MBA 735 – Reflections on Module 1 Concepts.

MBA 735 – Reflections on Module 1 Concepts.
How do growth characteristics vary depending on the waves of change an organization experiences?

As the waves of change has progressed from Agricultural to Judgment - speed of information and communication channels determine the growth characteristics. The more efficient the communication channels and the greater need for adaptability to market changes is also factor in these characteristics. In more stable and mature markets or even declining markets, typically stuck in the Industrial age, tend to deal with growth slowly and plan more for what may happen, the past - instead of the present and focus on the future.

The future will be in industries that information and competition is readily available and growth is also available to the company that addresses the issues quickly and effectively. Judgment wave based companies will only act on the valid opportunities, those which align with the company's vision and mission - but also with the individual values and beliefs.

Uncertainty and disorder is all around, as the Judgment age progresses, the more chaotic the global environment becomes more competitive and decision making becomes more important. The leader must be very adaptive and have the ability to build cross-functional teams and facilitate communication channels.

Have you experienced growth in your current or other employment? What factors led you to believe you did or did not experience growth?

I have been in several experiences that exhibited strong growth as well as slow growth. The most recent example was acquiring the technology of a bankrupt company and translating this technology into the current operation culture. It was growth to the company, but for the purchased brand - a re-emergence of ability to ship product to the customer base. Market share was being captured and seized by the competition and the intent of operations and QA was to establish stability back into the market and to the customers. Being in a relative mature USA market, the refractory market captures market share. The other growth has been global through the building of manufacturing sites in "other companies" - the best example of true company growth is the manufacturing plant in china.

The success in China is due recognizing a fact that molten metal is being produced in China and will not be decreasing at all, but increasing. The corporate vision is to serve the customer by "Being there" and the only way to do this was by building a manufacturing plant to support this vision and also take advantage of the the USA's knowledge base to best service this customer base.

If you were given the new project assignment of managing a fast-growing division/department/segment of your organization, what personal skills would you need to improve upon to be successful in your endeavors?

Personally - would be the effective and efficient means to capture necessary and relevant information. I have never been scared or backed down from engaging a project or making a decision. I would rather make a solid "wrong" decision - based on information at the time, then not doing anything (again decision to do nothing - is a decision). I would suspect being in strong growth, one needs to step back into ones beliefs and values and have that navigate you through the chaos. The more solid ones beliefs and values in morals and ethics - the better ones success during the chaotic growth stage.

A leader must be secure with themselves and their abilities. If the leader knows and understands their weaknesses and limitations, then the greater the ability to deal with and embrace uncertainty exists. As the leader has great success and few failures without the understanding the reasons for each - the greater development of arrogance and infallibility.