The Twentieth Century Modern Take on the Chaos Management - Essay Example

? SECTION D: Preparation for Seminar Session 5 to be held in week 8: OVERVIEW OF WORK CASE STUDY, ESSAY WRITING & REFERENCING/AVOIDING PLAGIARISM. Overview of Coursework Case Study D1. Give an overview of your coursework case study – what is it really about? What are the key issues within the case study that you will analyse? Provide appropriate supporting evidence from the case study. The case study is basically about the twentieth century modern take on the chaos management. Chaos which was previously regarded as a source of apprehension and ambiguity for the organization has evolved to become a competitive advantage which if tackled the right way can lead any organization to utmost success. The human resource policies of Google also seem to stem from its chaos management strategy. The employees of Google are encouraged to be innovative and think out of the box. Their working environment is also made starkly different from the traditional corporate lifestyle. The key issue raised in the case study is sustainability and success rate of the chaos management style initiated by Google. The Google’s approach to tackle chaos is very laid back. At Google the employees might be pulling all nighters to complete certain projects and meet strict deadlines but they also have all the leisure time facilities within their reach inside their corporate office. Google has been successful so far in being able to manage chaos in favour of the company. However this management style does not come without some risk factors. The identified risk factors in the case study are; the Google’s primary source of profits has been their advertising and recently all their attempts at deviating from it have failed. There is a probability of everything moving too fast for Google to be able to handle it. Another matter of concern is the recent trend of using ‘Google’ as a generic term. The probability that people might lose their association with the brand Google if they start using it casually cannot be ignored. WRITING & STRUCTURING AN EFFECTIVE ESSAY Answer the following questions after researching and reading useful sources on how to write effective essays. Check relevant materials available on Weblearn to help you to complete this exercise. D2: What sources (books/articles/handouts) did you read before completing this section on essay writing? Please list below. 1. Starket, L., 2004, How to write great essays, Learning Express, 1:33-39 2. Soles, D., 2005, The academic essay: how to plan, draft, revise, and write essays. New York: Studymates 3. Greetham, B., 2001, How to write better essays, New York: Palgrave Macmillan D3. How do you go about structuring an effective essay? A good academic structure is not limited to a good start and an appropriate conclusion. It should start off with a solid introduction in which the idea to be analyzed is stated and carefully illustrated in a creative way to arouse the interest of the reader. The middle part of the essay is basically the analysis of the subject matter and it should be organized in a comprehensive flow in which one area of interest and its sub section are carefully analyzed before embarking the next one. The order of the whole argument should be in a logical manner. The essay should be interesting and consistent enough for the reader and pull him to read till the conclusion. The conclusion of an academic essay basically illustrates the findings of the essay. D4. Try writing a draft essay plan for your coursework below. Provide some examples of drawing upon relevant theories and/or theoretical perspectives to support and develop the analysis of the issues in the case study. Introduction In today’s business environment it is not possible to avoid chaos. Chaos typically means that the entire well thought strategies go right down the drain. It is basically a situation in which the desired goals become unachievable and the output becomes undesirable and random. The survival tool of today’s corporation is in fact sound chaos management. Chaos has been embedded in today’s economies with no other option for companies but to live with it and manage it as much as they possibly can. The challenge is not just about coming up with a corporate management strategy that works to manage change but it also involves channelling the human instincts in the positive and right direction. Body The modern chaos management approach is most evident in the corporation Google. The human resource policies of Google also seem to stem from its chaos management strategy. The employees of Google are encouraged to be creative and think out of the box at all times. Their working environment is also made starkly different from the traditional corporate lifestyle. Google seems to believe that the fewer chores the employees will have to do after leaving office the more it will make them stay at office for long. By the look of it, the HR department of Google seem to be managing chaos for its employees so that they can focus on work alone. Relevant theories and perspectives Google is a strong advocate of Goldilocksian approach to management in which too much structure and planning is avoided to deal with an ambiguous situations. It basically works when a company determines the precise amount of management it requires and then uses a little less than required (Lashinsky, 2006). “Chaos is inevitable. In the sense that perturbation is evolutionary, it's also desirable. But managing it is essential. It's no use for any of us to hope that someone else will do it. Do you have your own personal strategies in place?” (Brinkworth, 2006) The chaos faced by Google is deterministic in nature (Schuster, 1987) in which the goals are achievable but a small deviation from the plan occurs. ‘We're willing to tolerate that ambiguity and chaos because that's where the room is for innovation’ Sandberg Conclusions In the middle of so much chaos, one does wonder if Google can make through all this or would it be one time winner and not grow as a company. Google might on the front remain nonchalant and state that the non linear approach to tackle chaos is part of the plan. But there are many questions about the company’s future that remains unanswered and chaotic. D5. How important is the essay title in structuring an essay? Explain why. The title of an essay represents the whole essay in a single line comprised of a few words. The title of the essay is what the reader would be initially looking it. It will play an important part in the reader’s interest in the subject matter and his decision to read further. The title of an essay also works to differentiate it from rest of the essays on the same subject matter and it gives life to the written piece. REFERENCING & AVOIDING PLAGIARISM. Answer the following questions after researching and reading useful sources on how to Reference effectively/avoid Plagiarism. Check relevant handout(s) on Weblearn. D6. What sources (books/articles/handouts) did you read before completing this section on Referencing/Avoiding Plagiarism? Please list below. 1. Marsh, Bill., 2007, Plagiarism: alchemy and remedy in higher education, NewYork: Suny Press 2. Neville, C., 2007, The complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism, Bradford: McGraw-Hill International 3. Neville, C., 2006, References and Bibliographies. Effective learning Service 4. Cox, S., 2009, Learning and teaching guides: Case Studies of Active Learning, Birmingham City University D7. Why is referencing important? Referencing is a means of acknowledging the work of others that you quote copy, summarize or paraphrase in your academic writing. It also shows that you have well researched your subject matter before writing your academic paper. A research article which is not properly referenced falls under the offence of plagiarism which has dire consequences like a failed grade, suspension and even expulsion. It is regarded very important because of the following reasons (Colin, 2006) To give credibility and authenticity to the information present in the academic paper To equip the teacher to verify the information utilized in the research paper To help the interested readers and teachers to track the sources utilized in the academic papers To avoid unintentional plagiarism D8. What is its relationship to plagiarism? Referencing aids the writers in avoiding the unintentional plagiarism and acknowledging the work of the others that has helped them in their research. It is not only the ethical job of the writer to reference his research article properly but it is also his legal duty. D9. What is the difference between a “Bibliography” and a “List of References”? A Bibliography is list of all sources that you have read and found relevant in preparation of your research article. A relevant and read journal, book, newspaper article or an internet source makes it to the bibliography list even if it is not directly quoted summarized or utilized in the research article. A reference list, on the other hand contains all the sources that a writer has directly cited in his academic paper. Referencing applies to all sources that get utilized in writing an academic paper like books, journals, newspapers articles, internet sources, diagrams and pictures. D10. Give three examples of bibliographic citations using the Harvard system, one for a book; another for a journal article; a third for a website. 1. Book Weislowski, K., 2010, Case study- Corporate Culture: Corporate Culture as a Critical Success Factor at Google.Verlag: Grin 2. Journal Norton, L., 1990, Essay writing: what really counts? Khuwer Academic Publishers, 20 (4) p 411-442 3. Website Lashinsky, A., (2006) Chaos by design. [online] accessed from http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0701/gallery.Google_perks/ D11. Give examples of referencing within a text of a: 1. Book (Weislowski, 2010) 2. Journal (Norton, 1990) 3. Website (Lashinsky, 2006) SECTION E: Preparation for Seminar Session 6 to be held in week 9: ANALYSIS OF SAMPLE CASE STUDY & EVALUATION OF SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAYS Analysis of sample case study: Japanization in the UK – read the sample case study provided in your module booklet. E1. Identify the main issues in the case study, giving evidence from the case study. The case study is related to the Japanization of British Industry of manufacturing specifically automobiles. It was the desire of British companies to undertake and adopt the Japanese way of management and manufacturing to gain the economic prosperity that the Japanese car companies enjoyed. The major automobiles companies from UK like Ford and Nissan aspired to adopt Japanese management practices to achieve the same level of efficiency and competitiveness as the Japanese companies. The model and practices being followed by Japan is in fact the best model of practice. These Japanese style of management and engineering inspired many consultants and managers to visit the plants of Japanese companies and implement the same practices of cellular manufacturing, team working and lean production in their home companies. However Japanization of UK companies have not been able to lead the said companies to same level of success and prosperity. The present case study ponders on the reluctance and failure of the UK companies to adopt these practices despite showing sheer interest. The question is if the Japanese production, engineering and manufacturing models are being followed in UK then why are not these benefiting the UK economy in the same manner as Japan. E2. Identify below the theories/theoretical perspectives that would help to develop and support the analysis of the issues in the case study. Give some examples of how these theories/theoretical perspectives can be applied to the case study analysis. McMann and Nanni (1995) were of the view that the Japanese way of manufacturing and engineering is designed by keeping in mind the Japanese context. There is a probability of Japanization of other economies like UK never being able to produce the same results as generated in UK. There is another theoretical perspective related to evolution of Japanization to cater to the required managerial and organization needs. This revolutionary approach has to some extent being applied in UK where cellular manufacturing, team working and JIT system are inspired by Japanese way of working. EVALUATION OF SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAYS Read and mark the two student sample essays in your module booklet and complete the exercises below. E3. Evaluation of student essay 1: comment on this essay according to the following criteria, giving examples from the sample essay (please provide your comments against each criterion below): Relevant answer to the question set: There relevancy of the answer to the question set was satisfactory. The student did deviate from the central idea and in some irrelevant information was incorporated in the essay. Coherent and logical structure: The structure of the essay was coherent and the flow of the ideas was also good. Clear analysis expressed in student’s own words: Analysis was comprehensive and understandable. Ideas were conveyed in a fine manner. Evidence of wide reading: Wide use of citation and a comprehensive demonstration of knowledge indicates wide reading Relevant theory applied appropriately to case: Yes, relevant theories and theoretical perspectives were in fact incorporated in the Essay. Critical understanding of issues involved: The understanding of the problems and issues at hand was demonstrated through proposed solutions to those issues. Clear conclusion based on previous analysis: Conclusion was abrupt and concise. It could have been more elaborate Conventional referencing and bibliography: A list of correctly enlisted References at the end of the essay indicates intensive prior study and research work Specific Mark & Recommended Grade: 7/10 BE4. Evaluation of student essay 2: comment on this essay according to the following criteria, giving examples from the sample essay (please provide your comments against each criterion below): Relevant answer to the question set: The writer was keen on focusing on the central idea and did not demean from the subject matter Coherent and logical structure: The sentence structure and grammar was satisfactory Clear analysis expressed in student’s own words: Student made use of a lot of direct quotes and theory perspective. Improvements can be made and focus of the essay can be the analysis of those theory perspectives. Evidence of wide reading: Yes the student demonstrated wide reading. Relevant theory applied appropriately to case: Yes there were ample use and references of different theories Critical understanding of issues involved: The student was average in being able to demonstrate the accumulation of knowledge and ideas from her/his wide study which is apparent from the reference list. Clear conclusion based on previous analysis: Conclusion was satisfactory. Conventional referencing and bibliography: Referencing and citation was amply carried out. Specific Mark & Recommended Grade: 7.5 A E5. What is the difference between “Analysing” and “Describing” a case study? Give examples, if you can, from the two sample essays of: Analysis: You may highlight appropriate analytical sections on the two essays instead of completing this section (if you are going to highlight the sections please attach these sections and clearly specify which highlighted sections represent the analytical sections). The describing a case study means to explain and narrate the case and form causal links to real life. It means merely describing the occurrence of events as they had taken place. In analyzing a case study different evaluation tools, theories, models are made use of to evaluate and explore the situation described in the case study. Both descriptive and analyzing forms were found to be applied in the case study. The examples of both are as follows. Examples of Analyzing 1. “Google recognizes that its most valuable resource is the thought-power of its employees. Google employees are paid to think, to experiment and to dare to take risks. Even if those risks go wrong, Google prefers to create a work environment where mistakes are seen as tools for learning and employees dare to try outrageous ideas” 2. Type in the words: ‘‘chaos management’’ as a search term. What did you find? More importantly, how did you find it? If you are like over 50 percent of the world’s internet users you entered your search term into Google, a company which epitomizes an up-to-the-minute chaos management style. 3. For most young graduates, the transition from university life to the corporate world of work comes as something of a cold shower shock. Just getting out of jeans and trainers into the suit and tie uniform can be intimidating. Then there are office hierarchies to assimilate, time clocks to punch and corporate politics to fathom. For the work force at Google 4. Headquarters, most of whom are in their twenties and thirties, going to work must seem like a continuation of campus life. 5. Employment at Google is very fluid, with people taking on various changing roles as the company’s need or their interest dictates. Example of Description 1. After less than ten years Google is worth more than $30 billion and handles more transactions every day than the New York, London, Geneva, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges combined. 2. There is no dress code at Google and employees can be seen traveling around the campus-like environment on skateboards. The mood is informal and everyone knows that he or she is a valuable part of Google’s success. Exercise balls and bicycles decorate the office space and staffers work in small cluster groups with comfortable furnishing. 3. This fluid, risk-taking, casual style of work is known to Google employees as the ‘‘Googley’’ way of working. Post Seminar Reflection Exercise: To be completed at the end of the class after Seminar Session 5: Having had a discussion in the seminar class with the tutor and other students, have you learnt anything new/have your views or comments changed in any way in respect of the exercises you completed for Section E? If so, what/in what ways? If not, why not? SECTION F: Preparation for Seminar Session 7 to be held in week 10: COURSEWORK GUIDANCE F1. Write in your own words the criteria against which your own essay will be assessed: Assessment Criteria Following are the key points on which the present paper will be evaluated Focused and clear analysis of the case study without any irreverent information Successfully being able to point out and present the key issues of the case study Being able to appropriately prioritize the issues narrated in the case study Application of different models and principals to deeply evaluate the case Propose a solution for the key issues identified in the case study Accuracy of grammar, spelling and vocabulary used in the paper Conform to the international plagiarism policies with appropriate citation and references Reveal and demonstrate insight in to the phenomenon of chaos management and its relevance to different theories and principals Having re-read your coursework case study, “Googling out of Control)” and watched the relevant YouTube video clip what specific issues will you analyse in context of the question set for your essay? Provide supporting evidence from the case study. The concerns enlisted in the case study advertising being the only source of Google’s profits, the rising trend of Google as a generic term, Google’s failure to breakthrough with another outstanding product or service sets helped in formulating the below mentioned question set for the Essay to probe. Will chaos management approach of Google succeed in the long term? Will the HR policies of Google succeed in getting maximum output from the employees and not act to distract them The failure of Google to come up with the next big thing questions the company’s future? F3. What theories and/or theoretical perspectives will you draw upon in your essay to support and develop the critical analysis of the issues? Include examples of how you will use these theories/perspectives in your essay. Theories and theoretical perspectives “Chaos is inevitable. In the sense that perturbation is evolutionary, it's also desirable. But managing it is essential.” (Brinkworth, 2006) The Theory of deterministic Chaos (Schuster, 1987) We're willing to tolerate that ambiguity and chaos because that's where the room is for innovation’ clarifies the route Google is embarking on (Lashinsky, 2006). Goldilocksian approach to management These theories and perspective will be used through the body of the essay to analyze and prove the arguments in Essay. What is likely to be the first paragraph of your essay. Draft this paragraph below: In today’s business environment it is not possible to avoid chaos. Chaos typically means that the entire well thought strategies go right down the drain. It is basically a situation in which the desired goals become unachievable and the output becomes undesirable and random. The survival tool of today’s corporation is in fact sound chaos management. Chaos has been embedded in today’s economies with no other option for companies but to live with it and manage it as much as they possibly can. The challenge is not just about coming up with a corporate management strategy that works to manage change but it also involves channelling the human instincts in the positive and right direction. F5. What is likely to be the concluding paragraph of your essay? Draft this paragraph below: In the middle of so much chaos, one does wonder if Google can make through all this or would it be one time winner and not grow as a company. Google might on the front remain nonchalant and state that the non linear approach to tackle chaos is part of the plan. But there are many questions about the company’s future that remains unanswered and chaotic. SECTION G: Preparation for Seminar Session 8 to be held in week 12: DRAFT COURSEWORK ESSAY Write your draft essay below based on the assessment criteria as outlined in your module booklet. Remember to: answer the question; structure your essay logically; analyse the case study and use theory/theoretical perspectives and evidence from the case to support your analysis. Reference appropriately and keep to the word limit (2000 words) DO NOT summarise the case, or summarise theory unrelated to the case. DO NOT plagiarise. If you are unsure as to whether you may have plagiarised then check with your seminar tutor. G1. Draft Essay: Managing Chaos- a business stress or a competitive edge? “Chaos is inevitable. In the sense that perturbation is evolutionary, it's also desirable. But managing it is essential. It's no use for any of us to hope that someone else will do it. Do you have your own personal strategies in place?” (Brinkworth, 2006) In today’s business environment it is not possible to avoid chaos. Chaos typically means that the entire well thought strategies go right down the drain. It is basically a situation in which the desired goals become unachievable and the output becomes undesirable and random. The twentieth century has come up with its own very laidback modern approach to tackle the chaos faced by the organization. It was only initially that chaos management was regarded as a matter of ambiguity and apprehension. The today’s corporate world sees the phenomenon of chaos as an opportunity to lead their organization to utmost success. Bill Ford, the owner of Ford Company when encountered with dire uncertainty in his business environment wrote an email to all his employees saying "The business model that sustained us for decades is no longer sufficient to sustain profitability." A solution for the said problems encountered by Ford Motors was put forth in an article “Managing in Chaos” written by Geoffrey Colvin in Fortune Magazine (Colvin, 2006). The survival tool of today’s corporation is in fact sound chaos management. Chaos has been embedded in today’s economies with no other option for companies but to live with it and manage it as much as they possibly can. The challenge is not just about coming up with a corporate management strategy that works to manage change but it also involves channelling the human instincts in the positive and right direction. The rationale behind the human being an important issue is that companies are not made up of machines or structures. They comprises of actual human beings who needs to be taught to behave in new ways by altering their behaviour and mind set. Firms that succeed in managing chaos makeup interesting case study with valuable lessons to learn from. There have been companies which meet chaos after chaos and loose control at times but come out stronger than before every time through their innovative ideas. However it is not to say that they have made it. It is a constant struggle to thrive in this competitively chaotic environment. The chaotic environment of today’s economies has evolved the companies to constantly struggle to survive. One might investigate about the magnitude of this chaos being experienced by businesses of today. The magnitude is hard to evaluate but one thing is for sure that the chaotic transition business period of today will interest the historians years from now. The determinants of the chaos can be the recent phenomenons of globalization and digitalization. The modern chaos management approach is most evident in the corporation Google. The chaos faced by Google is deterministic in nature (Schuster, 1987) in which the goals are achievable but a small deviation from the plan occurs. Google has succeeded in managing deterministic chaos well and produce positive results. It tackles the deterministic chaos by encouraging out of the box thinking and being innovative. The Google’s “Chaos by design” strategy includes prioritizing the ideas to generate the desired positive. This particular strategy can prove to be most beneficial for research firms and educational institutions (Mossberg, 1993). The human resource policies of Google also seem to stem from its chaos management strategy. The employees of Google are encouraged to be creative and think out of the box at all times. Their working environment is also made starkly different from the traditional corporate lifestyle. Google seems to believe that the fewer chores the employees will have to do after leaving office the more it will make them stay at office for long. It is evident in on job yoga center, catered gourmet lunches and facilities of day to day errands like laundry, dry cleaning and car wash. By the look of it, the HR department of Google seem to be managing chaos for its employees so that they can focus on work alone. The Fortune Magazine rated Google as the number 1 company to be associated with and to work for. This ranking was primarily because of the above mentioned perks given to the employees which also included a pet friendly policy in which the employees were allowed to bring their pets along to work. It is very difficult to predict chaos but controlling chaos is very easy in comparison. Google’s well thought HR policies prepares their employees in advance through all the workplace perks of in house yoga centre, free gourmet cafes, pet friendly policies and other day to day facilities. It is one the reason why the employees of Google readily pull all nighters to complete certain projects and meet strict deadlines since they also have all the leisure time facilities within their reach inside their corporate office. In the defence of the traditional organization structures and HR policies, it can be argued that such a laid back and luxuriously causal culture can only be afforded by a million dollar corporation like Google. The stock price and the profits of Google are unmatchable which gives it some relaxation to perk up its employees all it wants. Google has been successful so far in being able to manage chaos in favour of the company. However this management style does not come without some risk factors. There are many identified risk associated with the laid back approach of chaos management. The fact that Google has failed to come up with any substantially successful product or service in recent times raises questions about its management style. Another matter of concern is the recent trend of using ‘Google’ as a generic term. The probability that people might lose their association with the brand Google if they start using it casually cannot be ignored. The whole organizational structure and the HR policies of Google have also been brutally criticized. According to (Swartz, 2006), the employees of Google become misfit for any other organization to work for. The retention strategy of Google has been claimed to be that it makes its employees afraid that they would not be able to survive anywhere else. The infantilizing tactics of Google includes hiring programmers’ fresh out of college and not letting them grow up and see the real world. The growth of Google is also claimed to be being followed by a decrease in its employee association with the company (Swartz, 2006). For now though, this chaos management style seems to be working well for Google because the Google’s investors does not seem to be concerned and the Google’s annual reports are also portraying a positive picture. However the tentative attempts of Google to grow through new means of advertising and to come up with a product or service that catches the fire indicates the company’s desire to grow well beyond its current state of affairs. The failure of Google to come up with the next big thing questions the company’s future? But the team at Google is quite confident that it is right on track. The track might be as tricky, irrelevant yet as self confident as the company itself. The Shona Brown’s book ‘Structured Chaos” articulates the framework of future of Google. Chaos has become an important aspect of the company image of Google along with Googleyness.  Sandberg’s response to the confusions and ambiguities associated with Google’s future that ‘We're willing to tolerate that ambiguity and chaos because that's where the room is for innovation’ clarifies the route Google is embarking on (Lashinsky, 2006). Google is a strong advocate of Goldilocksian approach to management in which too much structure and planning is avoided to deal with an ambiguous situations. It basically works when a company determines the precise amount of management it requires and then uses a little less than required (Lashinsky, 2006). In the middle of so much chaos, one does wonder if Google can make through all this or would it be one time winner and not grow as a company. The belief in rising through the chaos can only make one believe that Google shall come with its successful second act in its own time. Google might on the front remain nonchalant and state that the non linear approach to tackle chaos is part of the plan. But there are many questions about the company’s future that remains unanswered and chaotic. References Brinkworth, C. P. Managing chaos. Accessed from http://catherinepalinbrinkworth.com/managing-chaos.html, Colvin, G. Managing in chaos. Fortune 2006, 154. URL http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/02/8387417/index.htm Mossberg, B.1993 Chaos on campus: A prescription for global leadership. Educational Record 74, 49-55. Schuster, H.G., 1987 Deterministic chaos, 2Rev Ed edition. Wiley-VCH: Weinheim 1987 Swartz, A., 2003, The Goog Life: how Google keeps employees by treating them like Kids. Raw thought Read More