Business: Industry Management - Assignment Example

? Industry Management Week Communication Communication is a very wide phenomenon affecting various entities oftoday’s social, political and work based events. Apparently, it takes a great deal of incorporations for a message to be fully conveyed. Taking the workplace for instance, information has to be conveyed through aspects such as speeches, signals, visuals, body language or behaviour and mostly, through writing. The most important aspect in communication is based on the fact that a sender with the original message will have to directly or indirectly (through the use of communication media) make sure that the information is well delivered to the recipient. Communication involves a complete cycle, without which the intentions of sending a message will have been compromised (George, 2003, p. 99). At the end of the communication endeavour, regardless of the separation in time and distance, communication will only involve a complete sequence when the sender understands the message. Self-Reflection on Communication The success in any company, regardless of its nature and size, has to be based on the quality of communication skills. Taking an instance where I am the managing director of McDonald’s, I would have to incorporate several strategies in the event of communicating to my employees. Taking, for instance, my New Year welcoming speech, I would have all of the employee fraternity in an auditorium where I would conveniently address them. First, I would begin with congratulation statements that reflect on the New Year. To capture their attention, I would not use a cliche based introductory statement that they are used to. This is in the perspective of using statements such as ‘Good Morning and Happy New Year, this day marks an important...’; instead, I would use a captivating sentence based on a new idea, one that they have never heard from me before: ‘...let me begin by congratulating you all for crossing over to this New Year. Setting and keeping to our consequent goals involve more than a mere discipline...’ This means that my statement will have to be original or at least with a sense of seriousness and command in it. Employees know the power in an icon in any business environment. This calls for uniqueness and lack of predictability in my position, without which they would pay no or minimal attention to my speech. Learning Outcomes From this reflection, I would have a feeling of panic since it is a new idea being tried on the employees and their acceptance cannot be determined. Adapting to new ideas on the communication basis could be acceptable and realistic but also challenging. For this reason, confidence in the strategy introduced and the new mode of communication are the only attitude that I have to employ and ensure that all employees appreciate the changes. When all this is employed, I am certain of positive feedback from all the individuals and that continued exploration into better ways of communication would enhance all aspects of great understanding. Week 2 Teamwork Teamwork is when different associates in an organization or a business perform different tasks with each doing their part perfectly, hence resulting in efficiency of the entire business phenomenon. Teamwork can be identified in ten different team working processes although they are divided into three large categories. These three categories include transition processes (mission analysis, goal specification, strategy formulation), action processes (monitoring progress toward goals, systems monitoring, team monitoring, backup behaviour, and coordination) and interpersonal processes (conflict management, motivation and confidence building and effect management). It is important for an organization management to ensure perfect relationship among its workforce since it has been proven that teamwork performance is always the best when associated individuals have a good relation (Blande, 2006, p. 101). Self-Reflection on Teamwork While working at McDonald’s, the manager was faced with difficulties in controlling the relationship between customers and the employees as well as ensuring an outstanding performance in its competitive areas. For almost three years, the business had been facing similar problems and the manager always made decisions that did not solve the issues. When I got the chance to serve in the business, I felt the urge of letting him realize that a single brain could not always come with helpful solutions or even make successful decisions. After much thought, I decided to challenge him with facts on importance of teamwork since formation of a single team in a business ensured varied ideas but working towards the same goal. After involving each employee, they willingly and responsibly contributed towards the success of the business with each individual majoring in their specialties. This heightened all performance with most customers claiming satisfaction for all services offered, especially quality and fast services. During this entire period, close relationships were built and resulted in more closeness during work, hence developing a decrease in the level of unnecessary conflicts. Teamwork served positively for this business outlet and the manager always proclaimed my assistance in the success. Learning Outcomes Approaching the manager was not a simple task since I was not sure of his reaction. I was afraid that contributing to the issue and offering some of the knowledge I possessed on teamwork and acceptance to working as a team would not be welcomed. At first, I wanted to let aside the idea but after continued failures, I went ahead and approached the manager. As success was continually being noted, I could not help but feel happy and contented that due to my courage and wise actions, the company was growing larger and business was always heightening. Although the success of this business was due to my idea, I still behaved as any other employee and joined hands to ensure continued success. Week 3 Conflict Resolution In most cases, conflict arises due to situations where different individuals have diverse needs and goals. In my opinion, conflict existence is not bad as long as it is effectively resolved, resulting in professional and personal growth. It is essential to understand that conflict resolution can be a reason for either negative or positive outcomes in different situations in an organization. Conflict resolution has a number of advantages that include increased group cohesion, increased understanding and improved self-knowledge. There are five styles that have been identified to deal with conflict: competitive, collaborative, compromising, accommodative, and avoiding ones (Peters, 2010, p. 23). Although all can be used in almost all conflicts, it is always essential to choose the most appropriate method to apply. Self-Reflection on Conflict Resolution Joan was an administrative assistant at McDonald’s and worked closely with her supervisor, Joe, the assistant to the academic department, who was their head, though. One day, Joe gave Joan some documents to fill at 4:40, twenty minutes before closing time. Joan filled the documents in a hurry so that she would deliver in time: this caused her to misinterpret a lot of information as well as leave out some very important data. This really upset Joe, causing him to storm at Joan’s table and loudly proclaim her stupid and a worker who lacks professionalism. This approach caused a lot of havoc in the workplace with some employees questioning Joe’s code of ethics and treatment of employees. On the other hand, Joan was highly upset and a lot of embarrassment could be visibly seen in her body language. She tried to hold herself but she was unable, causing her to throw words at Joe questioning about his respect for women and the treatment of employees in the department. Luckily, the organization’s manager learned about the conflict before it got out of hand and summoned the two participants, where he used the five-step analysis to ensure the conflict was resolved. He analyzed the conflict, determined which management strategy was the most appropriate, pre-negotiated, negotiated and allowed post-negotiation. This allowed the two employees to spit out all that they held inside in a bid to ease them. The conflict was resolved and people returned to their duties as it was expected. Learning Outcomes In my opinion, Joe should not have stormed into the workplace and questioned Joan in front of everyone. It was only human and within work ethics to summon Joan and question her in privacy so that she would have an opportunity to explain her case. In addition, the claim about lack of professionalism and being stupid was way too harsh and should not have been used. Although none of us reacted to this situation, I felt that it was necessary and the next time anything like that happened, I would give my opinion on the entire issue. Although anger took over Joan, this would not have been the best method of getting back at Joe. In my opinion, there were a lot of positive actions that were notable in the manager’s way of handling the conflict. Week 4 Negotiation Skills Negotiation is a factor in life that cannot be avoided and is mostly judged using three criteria: efficiency, wise agreement if the option of agreement is available, restoration, and improvement or maintenance of the relationship of both parties. These aspects mentioned above can be achieved if each individual understands correctly the two levels of negotiation that include addressing the substance and focusing on the procedures involved in dealing with the substance. It is essential to realize that negotiations can be either hard or soft with some of them having some dangerous outcomes such as production of unwise agreements, positions involved tied to one’s ego and more attention is directed to positions. Self-Reflection on Negotiation Skills In a small town in Australia, elections were held with two prominent people, George and William, willing to acquire the highest seat, presidency. After the polls were counted George was declared the winner by the electoral bodies although some communities declined the poll results. William mobilized these communities and started a war between the supporters of the candidates with each supporting their member. These disagreements resulted in a lot of clashes with a lot of people losing their lives and others becoming homeless. William argued that his only satisfaction would be to gain the seat he rightfully claimed, which allegedly caused more fights. People killed each other; women and girls were raped, resulting in a move by nongovernmental organizations to send a negotiator between these two parties. He used the five steps mentioned above and used his wisdom to negotiate with both sides, each time expressing his feelings, emotions, values and perceptions. In the end he managed to clear off the misunderstanding and helped each individual to accept their positions where George became President and William was appointed as Prime Minister. His success in the negotiation was based on the fact that he understood that conflicts lay in each side’s perception of the entire problem and had the ability to see this, and it is one of the most essential abilities that a negotiator must have. Sometimes, it is possible that a negotiator has to decide on the fate of an issue such as the one discussed above. Learning Outcomes In my opinion, William did not act like a leader and for this reason his election rights should have been terminated right away. Although people were blamed for the loss of lives, I felt that those who should have carried the entire blame were the two candidates, especially William for mobilizing masses. I learned the five important processes that should be used in negotiating any conflict. Week 5 Presentation Skills Business individuals require presentation skills to enable them to achieve success and recognition while explaining themselves. This is usually because they need to explain their services, products, processes, procedures, rationales and ideas. Mostly, their presentations are directed towards sales people, buyers, engineers and customers and are done in situations that are either formal or informal, before many people or in front of just a few. Some of the skills required during a presentation include making the presentation clear, convincing and memorable while presenting its essential to avoid repetition, preventing any show of feelings and always keeping the audience wanting more (Keane, 2011, p. 34). Self-Reflection on Presentation Skills While working at McDonald’s, presentations were part of our job and we were required to avoid being reluctant about the same. For many months, I had struggled to make my presentation the best until I watched our assistant manager deliver his ideas to a group of individuals. Our manager had just been retired and the seat was vacant until one of the employees could prove his worth to a selected committee through presenting business ideas in a bid to aid the company. I happened to watch the presentation of the assistant manager and noticed that he did not repeat any of his ideas regardless of how necessary it was. He remained calm even if the listeners showed signs of unsettledness, and he was confident about his presentation. Although I had not seen the other presentations, I was convinced that this was the best presentation, and after some time it was announced that the assistant manager had been promoted and his ideas were to be incorporated in the business. Learning Outcomes This positively influenced my ideas on presentation skills since creation of new policies resulted in improved performance of the enterprise. I learnt the qualities required for any individual to have a perfect presentation. It was clear that an individual may acquire knowledge on anything, but the manner in which it is represented really matters. Week 6 Networking Skills Networking involves the build-up of mutual relationship that is also beneficial. It entails talking to different individuals with the aim of discussing topics of interest. Each time a new contact is established, it is certain that an effective tapping into a new circle of people is established and from that circle, a few of them could become helpful (Hage, 2004, p. 45). Networking skills are essential since most job opportunities are not advertised but often given to individuals who have been recommended by others. This applies mostly because less competition is noted in this method and the referrals offer great trust regarding the person of interest. Networking can be through knowing very many people or even selling out a person’s papers in the form of a curriculum vitae (Martin, 2010, p. 65). The more people one identifies in a job criteria, the more they are bound to gain success in job applications. Self-Reflection on Networking Skills There was a competitive position in our library in William Blue College of Hospitality and Management where the best student was to work part time and receive payment as well as recognition in the university. The job was quite appealing since the pay was a bit too high for the jobs assigned to the person in that advertised post. Each of us desired that post and for this reason, many of us applied to try our luck. The first elimination criterion that was used was academic performance that left most of us still in the race to acquire the job while still in campus. I felt that the competition was too stiff and that my chances for winning were not as I expected, so I called one of my lecturers with whom we had worked together, and requested for his assistance. It did not take very many days before it was declared to have been selected, which only proved that the network I had created with my lecturer became helpful. Learning Outcomes Although I did not go through the competition rightfully, I could not resist thanking the power of networking. If provided with a chance again, I would wish that the competition proceeded up to the end. This is because I still fear that one day the procedures I followed could be identified and later on followed by embarrassment. References Blande, A., 2006. Team management. London: Balkan Books. Fert, D., 2010. Communication skills. Journal of Communication, pp. 23-25. George, H., 2003. Communication in business settings.Washington: Baen books. Hage, C., 2004. Business strategies.New York: Cold Spring. James, M., 2010. Networking in business.New York: Afra Books. Keane, H., 2011. Qualities of a good presenter. Journal of Business, pp. 34-36. Khita, J., 2009. Business leardership.New York: Random House. Knan, L., 2009. Business and communication. Chicago: Adventure works. Martin, P., 2010. Business and networking. Washington D.C.: Sage Puiblishers. Peters, K., 2010. Business ethics. Journal of Business, pp. 45-63. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/03/professional-team-management-tips-for-creative-folks/ www.directionservice.org/cadre/section4.cfm Read More