incredibly practical...
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...of leading. Creating or finding your leadership philosophy means that you must explore and reflect upon your personal values, assumptions, and beliefs about leadership. Personal values are qualities or characteristics that you value. You would rather leave an organization or step down as a leader than violate your values. Your values guide your intentions and they influence how you lead. When your personal values are clear and you are conscious of them, you create a solid foundation for leading. Assumptions are ideas that are assumed or believed to be true. As a leader it is important to understand what assumptions fuel your leadership thinking. Often leaders are not aware of the assumptions because they are operating from certain paradigms that will not allow them to see assumptions. Reflection into one’s leadership is an excellent way to uncover assumptions. Beliefs are ideas that we hold to be true; they shape our realities. If a leader believes that the only individuals in an organization that can make decisions is the management staff, then that belief will influence how the leader treats others. Beliefs can also be unconscious; they are for us a habitual way of thinking and acting that it doesn’t cross our minds that our beliefs may be prohibiting us. The following is an exercise to help you create, find, or define your personal philosophy of leadership. Exercise 1: Identifying Your Leadership Values From the list below, pick five core...
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...Step one re-learn re-learn by: Shifting Perspective Define The problem Understand your ambitions Challenge your assumptions Research case studies Building Knowledge Get out and look around Map the customer journey Identify barriers Find The Root of the problem Learn from experts Build Personas Understand customers expectations Customer SWOT Competitor Analysis Map the Problem Structure Insight re-learn Define the Problem re-learn re-think re-define launch Define the problem The first thing to be done before attempting to solve a problem, is to have a common definition of what problem the team is trying to solve. Ask yourself these questions 1. Why do we have to solve this problem? _______________________________________________________ 2. What are the benefits to be gained? _______________________________________________________ 3. What do we don’t understand? _______________________________________________________ 4. What isn’t the problem (What is working)? _______________________________________________________ 5. Do we have enough information? ______________________________________________________ re-learn re-think re-define launch Define the Problem: re-learn Understanding your Ambitions re-learn re-think re-define launch Understanding your Ambitions “We need to start with the end in mind”. We need to think within the context of a positive outcome. This will give a sense of direction to our thoughts ...
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...CASE STUDY: VIGNETTE REVISITED Q1: Develop the first few steps of the project plan. Step 1: Project Goals The project is considered successful when the needs of the stakeholders have been fulfilled. Stakeholders are individuals who directly or indirectly be involved or affected by the project. Step 2: Project Planning Using information obtained from the first step, list the things that need to be done to ensure the project goals. Step 3: Project Schedule Task list should be made to ensure that the planning of this project can be made as planned. of which is the timeliness or schedule plan. Step 4: Supporting Plans The final steps to consider are a plan that has been made in the planning process. Related matters are human resource planning, communications planning and risk management. Q2: Discuss the potential political necessities outlined in this section as they related to this type of implementation. Q3: Think about and create a list of step that make sense for your organization. List step that should be taken when we want to plan for organization are:- 1. Review and revise project objectives by examining reports and project documents. At the start of any project, there will be a variety of ideas and opinions about the purpose and scope of the project, what the final product of the project will be, and how the project will be carried out. The Project Initiation Stage is concerned with taking these ideas and intentions and developing them into a formal...
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...EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION: HOW TO HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLE Thomas R. Maloney 306 Warren Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Tel: (607) 255-1628 Fax: (607) 255-1589 Email: trm5@cornell.edu 1 Marketing Your Organization I. Creating a positive public image for your business or organization. • Facility Appearance • Valued community member - Environmental practices - Open space - Community involvement and public service II. Developing a positive internal image – What do your employees tell their friends and family members about what it is like to work for you? • How people are treated • Leadership and supervisory skills of managers • Working conditions • Retrain and develop current employees for tomorrows needs • Ensure those you hire succeed • Wages and benefits 2 Preparing to Recruit A) Consider Both External and Internal Environment • Understand the external environment • Develop a plan to adjust the internal business environment B) Know What You Want • Assess your situation and identify competencies • Develop or update organizational chart • Develop or update job descriptions • Match positions to job descriptions • Hire employees who fit job descriptions or who can be trained C) Make Time to Recruit and Hire You can’t hire well if you don’t take the time to recruit well All the leadership, supervisory and motivation skills in the world will not compensate for a poor job of recruitment and selection...
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...|Explain the difference between an opportunity and an idea. | |3. |Describe the three general approaches entrepreneurs use to identify opportunities. | |4. |Identify the four environmental trends that are most instrumental in creating business opportunities. | |5. |List the personal characteristics that make some people better at recognizing business opportunities than others. | |6. |Identify the five steps in the creative process. | |7. |Describe the purpose of brainstorming and its use as an idea generator. | |8. |Describe how to use library and Internet searches to generate new business ideas. | |9. |Explain the purpose of maintaining an idea bank. | |10. |Describe three steps for protecting ideas from being lost or stolen. | CHAPTER OVERVIEW This chapter begins by describing the difference between an opportunity and an idea. Students are reminded that many firms fail, not because the entrepreneurs involved didn’t work hard, but because there was no real opportunity to begin with. The four components of a favorable...
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...Development 15-17 Organizational “Purpose” Development 17-19 Organizational “Vision” Development 19-20 Organizational “Mission” Development 20-22 Organizational “Goals and Objectives” Development 22-25 What are Action Steps and how are they developed? 25 Performance Audit – Review of Organizational Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats [SWOT] 26 Gap Analysis – Compare SWOT analysis information with Draft goals and objectives 26 Contingency Planning – Worst and Best Case Scenarios 26 Integrated Functional Plans – Action Steps 27 Implementation Considerations 27 Monitoring and Evaluation 28 -42 Short Cut – Simplified Planning Model 43-57 Section 3: Sample Plan 58 Points to Remember Introduction This document is intended to provide the reader with information about strategic planning. It is organized into three sections to help the reader better understanding what strategic planning is about and how it is done. We have also provided a sample plan for your review. The complexity of your plan will depend upon the size and complexity of your organization. Smaller organizations may not need a complex plan while larger and/or more complex organizations may require more time, people and other resources to develop and implement their plan. Section one of this document will cover the “What” and...
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