Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Principles Of Management - Final Exam

Principles of Management – Final Exam
March 30, 2011
Isaac Hepburn

1.     In your opinion, what are the top five skills every manager should learn and master? In my opinion, the top five skills every manager should learn and master are: 1. Motivation: Human Skills, 2. Coaching: Technical Skills, 3. Delegation Skills, 4. Planning: Conceptual Skills and 5. Negotiating Skills: Strong Sense of Urgency.
2.     What are the first three things you would implement in your new job in order to have a positive impact? The first three things I would implement in my new job in order to have a positive impact are: Implement a performance review process. Implement a Planning Session to set goal, in lined with the Corporate Mission Statement, for the next five years, incorporating strategies for steps toward yearly and monthly achieving these goals. Implement a daily twenty minutes of innovation and creative.  At the end of the week the idea is too presented to the team.
3.     What would be your level of trust with this employee, and what kind of expectations would you have? My level of trust with this employee would be very low to none existing. My expectations would be low and untrusting at first.  What would you do to improve the relationship and productivity?  To improve the relationship and productivity, I would spend time allowing this employee to explain himself/herself and demonstrating how to implement the improvement he/she is advocating. I short, would value their ideas and inputs for improvement.
4.     Would you implement a process of your own for your team? Why yes/no? Yes, I would implement a process of my own for my team. Implementing a Formal Performance Management Review Process provides specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bounded goals. Describe the steps that you would take to implement a performance review process. The steps that you would take to implement a performance review process are:
Clarifying job responsibilities and expectations.
Enhancing individual and group productivity.
Developing employee capabilities to their fullest extent through effective feedback and coaching.
Driving behavior to align with the organization’s core values, goals and strategy.
Providing a basis for making operational human capital decisions.
Improving communication between employees and managers.
The parts of the organization that I would involve and how they should be involved are Financial Department –Budget concerns for pay increases, Operations Plans Department- Projects allocation of resources.
5.     What steps would you take to convince her otherwise, and get her buy-in? Share with her the overwhelming result of previous situations where  the performance review process made a giant difference in the employees performance , developed skills and attitude.
6.     Describe the actions that you would take to foster her career. Provide specific management training and begin with Customer Service and delegation.
7.     Describe why should you delegate? Relives time - pressures from you. Delegation helps people and organizations grow. What would you delegate? Delegate tasks that you know well how long it takes and what skills are needed to accomplish the task. What would not delegate? Do not delegate task that are managements direct responsibility or “hot potatoes”. What steps would you take in the process? Explain the purpose of the task how it fits into the organizational goals and how to complete the task effectively and efficiently.
8.     What elements would look into, and what order? The nine elements I would look into are: 1.Customer Segments, 2. Value Propositions, 3. Channels, 4. Customer Relationships, 5. Revenue Streams. 6. Key Resources, 7. Key Activities, 8. Key Partners and 9. Cost Structure. Name the two most important elements of your revised business model. The two most important elements of your revised business model are Revenue Streams and Customer Relationships.
9.     Describe your experience and initial expectations using Linkedin.com.  How do you plan to keep using it? I enjoyed using Linkedin.com and expect to stay linked with classmates, former colleagues and future employers.
10.                         Describe the criteria and process to set up goals. ‘Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.”
Management By Objectives (MBO)
       Specific performance goals are jointly determined by employees and managers.
       Progress toward accomplishing goals is periodically reviewed.
       Rewards are allocated on the basis of progress towards the goals.
       Key elements of MBO: Goal specificity, participative decision making, an explicit performance/evaluation period, feedback.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Negotiations With The World’s Largest And Most Powerful Retail Giant.

HBS Cases: Negotiating with Wal-Mart

Sarah Talley’s Key Negotiation Principles
When you have a Problem when there is something you engage in with Wal-Mart that requires agreement so that it becomes a negotiation, the first advice is to think in partnership terms, really focus on a common goal, of getting costs out. Ask questions? Do not make demands or statements. When the relationship with Wal-Mart is truly a partnership, negotiating to resolve differences should not endanger the tenor of the partnership.
Be problem solvers instead gripers.  Approach Wal-Mart by saying, “Let’s work together and drive costs down and produce it so much cheaper you don’t have to replace me, because if you work with me I could do it better.”
Learn from and lobby with people and their partners who have credibility, and with people having problems in the field.
It’s hard to negotiate with a company that controls your company.  Deicide, never to let any company, including Wal-Mart become more than (20%) twenty percent of your company’s business.
Speak clearly on each issue large or small.
Go into a meeting with a clear specific agenda. Make good use of, show time, the buyers’ face to face time. Bring underling issues to the surface.  Leave with clear answers. Get your point across; remember their time is valuable. Define clearly the challenges and seek solutions face to face.
Communication and compromise are keys; you needed to treat the relationship with this Powerful Company as a marriage. Another company is always willing to do the job cheaper to gain the business.
Most young buyers are very ambitious. The young executives are tough, efficient and the most educated buyers you will encounter. Know your product all the way form the production standpoint to the end use. The young executives will know the product in and out; therefore you must be even more knowledgeable.
Executive Sarah Talley at 19 in 1997 began a majestic task of negotiating with the huge and powerful retail giant Wal-Mart. Executive Sarah Talley wanted to supply the Wal-Mart with pumpkins and water melons from the Frey Farm Produce at a fair market value. Wal-Mart, the huge and powerful retail giant, drove a stiff, hardball confrontation concerning price. Wal-Mart negotiates a price that would diminish Ms. Talley’s profits below the comfortable levels.
Executive Sarah Talley became a quit study and matched the Retail Giant skills with negotiation by redefining her position. She would offer customer development, relationship, and sales as priorities which would cause price to naturally be aligned.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest and most powerful retail giant, has a single-mined focus on “EDLP” (everyday low prices) and the power to make or break suppliers, a partnership with Wal-Mart is either the Holy Grail or the kiss of death.
P&G Executive Tom Muccio with skill and passionate determination pioneered a lasting supplier-retailer partnership between P&G and Wal-Mart. Built on proximity and growing trust. The partnership grew into a new relationship focused on establishing a joint vision and problem-solving process, information sharing, and customer development.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Quotes

"The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread,
but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the
strand, add to it another filament, unitl it becomes
a great cable and binds us irrevocably,
thought and act"
-ORISON SWETT  MARDEN

"There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach.
It can turn bad morals to good:; it can destroy bad principles and
recreate good ones; it can lift men to angelship"
-Mark Twain

Think Big !!

Your mind is very special. Bath your mind in quality knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
Deciside to think the good, the pure, the uplifting and the powerful.
Remember you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Think Positive about your ideas.

Think Big and you will live big. You will live big in happiness. You will live big in accomplishment.
Big in income. Big in friends. Big in respect.

If you can think it. Belive it . You can do it.

Believe, really believe, you can move a mountain and you can.

Isaac Hepburn

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Creating a Positive Professional Image

Creating a Positive Professional Image

Executive Summary:

In today’s diverse workplace, your actions and motives are constantly under scrutiny. Time to manage your own professional image before others do it for you. An interview with professor Laura Morgan Roberts.
As HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others are.
"People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace," she says. "It is only wise to add your voice in framing others' theories about who you are and what you can accomplish."
There are plenty of books telling you how to "dress for success" and control your body language. But keeping on top of your personal traits is only part of the story of managing your professional image, says Roberts. You also belong to a social identity group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping from the people you work with, especially in today's diverse workplaces. You can put on a suit and cut your hair to improve your appearance, but how do you manage something like skin color?
Roberts will present her research, called "Changing Faces: Professional Image Construction in Diverse Organizational Settings," in the October issue of the Academy of Management Review.
She discusses her research in this interview.
Mallory Stark: What is a professional image?
Laura Morgan Roberts: Your professional image is the set of qualities and characteristics that represent perceptions of your competence and character as judged by your key constituents (i.e., clients, superiors, subordinates, colleagues).
Q: What is the difference between "desired professional image" and "perceived professional image?"
A: It is important to distinguish between the image you want others to have of you and the image that you think people currently have of you.
Most people want to be described as technically competent, socially skilled, of strong character and integrity, and committed to your work, your team, and your company. Research shows that the most favorably regarded traits are trustworthiness, caring, humility, and capability.
Ask yourself the question: What do I want my key constituents to say about me when I'm not in the room? This description is your desired professional image. Likewise, you might ask yourself the question: What am I concerned that my key constituents might say about me when I'm not in the room? The answer to this question represents your undesired professional image.
You can never know exactly what all of your key constituents think about you, or how they would describe you when you aren't in the room. You can, however, draw inferences about your current professional image based on your interactions with key constituents. People often give you direct feedback about your persona that tells you what they think about your level of competence, character, and commitment. Other times, you may receive indirect signals about your image, through job assignments or referrals and recommendations. Taken together, these direct and indirect signals shape your perceived professional image, your best guess of how you think your key constituents perceive you.
Q: How do stereotypes affect perceived professional image?
A: In the increasingly diverse, twenty-first century workplace, people face a number of complex challenges to creating a positive professional image. They often experience a significant incongruence between their desired professional image and their perceived professional image. In short, they are not perceived in the manner they desire; instead, their undesired professional image may be more closely aligned with how their key constituents actually perceive them.
What lies at the source of this incongruence? Three types of identity threats—predicaments, devaluation, and illegitimacy—compromise key constituents' perceptions of technical competence, social competence, character, and commitment. All professionals will experience a "predicament" or event that reflects poorly on their competence, character, or commitment at some point in time, due to mistakes they have made in the past that have become public knowledge, or competency gaps (e.g., shortcomings or limitations in skill set or style).
Members of negatively stereotyped identity groups may experience an additional form of identity threat known as "devaluation." Identity devaluation occurs when negative attributions about your social identity group(s) undermine key constituents' perceptions of your competence, character, or commitment. For example, African American men are stereotyped as being less intelligent and more likely to engage in criminal behavior than Caucasian men. Asian Americans are stereotyped as technically competent, but lacking in the social skills required to lead effectively. Working mothers are stereotyped as being less committed to their profession and less loyal to their employing organizations. All of these stereotypes pose obstacles for creating a positive professional image.
Members of negatively stereotyped identity groups may experience an additional form of identity threat known as "devaluation."
Even positive stereotypes can pose a challenge for creating a positive professional image if someone is perceived as being unable to live up to favorable expectations of their social identity group(s). For example, clients may question the qualifications of a freshly minted MBA who is representing a prominent strategic consulting firm. Similarly, female medical students and residents are often mistaken for nurses or orderlies and challenged by patients who do not believe they are legitimate physicians.
Q: What is impression management and what are its potential benefits?
A: Despite the added complexity of managing stereotypes while also demonstrating competence, character, and commitment, there is promising news for creating your professional image! Impression management strategies enable you to explain predicaments, counter devaluation, and demonstrate legitimacy. People manage impressions through their non-verbal behavior (appearance, demeanor), verbal cues (vocal pitch, tone, and rate of speech, grammar and diction, disclosures), and demonstrative acts (citizenship, job performance).
My research suggests that, in addition to using these traditional impression management strategies, people also use social identity-based impression management (SIM) to create a positive professional image. SIM refers to the process of strategically presenting yourself in a manner that communicates the meaning and significance you associate with your social identities. There are two overarching SIM strategies: positive distinctiveness and social recategorization.
Positive distinctiveness means using verbal and non-verbal cues to claim aspects of your identity that are personally and/or socially valued, in an attempt to create a new, more positive meaning for that identity. Positive distinctiveness usually involves attempts to educate others about the positive qualities of your identity group, advocate on behalf of members of your identity group, and incorporate your background and identity-related experiences into your workplace interactions and innovation.
Social recategorization means using verbal and non-verbal cues to suppress other aspects of your identity that are personally and/or socially devalued, in an attempt to distance yourself from negative stereotypes associated with that group. Social recategorization involves minimization and avoidance strategies, such as physically and mentally conforming to the dominant workplace culture while being careful not to draw attention to identity group differences and one's unique cultural background.
Rather than adopting one strategy wholesale, most people use a variety of strategies for managing impressions of their social identities. In some situations, they choose to draw attention to a social identity, if they think it will benefit them personally or professionally. Even members of devalued social identity groups, such as African American professionals, will draw attention to their race if it creates mutual understanding with colleagues, generates high-quality connections with clients, or enhances their experience of authenticity and fulfillment in their work. In other situations, these same individuals may choose to minimize their race in order to draw attention to an alternate identity, such as gender, profession, or religion, if they feel their race inhibits their ability to connect with colleagues or clients.
Successful impression management can generate a number of important personal and organizational benefits, including career advancement, client satisfaction, better work relationships (trust, intimacy, avoiding offense), group cohesiveness, a more pleasant organizational climate, and a more fulfilling work experience. However, when unsuccessfully employed, impression management attempts can lead to feelings of deception, delusion, preoccupation, distraction, futility, and manipulation.
Q: How do authenticity and credibility influence the positive outcomes of impression management attempts?
A: In order to create a positive professional image, impression management must effectively accomplish two tasks: build credibility and maintain authenticity. When you present yourself in a manner that is both true to self and valued and believed by others, impression management can yield a host of favorable outcomes for you, your team, and your organization. On the other hand, when you present yourself in an inauthentic and non-credible manner, you are likely to undermine your health, relationships, and performance.
Most people use a variety of strategies for managing impressions of their social identities.
Most often, people attempt to build credibility and maintain authenticity simultaneously, but they must negotiate the tension that can arise between the two. Your "true self," or authentic self-portrayal, will not always be consistent with your key constituents' expectations for professional competence and character. Building credibility can involve being who others want you to be, gaining social approval and professional benefits, and leveraging your strengths. If you suppress or contradict your personal values or identity characteristics for the sake of meeting societal expectations for professionalism, you might receive certain professional benefits, but you might compromise other psychological, relational, and organizational outcomes.
Q: What are the steps individuals should take to manage their professional image?
A: First, you must realize that if you aren't managing your own professional image, someone else is. People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace. It is only wise to add your voice in framing others' theories about who you are and what you can accomplish.
Be the author of your own identity. Take a strategic, proactive approach to managing your image:
Identify your ideal state.
  • What are the core competencies and character traits you want people to associate with you?
  • Which of your social identities do you want to emphasize and incorporate into your workplace interactions, and which would you rather minimize?
Assess your current image, culture, and audience.
  • What are the expectations for professionalism?
  • How do others currently perceive you?
Conduct a cost-benefit analysis for image change.
  • Do you care about others' perceptions of you?
  • Are you capable of changing your image?
  • Are the benefits worth the costs? (Cognitive, psychological, emotional, physical effort)
Use strategic self-presentation to manage impressions and change your image.
  • Employ appropriate traditional and social identity-based impression management strategies.
  • Pay attention to the balancing act—build credibility while maintaining authenticity.
Manage the effort you invest in the process.
  • Monitoring others' perceptions of you
  • Monitoring your own behavior
  • Strategic self-disclosure
  • Preoccupation with proving worth and legitimacy

About the author

Mallory Stark is a career information librarian at Baker Library.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Anthony Robbins

http://www.tonyrobbins.com/
http://www.tompeters.com/
http://vimeo.com/10450316

Management Course

Moore’s Law
Situation
Task
Action
Results
What is the difference between Business Plan, Business Model?
Business Plan
How are we going to make Money?
Sell Computers
Sell accessories Business Plan
Business Plan
Sell software
Business model Monetization
Customer acquisition

Business Plan 9 building blocks.
1. Customer segments
a.  Age, gender,
2. Value Propositions what makes my products different.
3. Channels How will we reach them and deliver it.
4. Customer relationships Resale customers.
5. Revenue Streams
6. Key Resources
7. Key Activities Who is going to do what. Planning
8. Key Partners Manufacture,
9. Cost Structure

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

FOUNDATIONS OF PLANNING

FOUNDATIONS OF PLANNING

Failing to PLAN is planning to fail!!
Who plans and what is planning?
Managers of all levels, Line Managers, Middle Manager, Supervisors and Top Managers plan. Plan is not exclusive to management because we all need to plan to succeed.
       Planning
      A primary managerial activity that involves:
       Defining the organization’s goals
       Establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals
       Developing plans for organizational work activities.
      Types of planning
       Informal: not written down, short-term focus; specific to an organizational unit.
       Formal: written, specific, and long-term focus, involves shared goals for the organization.

The Purpose of planning is:
To provide Direction
It sets the standards for controlling
To reduces uncertainty
It minimizes waste and redundancy


Planning and Performance      
        The Relationship Between Planning And Performance
      Formal planning is associated with:
        Higher profits and returns on assets.
        Positive financial results.
      The quality of planning and implementation affects performance more than the extent of planning.
      The external environment can reduce the impact of planning on performance,
      Formal planning must be used for several years before planning begins to affect performance.

Types of Goals
        Financial Goals
      Are related to the expected internal financial performance of the organization.
        Strategic Goals
      Are related to the performance of the firm relative to factors in its external environment (e.g., competitors).
        Stated Goals versus Real Goals
      Broadly-worded official (mission) statements of the organization (intended for public consumption) that may be irrelevant to its real goals (what actually goes on in the organization).

Developing Effective Vision and Mission Statements

To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” (Google)
“We save people money so they can live better.” (Wal-Mart)
“To spice up everyday life.” (Chili’s Grill and Bar)


Qualities of Strong Mission Statements

Mission Statements must have a clear and executable view of what your company is prepared to provide and deliver.
        A good mission statement -- one which is straight forward and inspiring -- will bring people closer to your cause.
        To help your company achieve a compelling mission statement, remember to get right to the point. Briefly state the work and passion of your company.
        Good mission statements provide employees, shareholders, and other supporters with a clear vision of the company’s reason for being.
        They help people make decisions about day-to-day transactions.
        What do we do?
        How do we do it?
        For whom do we do it?




Exhibit 7–1                      Stated Goals of Large Global Companies
Execute strategic roadmap—“Plan to Win.”         
Grow the business profitably.
Identify and develop diverse talent.
Promote balanced, active lifestyles.
(McDonald’s Corporation)

Control inventory.
Maintain industry’s lowest inventory shrinkage rate.
Open 25–30 new locations in fiscal 2006.
Live by the code of ethics every day.
(Costco)



Continue to win market share globally.
Focus on higher-value products.
Reduce production costs.
Lower purchasing costs.
Integrate diversity.
Gain ISO 14001 certification for all factories.
(L’Oreal)

Respect the environment.
Respect and support family unity and national traditions.
Promote community welfare.
Continue implementing quality systems.
Continue to be a strong cash generator.
(Grupo Bimbo)

Expand selection of competitively priced products.
Manage inventory carefully.
Continue to improve store format every few years.
Operate 2,000 stores by the end of the decade.
Continue gaining market share.
(Target)




Roll out newly-designed environmentally friendly cup in 2006.
Open approximately 1,800 new stores globally in 2006.
Attain net revenue growth of approximately 20 percent in 2006.
Attain annual EPS growth of between 20 percent to 25 percent for the next 3 to 5 years.
(Starbucks)

Types of Plans
        Strategic Plans
      Apply to the entire organization.
      Establish the organization’s overall goals.
      Seek to position the organization in terms of its environment.
      Cover extended periods of time.
        Operational Plans
      Specify the details of how the overall goals are to be achieved.
      Cover short time period.
·       Long-Term Plans
      Plans with time frames extending beyond three years
·       Short-Term Plans
      Plans with time frames on one year or less
·       Specific Plans
      Plans that are clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation
·       Directional Plans
      Flexible plans that set out general guidelines provide focus, yet allow discretion in implementation.
        Single-Use Plan
      A one-time plan specifically designed to meet the need of a unique situation.
        Standing Plans
      Ongoing plans that provide guidance for activities performed repeatedly.