Teams Performance and Dynamics - Coursework Example

Reflective Journal Name: Course: Institution: Date: Part A Critical Appraisal Team’s Performance The overall team performance over the simulation round can be outlined and described as satisfactory. On one hand, the team was based on a strategic assumption that a focus on cost of goods reduction would increase an organizational profitability. Therefore, the team focus was based on reducing these overall costs while increasing the overall market values. In its duties execution, the team applied an overall team collaboration approach to enhance perfomance and based its operation on an assumption that the members were committed and self driven and there required no push to corporate. In addition, as a move to improve future performance, the team intends to develop a social setup through which the game promotes increased social interactions and relations. Team Dynamics In regard to the team dynamics, I offer the argument that the decision making was inclusive. In this regard, the team leader allowed all the members an opportunity to contribute and offer their views on strategic simulated issues such as the target market ratios as well as on appropriate projects over the three years. However, extensive involvement according to my views is that it led to a slow decision making process and served as one of the reasons why my team never completed the third year simulation. Nevertheless, a motivational evaluation established that due to increased corporation and participation, the members were highly motivated and willing to proceed with the game into consecutive years into the future. Challenging Game Aspect One of the game aspects that I found as most challenging was the development of appropriate organizational projects. Personally, I am accustomed to the Australian market and culture and thus have minimal knowledge and perception of the global international business operating environment an aspect that was used to develop recommendations and their challenges. However, through reliance on team members, I develop a wide base knowledge on the operations of ventures in the international market. Peer Discussion A personal evaluation of the game findings establish that the overall EBIT value is gradually declining. This as can evidenced has declined from $492 million on year 1of the simulation to $389 million at the end of year 3. This is despite the increasing organizational overall market share that as of year 3 was above 30%. Moreover, this is despite the increased share market value in the industry. Therefore, I personally argue that in order to compete in the highly competitive market, the company should focus on reducing its overall prices. This would in turn increase its total sales values, a virtue imperative in the development and enhancement of increased gross profit margins in the long run. On the other hand, the group overall evaluation noted findings similar to mine that despite the increasing market share and share market values, the overall organizational EBIT value was on the decline. As such, some of the team members advocated that as an approach to mitigate this challenge, the organization should consider concentrating on a single products line. Therefore, the advocated for the narrowing down of the product base from the current diversification to a single product chain targeting a specific single market segment. Others also argued that an increased negation of the population segment over 36 years that has the largest potential consumers’ population was a major contributory factor that should be corrected in the business future. Despite the different alternative approaches though which the current organizational challenge can be overcome, the team members findings had a convergence in that they agree o the major challenge and potential long term strategic implications of a declining EBIT in the company. Therefore, In my own view, my findings and appraisal on the overall game outcomes had minimal difference with those of other group members and that any differences exhibited were rather tactical than fundamental. However, in my view, Self Evaluation The simulation marketing game offered me a suitable learning environment. On one hand, it offered me an opportunity to interact in teams with my peers. As such, through this approach, I gained increased communication skills. On one hand, previously, prior to the game, I was a poor debater and often disregarded criticism. However, with increased interactions in the simulation process, I learnt on the advantages of criticism and its unequivocal role and merit in increasing ideas effectiveness and success. Moreover, from the team and game process, I learnt critical issues in finance and marketing. On one hand, under financing, I established that despite high revenue rates acquired from product sales, such gains and profits could be implicated on by high expenses. Therefore, the game introduced us to the matching accounting concept where actual expenses and costs are matched and valuated against delivered revenues to establish the net gains on organizational sales. In addition, under the marketing strategies, I learnt on the need to segment and orient organizational markets differently. In this case, for instance, an orientation from a high focus of the aged population to the middle population in the game led to increased revenue results. Therefore, based on this analysis is learnt that the manipulation of an organisations market segments has an overall strategic effect on its revenues and market performance. As such, I was surprised to learn that in strategic management process, the aspects of organizational strategies in marketing, finance and HR have interrelationship and direct implications on market performance. Therefore, I concluded that in order to develop appropriate marketing strategies in an organization, it is imperative for marketers to develop and establish the interrelationships and connections between the strategies and organizational HR motivation, consumer satisfaction and financial gains. I hope to be a better manager and decision maker in the future due to the game simulation impacts. However, I recommend that in the future in order to increase the success rate and strategic decision making for the games, the actual finances allocated for the programs should be indicated. This would allow for the development and formulation of tactical support programs for the implementation of the projects. Further, I remain unsure of if I can successfully apply an objective qualitative and quantitative analysis on a strategy as I still do not know which of the metrics is superior to the other. Conclusion As evidenced in our third year reviews, the evaluation has time constraints that led to an incomplete assignment by my group. Therefore, in order to increase the assignment efficiency and the development of strategic decisions and informed conclusions by the group members, the allocated time per simulation should be increased. For students willing and interested in learning marketing application in organisations, I highly recommend the simulation game. Participation in the simulation offers the participants with an opportunity to face practical application of learnt theory to a virtual organizational practical setting. This allows for the evaluation and the establishment of the required managerial skills and the subsequent appreciation of the responsibilities and functions of the various organizational segments in the development and exceptional of marketing strategies. Generally, the simulation game was a success, however, a critical evaluation on the game reveals that it lacks a comprehensive focus on the actual practical nature of developing strategies. It focuses on financial gains over the merits of the non-financial marketing strategies implications. Therefore, I rate it at 70/100. PART 2: Competitive Strategy The development of an organizational competitive strategy involves the development of relevant organizational systems. Niu, Miles and Lee (2008, p.179) argued on the merits for the application of an internal based approach to creating competitiveness. As such, a similar review by Yang (2012, p.703) argued that strategies such as the blue ocean strategy can be applied to improve an organizational internal systems. On one hand, a review study conducted by Wilson-Jeanselme and Reynolds (2006, p.299) on the online retailing industry established that market segmentation was an imperative way to increasing competitiveness. In this case, organisations should focus on targeting specific consumer segments. Market segmentation offers organisations an opportunity to develop market niches in which they can address and satisfy unique and specific needs rather than relying on the use of overall market standardized products. An additional approach to increase organizational competitiveness was established through a study by Szwejczewski, Lemke and Goffin (2005, p.877) on the German manufacturing industry. In its analysis, the study evidenced that organisation with stronger and better supplier relationship systems recorded increased performance than peers lacking the support system. Therefore, the study concluded that through strategic supplier relationships, organisations competitiveness would be increased. This is based on the theoretical perceptive as developed by Ellinger, Shin, Northington, Adams, Hofman and O'Marah (2012, p.251) who argued that one major aspect of developing an organizational sustainable competitive edge was through the development of increased supply chain management efficiency in an organization. In this regard, the argument developed exhibited that through increased supply chain management efficiency in organisations, the overall costs o acquiring and distributing products was substantially reduced. In this regard, Ashby, Leat and Hudson-Smith (2012, p.499) conducted a study evaluating the merits of sustainable and efficient supply chain management. In its analysis, the evaluation established that increased efficiency in the supply chain led to reduced overall acquisition and delivery costs. Therefore, the evaluation classified the aspect as an imperative contributor to the adopted organizational pricing levels as per the costs of production and costs of goods sold. Thus, its application increases the overall gross profit margins in an organization. Further, Al-Omiri (2007, p.511) stated that the use of management and cost accounting is an imperative competitiveness development approach. In this regard, unlike the financial accounting approach that is majorly historical and reflective, management accounting is based on current organizational performances. Therefore, this offers the management an opportunity and establishes and develops the relevant information needs in an organizational allowing for the eventual development of proactive management structures and strategies in an organization. Through efficient management accounting, an organization can successfully develop strategies to mitigate challenges proactively allowing for increased market success and performance efficiencies. Further, a cost accounting approach in organisations increase the overall organizational competitiveness through the enhancement of profiling organizational strategies and practices that increase and facilitate increased adjudication of core primary and secondary activities thus promoting their organizational competitiveness (Combe and Botschen, 2004, p.503). Finally, an evaluation of organizational operational competitive edges establishes that an additional competitive aspect is through the development and establishment of customer relationship systems. Lacey and Morgan (2009, p.14) established that increased customer relationships in an organization increase customer loyalty. As such, Netzer, Lattin and Srinivasan (2008, p.310) argued that increased customer relationship management enhances customer loyalty programs in the market. Thus, through the development of these relationships the organisations consumer loyalty in the market. References Al-Omiri, M. 2007, "A preliminary study of electronic surveys as a means to enhance management accounting research", Management Research News, vol. 30, no. 7, pp. 510-524. Ashby, A., Leat, M. & Hudson-Smith, M. 2012, "Making connections: a review of supply chain management and sustainability literature", Supply Chain Management, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 497-516. Combe, I.A. & Botschen, G. 2004, "Strategy paradigms for the management of quality: dealing with complexity", European Journal of Marketing, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 500-523. Ellinger, A., Shin, H., Northington, W.M., Adams, F.G., Hofman, D. & O'Marah, K. 2012, "The influence of supply chain management competency on customer satisfaction and shareholder value", Supply Chain Management, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 249-262 Lacey, R. & Morgan, R.M. 2009, "Customer advocacy and the impact of B2B loyalty programs", The Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 3-13 Netzer, O., Lattin, J.M. & Srinivasan, V. 2008, "A Hidden Markov Model of Customer Relationship Dynamics", Marketing Science, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 185-204,309-310. Niu, K., Miles, G. & Lee, C. 2008, "Strategic development of network clusters: A study of high technology regional development and global competitiveness", Competitiveness Review, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 176-191. Szwejczewski, M., Lemke, F. & Goffin, K. 2005, "Manufacturer-supplier relationships: An empirical study of German manufacturing companies", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 875-897. Wilson-Jeanselme, M. & Reynolds, J. 2006, "The advantages of preference-based segmentation: An investigation of online grocery retailing", Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 297-308. Yang, J. 2012, "Identifying the attributes of blue ocean strategies in hospitality", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 701-720 Read More