Think of the products and services of your current organization. How can the products and services be reclassified to identify different markets?
I am not sure if the products that my company produces can be reclassified to identify different markets. They can be reclassified to better position the company in some new markets and gain market share in all current markets. My comapny is in a mature industry. The refractory industry within the USA is declining, while the industry abroad is growing. China and India are probably the largest growing refractory markets. China is by far the most important and fastest growing refractory market today and near future. Locally/nationally - My company's opportunities will be from taking market share from their competitors. Reclassifying the product lines will help Allied achieve this dominance. Better organization and adding more structure to massive product offerings will allow the sales force to better serve the customer. It will also add confidence to the sale forces' offering - showing the customer that our company has new and innovative products to solve their problems. This could easily be done via an electronic database, since the vast majority of the sales force have laptops. It could be a downloadable file from an intranet and/or available on the intranet for viewing with the customer. There are numerous ways this information could be organized and provided as knowledge tools to the sales force. This would ensure that they were effective, efficient, and aware of the new product offerings for specific applications.
Friday, December 8, 2006
LJ 1-3b
Reflecting on your personal past experiences, discuss an idea you developed, only to have it fail during the implementation. Why did the implementation fail?
I actually can not think of an idea that I developed and failed at implementation. Most of the ideas that I developed or developed with others were successfully implemented - if the idea was deemed worthy of going forward with it. The only idea that went partially to implementation, before being killed, was a part of my Master's thesis work. This novel idea was created by my advisor, a professor, and validated by a myself and a peer. The possibility of the idea was validated and at least one paper was published on this subject. Through the university, we started through the patent process. This idea made it through the first part of the process, but was killed in the due diligence review. The idea was not marketable enough to develop a product or process into a viable, money making process for ceramic manufacturing.
Other implementations I have been involved in could have been much more efficient if planning and listening to others perspectives and experiences were paid more attention. Sometimes people in charge of implementations tend to manage every aspect of the implementation instead of leading everyone through the changes the implementation process creates. Unfortunately implementation plans include people to carry out tasks and objectives. Autocratic and "know-it-all" attitudes or approaches typically results in a bumpy implementation. Including everyone at the start and keeping them engaged throughout the implementation process ensures that any missed issues are handled and addressed efficiently. This approach is also effective in ensuring that the process will support itself after all the "managing resources of implementation" leave. Implementation process needs to be about having the people who will be left with the processes implemented to create and develop the processes and NOT told what to do by "You" without any of their input. Again - engage the people in the implementation and future issues will be minimal.
I actually can not think of an idea that I developed and failed at implementation. Most of the ideas that I developed or developed with others were successfully implemented - if the idea was deemed worthy of going forward with it. The only idea that went partially to implementation, before being killed, was a part of my Master's thesis work. This novel idea was created by my advisor, a professor, and validated by a myself and a peer. The possibility of the idea was validated and at least one paper was published on this subject. Through the university, we started through the patent process. This idea made it through the first part of the process, but was killed in the due diligence review. The idea was not marketable enough to develop a product or process into a viable, money making process for ceramic manufacturing.
Other implementations I have been involved in could have been much more efficient if planning and listening to others perspectives and experiences were paid more attention. Sometimes people in charge of implementations tend to manage every aspect of the implementation instead of leading everyone through the changes the implementation process creates. Unfortunately implementation plans include people to carry out tasks and objectives. Autocratic and "know-it-all" attitudes or approaches typically results in a bumpy implementation. Including everyone at the start and keeping them engaged throughout the implementation process ensures that any missed issues are handled and addressed efficiently. This approach is also effective in ensuring that the process will support itself after all the "managing resources of implementation" leave. Implementation process needs to be about having the people who will be left with the processes implemented to create and develop the processes and NOT told what to do by "You" without any of their input. Again - engage the people in the implementation and future issues will be minimal.
LJ 1-3a
Consider your own leadership traits. Do you more closely fit with the creative nature from MBA 715 or the organizational nature of MBA 725? Explain your response.
I would say I am a better fit in the organizational nature of MBA725 or the launch stage of a company. My leadership traits have been influenced by my engineering background and procedure writing assignments over the years in manufacturing. My background has been focused in bringing technology from Research and Technology or Development (R&T or R&D) and ensuring that the scale up was successful. My college experience was in basic research and this background allows me to communicate effectively with research engineers, so transfer/scale ups of processes are successful.
So from a leadership stand point, I lead people through change and build their confidence by solving problems. I solve problems by thoroughly investigating the issues and interviewing people involved in the processes. Through listening and acknowledging their concerns, some problems are proactively addressed and I strongly advocate the proactive approach and NOT the reactionary approach. Embracing change and ensuring that the implementation goes as smoothly as possible is what I basically have done at three different companies.
I would say I am a better fit in the organizational nature of MBA725 or the launch stage of a company. My leadership traits have been influenced by my engineering background and procedure writing assignments over the years in manufacturing. My background has been focused in bringing technology from Research and Technology or Development (R&T or R&D) and ensuring that the scale up was successful. My college experience was in basic research and this background allows me to communicate effectively with research engineers, so transfer/scale ups of processes are successful.
So from a leadership stand point, I lead people through change and build their confidence by solving problems. I solve problems by thoroughly investigating the issues and interviewing people involved in the processes. Through listening and acknowledging their concerns, some problems are proactively addressed and I strongly advocate the proactive approach and NOT the reactionary approach. Embracing change and ensuring that the implementation goes as smoothly as possible is what I basically have done at three different companies.
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