How top managements vision can be translated into operational goals and why this is important - Essay Example

?Discussion Questions How top managements vision can be translated into operational goals and why this is important The overall vision of top managements is defined in their master plans that identify their unique niche in the environment, define their mission, adapt to changing needs, and build on their strengths. In order to benefit from the vision of their top managements, organizations should translate this vision into operational goals. This can be achieved by applying a lot of management practices that are very specific. One tool for ensuring this is done is a scorecard. According to Kaplan and Norton (1996), a scorecard helps managers of a company to clarify their vision for the firm and translate it into measurable objectives and actions that can be understood by employees. This also includes objectives that will enable the organization to balance and respond to the concerns of its stakeholders. The conversion of the vision of top management into operational goals is important because if articulated with effective strategies that are properly executed, it can provide one important way through which an organization can control its destiny. From the developed objectives, the management will be able to develop specific, workable strategies to support these objectives. These strategies will touch both on primary and secondary management practices, deal with strategy paradox and guide on responsible restructuring. The translation of this vision into specific objectives that are unambiguous to the employees means the employees of the organizations will be in position to align their actions and efforts toward the achievement of core objectives/business of the organization. Generally, it provides a list of operational measures that act as powerful drivers, good for future financial performance. References Kaplan, R. and Norton, D. (1996). The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action. (1st Ed). Havard. Harvard Business Review Press. An organization that has experienced a virtuous spiral and how it compares with the concepts presented in "Treat People Right" An example of an organization that has experienced a virtuous growth is Southwest Airlines and an examination of its situation shows a high correlation to the concepts presented in "Treat People Right". In this book, Lawler explains how individuals and organizations are interdependent in that they can propel each other into a virtuous spiral of success. He explains that organizations that value and reward their employees motivate them to perform better and this in turn pushes the organization to attain greater levels of accomplishments in agreement with Helge (2006). There is an adequate implementation of the 7 principles outlined in Treating People Right in Southwest Airlines and the company has achieved impressive results because of this. Lawler (2004) explains that the company is a people focused organization that always seeks quality relationship with its employees and identifies its people as its competitive advantage. The Airline has placed an emphasis on careful selection of employees, developing a work environment that is employee-friendly, giving employees the autonomy to control their work and jobs, stock ownership and profit sharing for all employees, and providing them with opportunities for growth, development and advancement within the organization. The outcome of this has been excellent customer service which is important for airlines because it influences the attitude of customers toward the company. It has also led to the elimination of the hostile labor relationship common in all other major airlines. Despite being highly unionized, the Airline has never had a strike and this has improved its image in the market. It is mentioned both by employees and customers as one of the best workplaces. References Helge, D. (2006). “Employee Motivation, Engagement & Retention - Use Corporate Culture to Overcome Negativity.” Retrieved on 16th January, 2012. http://ezinearticles.com/?Employee-Motivation,-Engagement-and-Retention----Use-Corporate-Culture-to-Overcome-Negativity&id=1472175. Lawler, E. (2004). “Leading a Virtuous-Spiral Organization.” Leader to Leader. 32. Pp 32-40. Positive organizational behavior and how it can be used to improve performance Luthans (2002) defines positive organizational behavior (POB) as the study and application of positive psychological capabilities and positively oriented strengths of human resource in the workplace. These attributes should be those that can be developed, measured and are positively related to work performance. In Psychological Capital, Luthans, Youssef and Avolio (2007) identify self-sufficiency, optimism, hope and resilience as the four elements of POB. These elements can be used to improve performance by developing them in employees so as to boost their motivation. Self-sufficiency can be developed by allowing employees to set their own goals, allowing them to take challenging tasks and involving them in decision-making. This will increase their confidence of performing successfully in various tasks. Organizations should help employees boost their optimism levels by forgiving their past mistakes, appraising them, helping them to recognize future opportunities and avoiding their exposure to high risks. This will increase their expectations of positive results and eliminate fears of failing to successfully perform new or challenging tasks. To build hope, organizations have to involve employees in decision-making, help them set realistic goals, break large goals into pieces doable ones and help employees achieve effective goal setting. This will enhance the belief that challenging goals will be attained successfully and that failure in a task will not lead to automatic failure in future. Organizations should also help their employees to develop the ability to recover from extreme adversity by helping them develop emotional stability, creativity, self-regulation, positive-perceptions among other positive personal attributes. This will eliminate the avoidance of challenging or risky tasks. Reference Luthans, F. , Youssef C. & Avolio B. (2007). “Psychological Capital: Developing the Human comp[etetive Edge. New York: Oxford University Press. How leaders should lead: application to K-mart. Webb (2009) states that leadership influences employee attitudes which in turn influence customer attitudes. In his book Leadership for Everyone, Dean outlines skills that leaders should possess to be able to achieve this. These are, listen to learn, empathize with emotions, attend to aspirations, diagnose and detail, engage for good ends, respond with respectfulness and speak with specificity. These concepts can be applied to the leadership of K-mart. Unlike its major competitors like Wal-Mart that use visionary leadership, K-mart uses standard leadership. This is where employees are taken as tools of production and should do as told. This is command-and-control leadership (Webb, 2009). Through active listening, the leaders of the organizations will be able to know the attitude of the employees towards the workplace, their aspirations and issues. If these are responded to, it will result to a collaborative, comprehensive and motivating workplace. As they listen to their employees, the leaders of K-mart should be able to detect their emotions, needs and feelings and empathize with them. This will lead to openness and acceptance which is important for performance. They should also apply respectful despondence to employee issues as this will encourage ethical decision-making and boost positive employee mind-set about K-mart. In addition, they should make sure they speak with specificity by responding directly to the actual issues raised. This should be visually, vocally and verbally clear. The leaders should not only listen to the employees but assess and analyze these views so as to come up with appropriate responses and detect any hidden issues. The leaders should be sharp in diagnosing and detailing any improvements in individual performances so as to appraise them accordingly. This will make the employees feel appreciated and encourage more improvement. To boost general performance of the organization, K-mart leadership should create a productive workplace which encourages and fosters individual growth and/or innovativeness. References Webb, R. (2009). Workplace Leadership: Employee motivation and leadership. Retrieved on 16th January, 2012. http://www.motivation-tools.com/workplace/1-workplace_leadership.htm. A famous positive sports leader Although he is not a sports genius, Alex Ferguson has grown to become one of the most famous leaders in sports globally. His secret lies in management and this ability to handle men has enabled Manchester United to experience a period of success and dominance both in Europe and France. The concepts outlined in Kellerman’s Followership are true of his leadership and the response of the players. Kellerman describes five types of followers namely isolates, bystanders, participants, activists and diehards. Before becoming a manager, Ferguson himself was an activist as seen by his great devotion to achieving change in soccer. As soon as he got into Manchester, Ferguson made important changes including instilling higher discipline into the players (Crick, 2003). The success of Manchester United did not come exclusively from the power of Ferguson to suggest changes. The players have always been active participants who constantly demonstrate the desire and ability to effect change. This has ensured a greater impact of the suggested changes. The players of Manchester united can also be described as good future followers. These are the type of followers who support effective and ethical leaders, and oppose ineffective and unethical leaders. Their response to the ideas of Ferguson clearly proofs what Kellerman means by stating that “followers are more important to leaders than leaders are to followers.” They have been important agents for change for the club, powerful and influential. References Crick, M. (2003). The Boss: The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson. London. Pocket Books. How organizational change can be used to strengthen and improve organizational performance In order to response to the rapidly changing external environment, organizations have to implementation important internal structural changes. In their book Built to Change, Lawler and Worley state that change is the best competitive advantage that organizations can possess. This means that changes can be used to strengthen and improve organizational performance in various ways. For instance, it can be used to develop a virtuous spiral. This is because change can be developed as a strategy that works/deliberate strategies/strategic intervention that responds to the immediate business environment. This means that it helps to gain a competitive advantage by enabling organizations to respond to market demand. McNamara (2010) explains that change is undertaken to enhance the performance of an organization. For example a restructuring of the production process or the workforce could lead to the production of quality goods and/or services, and improved workforce efficiency. Changes could also be undertaken to improve workplace conditions. This results to increased employee motivation and low turnover rates. This in turn leads to the retention of skilled and experienced workforce who are highly productive. Change could lead to reduction of operational costs and the result is availability of extra resources to strengthen core production activities. Change can enable an organization to deal with its weaknesses because it could be formulated as a response to its internal problems. The ability to overcome these weaknesses will enhance and strengthen the performance of the organization. References McNamara. (2010). “Organizational Change and Development.” Retrieved on 16th January, 2012. http://managementhelp.org/organizationalchange/index.htm#anchor63073. What organizations can and have done to overcome resistance to change Change enables organizations to address issues and solve problems. This means that all employees should develop a sense of urgency whenever a change is suggested in order to implement it effectively. They should also belief that ‘it can be done.’ However, some of the employees are complacent or simply against any changes and will undertake undermining efforts that will frustrate anyone creating a sense of urgency. In order to overcome such resistance, organizations should keep such people occupied with value-added works that will ensure they cannot have a negative impact on the change process. An organization should also make clear the inevitability of the change and this could lead to a change of mind among its resistors. Schuler (2003) points out one of the reasons for change resistance as fear of the lack of competence to accommodate the changes. Where resistance to change is a result of this, organizations should conduct or promise to conduct employee training for their new jobs. They should also explain the workability of the jobs to eliminate the sense of being overloaded or overwhelmed by new responsibilities. If the organization has won the support of a majority of the workers, it could expose the negative behaviors of change opposers and in this way, their effectiveness will be eliminated or reduced by peer pressure. If these individuals are powerful or hold influential positions, they should be given a good severance package and send home. References Schuler, J. (2003). “Overcoming Resistance to Change: Top Ten Reasons for Change Resistance.” Online: http://www.schulersolutions.com/resistance_to_change.html. An organization that made a poor moral decision, evidence of lack of moral leadership within the organization and what could have been done to prevent such a breakdown in moral leadership There are times where desire overtakes good decisions and need for ethical considerations leading to poor moral decisions. An example of this is the decision concerning Beech Nut apple juice. In this case, Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation discovered that it had been receiving juice concentrate adulterated with corn sugar from Universal Juice Company, a wholesaler run by Interjuice Trading Corporation. Evidently, there was lack of moral leadership in the organization. Instead of acting to protect the health of consumers, LiCari, its director of research and development, preferred continue with the deal and have the supplier compensate consumers for any complaints. He also took advantage of shift to beet sugar for adulteration by Interjuice since it was hard to detect and directed for the use of the product to make mixed juices (International Directory of Company Histories (2003). To prevent this, Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation should have laid strategies for preventing moral recession in the organization as outlined in The Ethics Recession by Kidder. For example, it could have incorporated ethics in all its actions, policies and strategies. It could have engaged moral reasoning among its leaders to influence future decisions positively, emphasize strongly on basic values like truth instead of instrumental values and emphasize on moral principle more than legal compliance. Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation should also have expanded its moral concerns to include global concerns, and develop and maintain strong moral courage. All these would have motivated the company to ensure they are able to insist on morality as the basis of all its business activities and contracts no matter the cost. References International Directory of Company Histories. (2003). “Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation.” Retrieved on 16th January, 2012. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/BeechNut-Nutrition-Corporation-Company-History.html. The application of the concepts proposed in Good Work to a real-world situation and the results. In most cases, leaders of organizations tend to measure the success of their companies using the level of their expertise because of its direct correlation with product quality and thus financial gains. However, Csikszentmihaly and Damon, in their book Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet calls for an equal considerations on social responsibility as a way of responding to increased market pressures. An example of an organization that has applied the concepts of this book is Nestle Purima. According to purinavets.eu (2009), expertise in technology and research represents one of the company’s success factors. The company recognizes the role played by pets and thus it always strives to make a real difference in the happiness and livelong health of cats and dogs. In their efforts to produce innovative products for the advancement of the quality of dog and cat life, the company does not use or support procedures that are invasive. Neither does it participate in researches that involve inducing diseases or anesthesia of cats and dogs. Generally, the company and its employees operate on code of ethics that surpasses the standards of relevant legislations. Because of this, the company has grown to become a standard for excellence in the global pet care industry with nutritious, high-quality products, development capabilities and leading research, and worldwide product innovation. If these concepts are applied to my place of work, it will only enable the organization to attain a competitive advantage as a result of quality products and but also an improved image. References purinavets.eu (2009). “Nestle Purina.” Online: http://www.purinavets.eu/home/about/index.htm. Successful application of the principles in "Prisoners of Our Thoughts" to nursing Albaugh (2003) explains that some nurses do not experience satisfaction in their job because of reasons like poor organizational, poor compensation or lack of motivation. These factors hinder or discourage meaningful work. However, not all move to other organizations or quit the profession. By applying the principles outlined in Prisoners of Our Thoughts by Pattakos, many of them have managed to create their own internal environment that has enabled them to do meaningful work and experience fulfillment in their job. One important principle is choosing an attitude. By operating with an attitude that does not factor in the existing situation, most nurses have been able respond well to their jobs and perform better than expected. An example is poorly paid nurses who attend to patients well and with enthusiasm. Many nurses have also come to experience great job satisfaction because of commitment to their own set of meaningful values and goals. These are the goals that only they can actualize and thus no situation is powerful enough to discourage them from striving to attain them. Practicing self-detachment is another important way nurses use to achieve psychological separation from unattractive situations. This opens a way for learning, action and growth. Instead of getting obsessed with negative thoughts and complaints and risk loosing meaning in life, nurses adopt to unfriendly work situations using creative distraction. They get absorbed in meaningful endeavors and use such times to discover the better sides of themselves. References Albaugh, J. (2003). “Keeping nurses in nursing: the profession’s challenge for today.” Urologic Nursing. (23) pp 193-199. Describe a situation where a toxic work situation existed and how a toxic handler resolved the situation. Employees need a peaceful and motivating work environment in order to deliver their best. However, these situations do not prevail always. In Toxic Emotions at Work, Frost explains that organizations and their leaderships sometimes take actions that cause emotional pain to employees. Regular supply of pains include layoffs, new bosses, stifling or confusing policies, mergers, salary decisions and poor ways of communicating change. This pain can become toxic and impact on the organization negatively. One situation where a toxic work situation existed is Western Airlines. The company experienced frequent changes that led to employee dissatisfaction and emotional stress. This included long working hours, unattractive salary reviews and unfair policies. The company’s toxic environment was handled by Gerald Gristen who also helped to resolve the situation. When he took over the ailing company, Gristen spent hundreds of hours behind check-in counters, in cocktails and in baggage handling pits all with the aim of getting to know and understand his employees. He listened to their concerns and his high ability to build rapport became an invaluable resource in the healing of the wounded employee hearts. He then convinced employees to take pay cuts and agree to concessions on work rules with the promise that they would eventually have a huge stake in a healthy company. Within two years, his actions were able to catapult the airline company into a solvent position (Helge, 2006). References Helge, D. (2006). “Employee Motivation, Engagement & Retention - Use Corporate Culture to Overcome Negativity.” Retrieved on 16th January, 2012. http://ezinearticles.com/?Employee-Motivation,-Engagement-and-Retention----Use-Corporate-Culture-to-Overcome-Negativity&id=1472175. An American company has addressed the initiative of becoming more "green" and how it reflected positively to their bottom line Many organizations have come to realize that they could improve their net profits by adopting sustainable business strategies. An example of a US company where its initiative to go green has reflected positively on its bottom-line is Canon. The company manufactures office, business and medical electronics like cameras, printers, scanners, free space optics, camcorders, binoculars, digital radiography systems, Eyecare systems among others. Canon has made commendable efforts to minimize the environmental burdens of produced by its products in all stages of their lifecycle. In 2004, the company laid down a framework to double the eco-efficiency f its products by 2010 and after 8 years, the company managed to attain a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions per unit of its net sales (Australian Information Industry Association. (2010). Technology innovations developed by focusing on waste minimization have enabled the company to achieve regular ranking in the top 3 US companies for patents granted. Many of its new products provide customers with lower operating costs and good savings in energy consumption. Their products therefore indicate response to the needs of environment-sensitive customers and professionals and this has increased its market among this group of customers. By using minimum resources to derive maximum value, Canon has been able to focus on productivity and efficiency and the result of this is reduced its environmental footprint and improved organizational bottom-line. References Australian Information Industry Association. (2009). Leading you towards a sustainable future through Green IT. Online; www.witsa.org/news/.../AIIA_GreenIT_eBook_Case_Studies.pdf. Viewed on 16th January, 2012. An example of a company who has successfully used social technology to improve their bottom line Social and/or interactive technology presents one powerful way through which customers obtain information on which they base their decisions. In Groundwell, Li and Bernoff explain that trends in online technologies and changing customer behavior is forcing firms to re-examine their traditional models of customer interaction and marketing. 2009 analysis indicates that 60% of internet users use social media sites and social networks (Evans et al, 2010). This means companies have had to shift to online technology as a way of encouraging interaction and building of relationships among customers. Southwest Airlines is one company that has successfully used social technology to improve its bottom-line. The company has uses social technology has a way of engaging its customers and boosting their experience. This media provides a multi-channel approach to its contact center and this has enhanced the ability of the company to understand the needs and values of its customers. This has ensured provision of quick resolutions to customer issues and continual awareness of customer feedback. Social technology has also enabled the company to quickly integrated new consumer technologies like smartphones. This ensures that its customers quickly access information about any flight delays or cancellations thus customers are updated on change reservations and can monitor flight status. In these ways, social technology has helped to increase customer loyalty and has enabled the company to enhance its operations and even exploit new markets. References Evans, D. Bratton, S. and Mckee, J. (2010). Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement. Wiley and Sons. Indianapolis. Areas where many managers fail: An organization that failed to create effective workplace and what it could have done to prevent it. In What Were They Thinking?” Pferffer explains that organizations frequently make mistakes that make their observers wonder and question their moves. These moves are mainly a manifestation of managerial failures in critical areas of the organization such as the creation of effective workplaces. An example of an organization whose management has failed in this area is City Circuit, a computer and electronics retailer store. Information from msnbc.msn.com (2007) indicates that City Circuit was undertook a major downsizing to cut costs. However, it was indirectly cutting wages because it openly targeted its better-paid employees. The company promised to hire back the laid-off individuals with a lower wage. Despite the offer, this plan raised a lot of questions both from employees and customers. Customer service is one of the most effective ways in which City Circuit can tackle competition from stores like Wal-Mart and as analysts observe, the action was bound to backfire for the chain. Some of the customers reacted by terming the move as cold and unfair and that they would think twice before shopping at the store again. City Circuit could have prevented this. To achieve this, the store could have established a two-tiered wage system where newer employees earn less and older ones earn more. In this way, wages paid to newer employees would create a savings margin for covering other expenses. The store could also have resorted to other ways of increasing sales like advertising, giving discounts, prolonged servicing period for products bought or better delivery services. It could also have opened new stores and distributed its existing workforce. Reference msnbc.msn.com. (2007). “Retailer will replace them with new employees paid at market-based rate.” Retrieved on 16th January, 2012. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17837882/ns/business-us_business/t/circuit-city-fire-more-workers/ Half-truths: Change is Inevitable, and an example of where it was evident that the half-truth was incorrect.   Despite the increasing managerial efficiently in many organizations, some companies still fall victims of decisions made basing on half-truths instead of evidence. An important example of such half-truths is ‘Change is Inevitable’ and a good example of a situation where the half-truth was incorrect is Amtrak, a US railway line. In the 2002, the company was trying to reduce its deficit and undertook major changes in its trains. This was an income generating plan that involved the adjustment of services on 15 routes with the intention of attracting high-value shippers. Normally, this would have been a brilliant idea but Sutton in his Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense advices that an organization should consider the pros and cons of their steps. Evidently, the management of Amtrak did not evaluate what the changes would cost them or how much business the company would generate from the changes. They did not develop a clear picture of the risks associated with the implementation of the plan. A report from auditors indicates that in effect, the company failed to win agreements it had made earlier with freight railroads that own the tracks it operates (Walt, 2002). Seemingly, the venture was not an attractive and viable one because three years later, service had been adjusted on only 3 of the 15 routes and of the three, one has already been dropped. This decision led to a lot of criticisms on the criteria the company used to arrive at the decision. Reference Walt, M. (2002). “Auditors Say Amtrak Undertook Major Changes Without Grasping Consequences. “New York Times . Retrieved on 16th January, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/us/auditors-say-amtrak-undertook-major-changes-without-grasping-consequences.html. An example of where a leader has regularly relied on their "adaptive unconscious" as suggested in Blink! In a bid to outsmart their competitors, leaders of organizations can make rapid decisions unconsciously and such decisions could lead to more failures than success. An example of such a company is the Coca Cola Company. The new coke project is an example of the company’s adaptive unconscious-driven project. Pepsi, one of their chief competitors, produced a drink that was sweeter than their coke. Because of this, customers changed their preferences from Cooke to Pepsi and this caused coca cola company to respond rapidly by producing a new coke that tasted more like Pepsi. However, it turned out that the change in customer preferences was short-lived. The lovers of coke were not really satisfied by the Pepsi drink thus they still wanted the usual coke. Unfortunately, the company had not taken time to observe possible long-term changes customer in preferences and thus new coke project therefore turned out into a failure and costly for the company (Szegedy-Maszak, 2006). Such kind of a leadership could not be successful in my current leadership position. This is because successful leadership should be based on good decision-making and this can only be arrived by making conscious decisions. Such decisions are based on detailed consideration of the current market situation and expected future changes and not on information from the results of blind taste tests. There is also a need to need to ascertain if the changes in the market are sustainable or not before moving in that direction. In addition, is need to make a brand differentiation in order to maintain customer loyalty and thus customer views are important before making major changes. References Szegedy-Maszak, M. (2006). Mysteries of the Mind Your unconscious is making your everyday decisions. Online: http://hypnos.co.uk/hypnomag/hypnosisnews/mystriesofthemind.htm. How can pride be used as a motivational tool? How is it linked to performance? Pride is an emotion that is inwardly directed. Pride can be positive or negative depending on the applied connotation. Negatively, pride applies when one has an inflated sense of personal accomplishment or status. Positively, pride applies when the individual maintains a satisfied sense of attachment in respect of one’s actions or choices. Pride may come as a result of praise, fulfilled sense of belonging or personal self reflection (Marshall & Effron, 2003). On the positive side, pride can be applied as a motivational tool. Pride can be key to motivating workers at any level and place of work according to Katzenbach (2003). Katzenbach (2003) notes that organizations that solely rely on monetary motivations are bound to gain only in the short term while those that take advantage of pride will gain in the long term. Pride can be applied as a motivational tool considering that most individuals, naturally, wish always to be the best in all their endeavors. As such campaigns in respect of marketing, sales, and operational development among many other activities can be achieved through the positive application of pride. It is in recognition of this fact that many organizational leaders try to create practical motivational measures that revolve around superior performance, excellence and pride. At the workplace, the organization can use its history of success to instill pride among employees. Based on this pride, the employees may seek to maintain the trend knowing that they have something to be proud about the organization. It is worth noting that Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy theory plays a lot in explaining human behavior. Self actualization which is the highest need can only be achieved when the lower needs have been fulfilled. In consideration of this fact, it must be noted that pride as a motivational tool may not work before workers’ lower needs have not been fulfilled. Yet again, it is worth noting that pride can only work as a motivational tool where individuals believe in the possibility of success. Once the leader or manager has created the best playing field for the achievement of institutional goals and people are properly engaged to perform, their motivation can be sustained based on the continued pride of achievement. Pride and performance are linked to a significant level. When employees are proud of their employer, work, co-workers, supervisors or themselves, they tend to be more satisfied and committed at work (Marshall & Effron, 2003). Commitment and satisfaction are work are a product of motivation which means that pride is a root cause of motivation. With highly motivated staff, an organization is bound to succeed more compared to when the workers have low moral. In general, it is worth noting that morale and performance are positively and directly related, each being a cause of the other in a reciprocating way. When pride is in place (whether institutional or self -serving), performance levels go up just like motivation does. This opposite is true when pride goes down thereby affecting workers’ motivation. Reference Katzenbach J. (2003) Why Pride Matters More Than Money: The Power of the World’s Greatest Motivational Force. New York: Crown Business. Marshall G. & Effron M. (2003) Human resources in the 21st century. New Jersey. 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