Scanning the Periphery by Day and Schoemaker - Coursework Example

? SUMMARY by 07 June Summary Scanning the Periphery According to Day and Schoemaker (2005), companies should be more attentive to the challenges faced in and sent from the periphery zones: these are the zones which are difficult to see but can sometimes provide information and knowledge crucial for the organization’s long-term success. The goal of the article is to highlight the importance of peripheral vision within organizations and provide readers with guidance in the development and analysis of these peripheral zones. The authors assert that many managers interpret the data set before them but fail to look beyond the obvious things. This being said, Day and Schoemaker (2005) develop a strategic eye exam that will help managers to examine the most problematic strategic areas. First, the authors recommend defining the scope of the company’s peripheral vision. Neither too much nor too little peripheral vision is good for the company: those with too much peripheral vision can end up being too neurotic to deal with change. Second, Day and Schoemaker (2005) proceed to the questions every manager should ask while analyzing companies’ peripheral vision: these questions relate to companies’ past and present, as well as future prospects and ideas. Finally, the authors suggest that the peripheral vision of any company can be strengthened. The article can readily serve the source of valuable advice in the development of useful peripheral vision and thinking within organizations. Day, GS & Schoemaker, PH 2005, ‘Scanning the periphery’, Harvard Business Review, November, pp.135-148. Are You Sure You Have a Strategy? Strategy is a buzzword in contemporary organization studies, but few organizations have a clear understanding of what strategy really means: in this article, Hambrick and Fredrickson (2005) develop a framework for strategy design that includes five basic elements. According to Hambrick and Fredrickson (2005), researchers have developed abundance of various strategic analysis frameworks, but all these frameworks ignore the fundamental question of what strategy is and how it works. As a result, it is not clear how these strategic frameworks should be applied and how they can benefit organizations. In this situation, strategic managers and business owners create confusion and reduce their professional credibility (Hambrick & Fredrickson 2005). This is why the authors of this article propose their vision of strategy and its elements. Based on the article, the main elements of strategy include Arenas, Vehicles, Differentiators, Staging, and Economic Logic. For each element, Hambrick and Fredrickson (2005) provide a question every company should ask in the process of formulating its strategy. For example, in terms of the Arenas element, executives should first decide where exactly, in what arenas, their business will operate (Hambrick & Fredrickson 2005). The substance of any strategy is made of arenas, vehicles, and differentiators, which also require that executives define the main stages of strategy implementation and develop a clear idea of how exactly they want to generate profits (Hambrick & Fredrickson 2005). To support their claims, the authors provide a number of case studies. These case studies illustrate the strengths of the proposed strategy framework. Finally, Hambrick and Fredrickson (2005) conclude that strategy is not about planning but about informed and well-integrated choices and the proposed framework can well serve the basis for the development of the major strategic initiatives. Hambrick, DC & Fredrickson, JW 2005, ‘Are you sure you have a strategy?’, Academy of Management Executive, vol.19, no.4, pp.51-62. The Irrational Side of Change Management In this article, the authors identify and discuss nine insights into the way human nature becomes a barrier to implementing the four conditions of behavioral change and fostering positive organizational shifts. Also, the authors show how different companies have succeeded in overcoming these obstacles, either consciously or intuitively. The researchers begin their discussion with the importance of creating a compelling change story. Here, three main barriers impede the development and implementation of positive change. For example, many managers and executives do not understand that if they like the story, employees will like it, too. As a result, managers should be prepared to identify possible gaps and imagine what could be wrong with their strategic vision. There are also problems in role modeling, where many leaders tend to believe that they embody the change and, consequently, lose the chance to cause a real, tangible positive change. The researchers also describe the major problems facing organizations as they are developing reinforcing mechanisms: for example, many executives think that money is the strongest force of employee motivation. In reality, compensation alone can hardly tie employees to the need for change. Finally, the authors of the article describe the basic impediments to capability building. In light of all these difficulties, the authors propose a number of changes to be incorporated into traditional training approaches. For example, they suggest that change training should not be a one-time event. Managers can use this valuable information to (a) avoid the major change pitfalls and (b) improve the quality of training courses provided to other managers and employees in the context of organizational change. Aiken, C & Keller, S. ‘The irrational side of change management’. Top Ten Slide Tips Using PowerPoint slides has become commonplace in organizations, and in this article top ten tips are provided for using PowerPoint slides appropriately and effectively. The tips include the following. First, keep it simple: slides should not be the star or center of the presentation. The center of any presentation is the audience, and all slides should be simple enough to make the presentation comprehensive and, at the same time, engaging. To achieve this goal, all slides should have sufficient white and negative space. Second, limit bullet points: any presentation should benefit the audience and getting bullet after bullet point will simply make the audience bored. Third, limit animation: the authors recommend using slide transitions with caution and limit the amount of animation. Fourth, all graphics used in the presentation should be of high quality: Clip Art should be avoided by all means. Fifth, it is never good to use PowerPoint templates, but it is always good to have a single visual theme. It is always better to create a personal, unique PowerPoint template, to make the audience interested in the presentation. Sixth, all charts used in a presentation should be used appropriately. Seventh, the authors recommend using colors well. Colors are emotional and evoke different feelings, which also means that all colors should be used and combined appropriately. Eighth, the authors provide recommendations regarding the choice of fonts. Ninth, the use of video and audio is strongly recommended. Tenth, slide sorter is of crucial importance. All these recommendations can improve the quality of any presentation, even in the most challenging conditions. Anonymous 2005, ‘Top ten slide tips’, Garr Reynolds, http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/slides.html, accessed 8 June 2012. Thinking like a Designer The thesis of this article is that design thinking can offer considerable benefits to businesses, and leaders who seek innovative approaches to traditional things can readily use design thinking as a source of differentiation and competitive advantage. Brown (2008) writes that, for many years, design has been of secondary importance in business. However, the international business landscape constantly changes, and the shift from industrial manufacturing to services and knowledge sharing demands new, innovative models of thinking about business. Brown (2008) develops a personality profile any design thinker should display. The profile includes the following features: empathy, integrative thinking, optimism, experimentalism, and collaboration (Brown 2008). On the example of Kaiser Permanente, the author describes the process of developing and implementing design thinking in practice. In Brown’s (2008) words, design thinking can be best described as a metaphor, where thinking comes as a flexible system of spaces rather than a system of predetermined steps and activities. Inspiration, ideation, and implementation are the three main spaces making up the design process (Brown 2008). Moreover, design thinking requires that executives and business owners look deeper into the way their consumers live and perceive their lives, using this knowledge to innovate and create value (Brown 2008). The article suggests that design thinking goes beyond aesthetics, but aesthetics still remains one of the critical elements of business success. This information and the examples used in the article can help businesses better understand the nature and utility of design thinking. Brown, T 2008, ‘Thinking’, Harvard Business Review, June, pp.85-92. Finding the Right Job for Your Product The central claim of the article is that, while most companies segment their products and services depending on the demographic features of the customer or specific product characteristics, it is high time they adopted a different, consumer-oriented view of the market, to make sure that customers get the product and service they have been looking for. According to Christensen et al. (2007), traditional segmentation schemes are static, and product and customer characteristics cannot serve a good indicator of customer behaviors, wishes, and decisions. The authors propose using the so-called ‘job’ classification or segmentation principles. In other words, companies should approach their strategies and markets, as if they are trying to understand what type of job customers want to do when they purchase this or that product or service. The main benefit of the proposed job-based segmentation framework is in that it allows companies to avoid traditional segmentation mistakes (Christensen et al. 2007). By using job-based principles, companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors and adjust their products and services to the jobs customers seek to be done (Christensen et al. 2007). The authors provide a set of recommendations to help companies cope with the difficult task of finding the right job. These recommendations will further guide executives and managers in their way to perfect product and service segmentation. Christensen, CM, Anthony, SD, Berstell, G & Nitterhouse, D 2007, ‘Finding the right job for your product’, MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp.2-11. An Opportunity for Me In this empirical study, the researchers explore the concept of entrepreneurial opportunity and test the model of cognitive opportunity representations in ways they are perceived and used by entrepreneurs. Based on the proposed model, entrepreneurs are inherently future-oriented, and evaluate their decisions not based on their current position but taking into account of what will or can happen in the future. Haynie, Shepherd and McMullen (2009) write that the notion of entrepreneurship is inseparable from the concept of opportunity and opportunity discovery, which makes the study of the opportunity-related processes extremely important for business. The authors suggest that the process of evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities comprises three important elements: (1) evaluating opportunity attractiveness; (2) evaluating opportunity in terms of the future gains if the opportunity is eventually exploited; and (3) performing a first-person analysis of the opportunity. In this study, the researchers developed six different hypotheses and invited university-based entrepreneurs in the Western United States to participate. The results of a detailed statistical analysis show that entrepreneurial decision making is essentially a future-focused activity that is always based on first-person criteria and expectations. Entrepreneurs feel that opportunities are more attractive when they directly relate to their experiences, knowledge, and skills (Haynie et al. 2009). This knowledge can help future researchers to develop new decision making models and enhance the quality of entrepreneurial decisions in business. Haynie, JM, Shepherd, DA & McMullen, JS 2009, ‘An opportunity for me? The role of resources in opportunity evaluation decisions’, Journal of Management Studies, vol.46, no.3, pp.337-361. Make a Good Impression in 30 Seconds Ron Askenas is a managing partner of Schaffer Consulting. In this article, he makes a claim that in all conversations, there is a 30-second moment that makes this conversation memorable: as a result, it is within anyone’s capabilities to use this 30-second moment to influence the audience. Askenas’s (2012) article is actually about what individuals, including business people, can do to craft a 30-second moment that will make them memorable. It is also the article that describes the way various unconscious patterns and behaviors shape individual and collective reactions. Askenas (2012) offers several valuable recommendations to create mini-impressions that count. In order to turn 30 seconds into a winning spot, individuals should learn to capture audiences’ attention. Furthermore, everyone should be able to convey a clear message and focus on difference and differentiation (Askenas 2012). The author asserts that when all these three methods are combined, they create an enormous potential to influence the target audience. The best business people can do is to have these elements ready for use at any given moment. Askenas, R 2012, ‘Make a good impression in 30 seconds’, HBR Blog Network, http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2012/02/make-a-good-impression-in-30-s.html, accessed 8 June 2012. Read More