Destructive Organizational Communication - Term Paper Example

MGT Enterprise and Small Business Case study: Alternative Publishing Ltd and Lawton Dancewear 0 Overview Business creation is more of a process rather than an event. This means that to create or start a business, a person is expected to undergo a series of actions and tasks, a collective effort of which brings the realisation of starting the business. No matter the size of a business that a person wants to start, there are some key principles and processes that cannot be overlooked. An example of this is the need to have a systematic business creation model to follow (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2010). Though the models may come in different forms and structures, it is common that a business creation model will be made up of the planning phase, implementation phase, the completion phase and closure phases (Tourish, 2010). In line of the current presentation, the planning phase is going to be given a lot of emphasis. Part of the planning or pre-implementation phase is the allocation of decisions to start up the business as well as the different ways in which different people go about the starting of their businesses. It has been said that depending on the decision that surrounds an entrepreneur’s quest to start a business, different rates of successes are going to be experienced at the implementation because the decisions influenced motivation to drive along with the business a great deal (Bovee, Thill & Chaturvedi, 2008). 2.0 How does the business creation process differ in the two case studies? 2.1 Similarities and Differences Business creation process may be defined or explained as the specific tasks that entrepreneurs undertake in their bid to start up businesses in an identified locality (Canary, 2011). For Alternative Publishing Ltd, the business creation process was different from Lawton Dancewear in the way in which research and development were fused into the business creation process. Partly attributable to the background of the two groups of entrepreneurs involved, they were different approaches towards the business creation process as Majid an Suhail with their educational backgrounds and appreciation of the fact that they did not have much knowledge in the area they were venturing into undertook a lot of research as part of the business creation process. Though Mrs. Holland did some research, it was not detailed and was not about business creation. The former also worked extensively on marketing since they had the realisation that they did not have a ready market and needed to do marketing all by themselves. Mrs Holland seemed to have ready market from the demand from friends and so did not do much marketing at the business creation phase. 2.2 Influences on start up decision Between the two case studies, there are key similarities and differences that exist in the influences on start up decision. A major similarity is that with both Alternative Publishing Ltd and Lawton Dancewear, the entrepreneurs did not have a fundamental spirit of becoming business owners. Someway somehow, the decision to start up the businesses seemed to have occurred to them incidentally. Regardless of this similarity, there are differences that exist in the actual business creation process especially as in the case of Alternative Publishing Ltd the idea and motivation behind the business creation was the need to make an impact in the community and at the same time make profitable proceeds from their earnings. Lawton Dancewear however came about as a need to meet an immediate demand in the form of the dancewear that needed to be made for Holland’s daughter and people within the neighbourhood who made demands for dancewear for different purposes. 2.3 Kruger’s model of entrepreneurial potential Kruger’s model of entrepreneurial potential plays a key role at the initiation or planning phase of the business creation process and among the two cases, there are differences that are seen in how the model played roles with the business creation processes. In the case of Majid and Suhail, the intentions to act entrepreneurially were influenced first and foremost by the perception that the outcome of their business was going to be a major source of income for them; and if possible a well invested form of their earnings. As part of this perception, the entrepreneurs spent so much time undertaking background research and marketing to ensure that their business succeeded at all cost. In the case of Mrs. Holland however, not much of her intentions to act entrepreneurially were influenced by an outcome of becoming highly business oriented and so did not spend much into preliminary research. The triggering events were also different for both groups of entrepreneurs as Mrs. Holland had a perceived success right at the beginning with demands from friends but the influence triggering event for Majid and Suhail was a feeling of offering help to young people from their ethnic background. 2.4 David Rea’s model of entrepreneurial Between the two groups of enterprenuers, David Rea’s model of entrepreneurship affects them in a lot of different ways. It will be noted that much of David Rea’s model touches on opportunities with four major dimensions of this model. With the first which has to do with innovation, the case studies shows clearly that Majid and Suhail were more innovative than Mrs. Holland because whereas the former were seeking to stylise an existing businesses or industries by fusing desktop publishing with software development, Mrs. Holland was merely reproducing existing styles of Irish dancewear. The demand to be satisfied was however more favourable for Mrs. Holland because there were several kids around her who formed a ready market for the dancewear she was making. Majid and Suhail also did much feasibility through technology based marketing while Mrs. Holland only did consultative research. Finally, Majid and Suhail had a lower level of interest because they were not so sure of what the outcome of their business was going to be whiles Mrs. Had high interest especially because she supported her daughter’s dream of becoming a dancer. 2.5 Push and pull factors Looking at the backgrounds of Majidand Suhail, both of whom were gainfully employed in their respective professions, it can be said that the push factors including unemployment, redundancy, job frustration and others did not affect them negatively at all. These factors also did not form the core basis for which they wanted to be entrepreneurs. On the other hand,eventhough Mrs. Holland did not start her business based on a careful reasoning to do so but by the accidental need to get her daughter a dancewear, it can be seen that the whole idea of producing the wear by herself was because purchasing the dancewear from outside was weighing on the family purse. It could therefore be said a number of the push factors affected her decision to go into entrepreneurship. On the part of the pull factors, both groups were influenced by these in different ways. Mrs. Holland for example was influenced by the desire to turn her hobby into business and spotting a gap in the market whiles Majid and Suhail were influenced by desire to have flexibility especially with the control and manipulation of their business. The desire to put something back into the community also influenced the latter. 3.0 What respects are they illustrative of the kinds of business start of problems? 3.1 Types of start ups But groups of enterprenuers started their businesses fromteh scratch, meaning that they had to look for capital to start up something that did not exist at all. The mode of acquisition of capital were however different for the two groups. With the need to start up from the scratch, there was the advantage of having total control and dominion over the new business by giving it a vision, mission and value that were not pre-existing (Bolman & Deakm, 1997). This however had its own challenge especially for Majid and Suhail who having to leave their professional job meant that they were going to face some kind of insecurity in their means of earning. On the part of Mrs. Holland, her major challenge was the possibility that she was not going to make a gain out of the personal investment she made as she failed in securing a load to start her business. 3.2 Start up process The idea formulation in the start up process for one group could be said to be accidental whiles that of the other group was planned. Right from their days of offering voluntary service together, Majid and Suhail planned of starting a business though this was contrary to their family beliefs. On the part of Mrs. Holland, she had no preconceived notion of starting up the business until she was prompted to by the success she made with her first attempt to get her daughter a dancewear. Both groups however recognised their opportunities clearly though Mrs. Holland was reluctant with taking up the opportunity at the initial stage. For Majid and Suhail, the opportunity they identified was the gap they could fill with the combination of desktop publishing with software designing. Majid and Suhail however entered as a partner and latter getting another experienced partner and this broadened the professional base of their entry. For Mrs. Holland, though she had part time support, much of the work was dependent on her personal efforts. 3.3 Ingredients of success As far as Mrs. Holland is concerned, the major ingredient of success that pushed her was the ability and skill she had in what she was doing. This was unless Majid who did not really have personalised skills and ability in publishing. With this ingredient, she was always hungry for success by challenging her instincts to produce even more than she had always done. On the part of the Alternative Publishing Ltd, the major ingredient of success that pushed them was motivation and commitment to proof their critics wrong. In the absence of such motivation, there is the tendency that they would have listened to the critics and refused to put aside their professional jobs to start their own businesses. 3.4 problems Different problems came to the entrepreneurs in different forms and depending on the form of the problem, different approaches were used to solve them. Mrs. Holland had to deal with capital at the initial stage though Alternative Publishing Ltd did not have this problem because they were gainfully employed before starting their business. When help was not coming, Mrs. Holland was forced to look within herself by funding the business by herself. Majid and suhail on the other hand had to deal with the ‘push-him-down’ syndrome they were facing from their families and friends as they did not seem to believe in their dreams of starting a business. 4.0 Conclusion The discussions so far has brought about a very strong realisation and support for most existing theoretical frameworks for small business management, particularly with regards to the planning phase of small businesses. It can be concluded that a person needs a very strong willpower and valid decision making to succeed in a business. Due to different factors and initiative influences among the two groups of entrepreneurs, they saw different levels and forms of successes with their businesses. Their decisions and business creation processes also influenced the ways in which they went about the implementation of their businesses as well as the level of attention that they gave to the monitoring and evaluating of their businesses. A person therefore needs to have a highly consolidated basis in terms of the plans put in place to starting business before they start with their implementation ideas. REFERENCE LIST Lutgen-Sandvik, P. 2010. Destructive organizational communication: Processes, consequences, and constructive ways of organizing. New York, NY: Routledge. Tourish, D. 2010. Auditing organizational communication: A handbook of research, theory, and practice. New York, NY: Routledge. Bovee, C. L., Thill, J. V., & Chaturvedi, M. 2008. Business communication today 9th ed. Delhi: Pearson Education. Canary, H. 2011. Communication and organizational knowledge: Contemporary issues for theory and practice. Florence, KY: Taylor & Francis. Bolman, L.G. & Deakm, T.E. 1997. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice and leadership 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More