Continuous Improvement for the Environment in Sun Microsystems - Assignment Example

Continuous improvement for the environment in Sun Microsystems 1. The principles of best practice which is being witnessed in Sun Microsystem is that the company is looking towards improving the work culture by improving productivity and at the same time that they are able to meet the changes in the government regulations which have been implemented. This policy of Sun Microsystem will ensure that the company is able to build on different fronts. While looking towards improving productivity Sun Microsystem aims at improving the work culture. Through this mechanism Sun Microsystem is looking towards flexible working hours where employees are provided more freedom and leverage to act is a more responsible manner. This will help in increasing productivity as the work force will be satisfied. In addition to it Sun Microsystem also has changed the entire structure so that employees are able to communicate with each other in a better way and has looked towards reducing cost so that the business is able to ensure efficiency and improve the entire process (Cable & Judge, 2006). In respect of government legislation and rules Sun Microsystem is aiming towards improving the conditions under which they work. To ensure that they are able to abide by it better strategies to reduce carbons have been made. This has already shown positive result as the company was able to ensure that it was able to reduce the targeted carbon well before the deadline of 2012. The overall of strategy of Sun Microsystem thus aims both towards the customers and the society which will benefit their business and help to ensure better efficiency and opportunities of growth 2. The changes which Sun Microsystem is looking to bring in the work culture will have a direct bearing on the motivation of employees which will have an effect on productivity. The fact that Sun Microsystem has looked towards redesigning the structure and location will ensure that the employees are able to access the concerned persons easily. This will have to save precious time which can be used elsewhere to improve the entire business (Clegg & Walsh, 2004). Sun Microsystem is also adopting a strategy where they are looking to cut cost by switching of computers, air conditioners, reducing travel and other things to cut down cost. This will have relevance for the business as it will help to cut down cost but at the same time reduce the carbons which will benefit them in carbon trading. This strategy will help to spread awareness about the positive steps that the company has taken for the society and will help to attract different section of the society to be able to have faith in the working style of the organization. The overall strategy of Sun Microsystem will help to gain operational efficiency and will benefit the business from different directions. It will help the company to ensure that they benefit from diverse areas and being able to look after the environment will receive support from different quarters which will thereby ensure improved business opportunities for the future. This will also help to have a pool of loyal customer and will develop the entire business to achieve bigger things 3. The example of Sun Microsystem can be adopted by other organizations as the strategy of Sun Microsystem will help to reduce both cost and carbon which will thereby look towards operational gains. Sun Microsystem hasn’t looked towards widespread changes in the strategies but instead has focused on the smaller aspect. The company instead of altering the strategy has looked towards reducing cost by keeping little things in mind like switching off lights when not required, turning of air conditioner when not in use, reducing the cost of travelling by using cheaper mode of communication and altering the structure and location of the building so that operational efficiency is gained. This strategy has helped to reduce cost but at the same time ensured that the business is able to reduce carbons due to which the company was able to achieve the targeted carbon emission much before the deadline. This can be copied by other organizations as adopting the strategy adopted by Sun Microsystem doesn’t have to look towards wide spread changes but have to look towards increasing the attention so that they work on the minor aspect. This can be achieved by reducing cost and ensuring that the things which are not required are turned off. Further, along with it other organizations can look towards cutting cost through this method and making some changes in the organizational structure depending on the need of the business can benefit the other organizations. Thus, the strategy adopted by Sun Microsystem can be copied by other organizations as there on widespread changes in strategies that is required. Transforming the corporate culture at Heinz Australia 1. Heinz Australia is witnessing a cultural change as the organization which showed dissent among employees, distrust and high employment turnover resulted in decreased motivation and affected the business opportunities to grow. Widdows helped to bring about change in the organizational culture by ensuring that the work culture was developed where there was trust and belief. This was achieved by ensuring that the employees’ involvement was increased by asking them the mechanism through which a great place to work can be developed. Since, the company focuses on understanding the employees’ requirements and changed the role and responsibilities of the employees by increasing their involvement it resulted in developing a framework through which the better work culture was developed. This policy helped to understand the problems that the employees were facing. Working and solving their problems increased the motivation level and helped Heinz Australia to reduce the employee turnover rate from 25% to 7 to 10%. The cultural changes looked towards increasing commitment by providing the infrastructure which will help the employees to improve their focus helped the business. The process of organizational change is still being witnessed and the manner in which employees have become the center stage of different objects has helped to develop better strategies through which Heinz Australia is able to develop their work culture and ensure better use of the resources available at their disposal (Hunter & Hunter, 2004) 2. The audit of the cultural changes being witnessed in Heinz Australia highlights certain forces for and against the change which has been highlighted below The force which shows that organizational change is required is the high employee turnover which the company is witnessing due to lack of employee trust and commitment among the employees. Also having a lot of employees which are permanent has affected the cost for the business as they are unable to handle and requires cut. The manner in which the culture shows that there is differences and the company is still looking towards using old strategies and is not changing their business strategies for growth has affected the motivation level. This has affected the overall manner in which the organization is able to deal with the changes and requires some widespread changes in the culture so that better effectiveness can be gained (Boddy & Macbeth, 2000). The force which is against organizational change is that the employees who are old wont be able to adjust to the changes as having a mix of old and new talent will make it difficult for the company to ensure the changes. The risk associated with this is also high as transforming the organizational culture will make it difficult for the company to ensure that it is accepted by all which will thereby have an effect on the use of working style of the company. Resentment is bound to come from trade unions as cutting down employees who have been part of the organization for a long period of time won’t be accepted which will thereby make it difficult to ensure organizational change within the organization (Ryan & Schmit, 2003). 3. The key strength of the new culture as demonstrated by the working of Heinz Australia is the increased involvement of employees. The new culture looks towards increased participation from the employees regarding the manner in which the work environment has to be developed. This will help to ensure that the organization is able to ensure that the employees are able to be associated with the business better. This has helped to increase the role of employees and motivated them towards working for the bigger goals. The new culture also looks towards building trust and accepting the roles and responsibilities of the employees. This has thereby transformed the manner in which decisions were made within the organization and has altered the evaluation parameters. This has brought the entire workforce together and ensured that the overall efficiency is gained by the business. The new culture also looks towards ensuring that employee remain the center stage and based on their requirements the work environment is developed so that the areas which have an effect on employees motivation is dealt in a better way (Arnold, 2005). This has helped to develop a culture where focus and emphasis on the employees have increased. This has ensured increased faith and has helped to develop the entire work culture in such a manner that the overall culture fits in the organization which will thereby help to improve the performance of the business in the future. 4. The organization needs to look towards ensuring that they don’t slid back towards their old culture. This will require that the business is able to work on the different aspect of the business so that the changes of moving back on the old culture get reduced. This requires that the business is able to ensure that the motivation level and trust among the employees don’t vanish. This can be achieved by providing the necessary working conditions which the employees are looking for. In addition to it Heinz Australia also has to ensure that they look towards providing the employee empowerment in decision making. This will help them to highlight the area they want to improve and will ensure that the conditions which the employees are looking for is provided (Arnold, 2005). This will also require that Heinz Australia looks towards motivating the work force and provide the necessary skills so that the gaps which exist in the system can be filled. Heinz Australia apart from this has to work on the fundamentals of ensuring that the employee participation remains. This will highlight different situations when different issues will arise and needs to be solved. The management should treat the issues as urgent and develop ways through which the gaps are filled and the business is able to use the same culture and evolve it continuously for the benefit of the business. References Arnold, J. 2005. Work Psychology: Understanding human behaviour in the workplace 4th ed. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Boddy, D. & Macbeth, D. 2000. Prescriptions for managing change: a survey of their effects in projects to implement collaborative working between organizations International Journal of Project Management, 18, pp. 297-306 Cable, D. & Judge, T. 2006. Person-organization fit, job choice decisions, and organizational entry. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 67(3), 294–311 Clegg, C. & Walsh, S. 2004. Change Management: Time for a change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 13 (2), pp. 217-239 Hunter, J. & Hunter, R. 2004. Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 72–98 Ryan, A. & Schmit, M. 2003. Assessing organizational fit in employee selection. Paper presented at the 8th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, San Francisco, CA Read More