Answer the following questions in your learning journal to stimulate your thinking. Your responses should demonstrate reflective thought.
What is the importance of interest rates to your organization?
My current organization is not affected by interest rates as much as other companies. AMP has great cash flow and operates with its use of cash. The company does not enter into many long-term debt situations. It uses short-term debt, which is probably used to keep their credit risk down, etc. AMP mainly enters into capital projects and expansion through use of their cash reserves and less through the use of long-term loans.
How do interest rates impact your ability to make purchases of durable goods and real estate?
Rising interest rates make it more difficult to enter into long-term projects or purchasing of real estate, especially for investment purposes. This will also increase the cost of car loans, etc, which will result in consumer spending dropping - leading to possible recession.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
MBA 820 Reflections on Module 1
Answer the following questions in your learning journal to stimulate your thinking. Your responses should demonstrate reflective thought.
What aspects of your life (personal and professional) are impacted by financial institutions? Briefly describe.
Personal aspects impacted are the commercial banks in which I have a checking account and brokerage services (stocks, mutual funds, etc.). Professionally aspects aspects are the money supply and availability of money to secure loans to purchase investment properties. At the company I work for, availability of money and short term loans fuel growth and expansions within the USA and abroad.
The last few years, money has started to tighten. The sub-prime mortgage business and the large investments by hedge funds in the sub prime business has melted down, leading to the further tightening of money. This will potentially make it difficult to purchase investment properties at 95 to 100% loan to value, due to the perceived higher risk in the real estate market. Most areas have depreciated in value (real estate), but others have continued to rise or even just stabilize. The information is not complete in most cases and financial institutions are not allowing as much leverage any more.
Personally this has also lead to increased rates in loans and credit cards, which leads to making sure balances are paid off. Deals of 0% interest for 6 months or even a year are gone, so the ability to leverage money for the short-term is gone. The easy money or cheap money is gone - no more loose credit lines.
Finance companies have even raised their rates, which has been speculated to tighten money supply more dramatically than the fed raising rates. This may be why the Fed held the rates and did not raise them - there are even talks of the fed lowering them before the year. The effects small businesses and companies using short to mid term loans to pay for capital projects, etc. It also effects the accounts receivable for many companies, like the one I work for. Some customers rely on these short term loans to pay for supplies of capital projects. This creates risk of greater chances of default or "longer" loans to customers via accounts receivable days outstanding dramatically increasing - effecting the cash flow of the company overall. This all leads to reduction in capital spending and lower profitability.
What financial institutions or markets have you interacted with? Elaborate on the differences in those institutions and their importance to your financial well-being.
I have interacted with commercial banks, saving and loan institutions, brokerages - securities firms, mutual fund institutions, and insurance companies. Really have not had direct involvement with Finance companies, credit unions, or pension funds.
Saving and loans mainly help individuals and investor of real estate (small) with loans for mortgages, line of credit, and car loans. Commercial banks offer some services for individuals, but have historically targeted businesses. Recently the commercial banks are looking at small businesses and investors as well as offering financial investment services. Banks have migrated over to the roll held by securities firms and mutual funds. Commercial banks can now offer all of these services as well as checking accounts, business checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs, etc. They have evolved into many services with a wide variety of products. Insurance companies make money by their investment department playing the market better than the average. Insurance companies also offer a variety of services and products that help with the long term planning of your estate. Life insurance polices have evolved into making sure almost every situation is covered for the short term and long term.
This helps my well being due to competition being fierce among these players and information being more timely available. Many of the commercial banks are not tied or paid to represent certain companies' products like the past days. Securities firms and mutual funds were paid to push certain stocks and products to unknowing customers. The manipulation of hedge funds and other institutional funds has become more difficult due to the financial conglomeration of the financial market place. The various life insurance polices allow many choices for the different stages of my life and situations, which is great.
What aspects of your life (personal and professional) are impacted by financial institutions? Briefly describe.
Personal aspects impacted are the commercial banks in which I have a checking account and brokerage services (stocks, mutual funds, etc.). Professionally aspects aspects are the money supply and availability of money to secure loans to purchase investment properties. At the company I work for, availability of money and short term loans fuel growth and expansions within the USA and abroad.
The last few years, money has started to tighten. The sub-prime mortgage business and the large investments by hedge funds in the sub prime business has melted down, leading to the further tightening of money. This will potentially make it difficult to purchase investment properties at 95 to 100% loan to value, due to the perceived higher risk in the real estate market. Most areas have depreciated in value (real estate), but others have continued to rise or even just stabilize. The information is not complete in most cases and financial institutions are not allowing as much leverage any more.
Personally this has also lead to increased rates in loans and credit cards, which leads to making sure balances are paid off. Deals of 0% interest for 6 months or even a year are gone, so the ability to leverage money for the short-term is gone. The easy money or cheap money is gone - no more loose credit lines.
Finance companies have even raised their rates, which has been speculated to tighten money supply more dramatically than the fed raising rates. This may be why the Fed held the rates and did not raise them - there are even talks of the fed lowering them before the year. The effects small businesses and companies using short to mid term loans to pay for capital projects, etc. It also effects the accounts receivable for many companies, like the one I work for. Some customers rely on these short term loans to pay for supplies of capital projects. This creates risk of greater chances of default or "longer" loans to customers via accounts receivable days outstanding dramatically increasing - effecting the cash flow of the company overall. This all leads to reduction in capital spending and lower profitability.
What financial institutions or markets have you interacted with? Elaborate on the differences in those institutions and their importance to your financial well-being.
I have interacted with commercial banks, saving and loan institutions, brokerages - securities firms, mutual fund institutions, and insurance companies. Really have not had direct involvement with Finance companies, credit unions, or pension funds.
Saving and loans mainly help individuals and investor of real estate (small) with loans for mortgages, line of credit, and car loans. Commercial banks offer some services for individuals, but have historically targeted businesses. Recently the commercial banks are looking at small businesses and investors as well as offering financial investment services. Banks have migrated over to the roll held by securities firms and mutual funds. Commercial banks can now offer all of these services as well as checking accounts, business checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs, etc. They have evolved into many services with a wide variety of products. Insurance companies make money by their investment department playing the market better than the average. Insurance companies also offer a variety of services and products that help with the long term planning of your estate. Life insurance polices have evolved into making sure almost every situation is covered for the short term and long term.
This helps my well being due to competition being fierce among these players and information being more timely available. Many of the commercial banks are not tied or paid to represent certain companies' products like the past days. Securities firms and mutual funds were paid to push certain stocks and products to unknowing customers. The manipulation of hedge funds and other institutional funds has become more difficult due to the financial conglomeration of the financial market place. The various life insurance polices allow many choices for the different stages of my life and situations, which is great.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
MBA765 - Week 6 - Synthesis of Vantage Program
Five topics and concepts learned through the Vantage MBA Program
1. Importance of Communication Skills
Establish information technology (IT) systems that facilitate information and knowledge sharing among employees, customers, and suppliers.
Sparking creativity and innovation through open dialogue.
Focusing on the needs and wants of others and not the self through empathetic listening.
Ability to effectively listen, conveying ideas and opinions clearly and concisely.
Facilitate open dialogue to eliminate self-protection, secrecy, denial, and establish accountability.
Communicating expectations and setting clear performance goals.
Communicate to external stakeholders about important milestones, strategic directions, and specific challenges.
Understanding enough to ask the right questions.
Open communication allows creative and innovative ideas, thoughts, and concepts to grow and multiple. This will lead to high quality and strong profits, which are sustainable elements of a business.
Allows groups of people to work together synergistically with a synchronization that drives creativity and innovation to higher levels not achievable through individuals.
2. Ability to execute
Ability to lead through change and navigate the ambiguity of chaos and uncertainty of the environment.
Alignment of people with goals and objectives that are based on the vision and mission.
Attacking the inefficiencies in productivity, homogeneity (consistency), and process and system flows.
Setting priorities between new product development, diversification of products and product lines, while increasing productivity simultaneously.
Capturing the spirit of objectives and empowering others to achieve goals and objectives through your ability to build confidence and energize them.
Results orientated with a focus on achieving goal and not the possibility of failure. Effort and trying is not the same as achieving executable results.
Establishing leader’s intent and clarifying through steps, creating a path of goals that lead to the achievement of objectives.
3. Ability of learning how to learn
Research and acknowledge emerging trends and changes in customer preferences.
Utilizing SWOT, Porter Five Forces, and value chain analysis to remain competitive in the rapidly changing market environment.
Understanding and application of financial and accounting techniques. What all the costs are and how to follow the money.
Understanding the cash flow characteristics of the market and your business.
Using technology as a tool and a means to increase the flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of customers and employees.
Strategic thinking, the endless pursuit of understanding the relevant markets, development of competitive strategies, and creating possibility scenarios for future market changes.
Reflecting on the implications and consequences of actions and decisions in order to learn from these experiences and develop wisdom.
4. Importance of Vantage Leadership
Showing respect for others and appreciation for different views.
Customer orientation, the understanding of customer’s motivation, their challenges presently and in the future, which capabilities that are missing, and how you bridge that gap for them.
Ability to make good decisions and sound judgments based on thorough understanding of financial implications, strategic initiatives, and tactical deployments.
The understanding that symbiotic relationships exist between society, business, and mankind. Science, economics, and ecology are melding together, which is a convergence of this knowledge into one.
Taking the collaborative approach to problem solving that includes all of the relevant stakeholders and assessing the consequences of actions up front.
Bold enough to take risks on new possibilities and approaches.
Integrity above all else with fairness for everyone and the courage of conviction for what you believes. Standing up for your values, beliefs, and principles.
Your behavior creates a model for the entire organization, its culture and values.
Focus on the soft skills, the people aspect of leadership. Embrace conflict and confrontation, demanding an open and truthful forum.
Commitment is facilitated by the ability to speak openly and actively be listen to as well as clearly understood.
Build and foster teams through empowerment and coaching
5. Importance and awareness of Human Capital
Synergy of people to work together cohesively and effectively.
Capturing, applying, and exploiting the intellectual property.
Knowledge management systems to capture the valuable and possible irreplaceable knowledge when people leave or retire.
Competitive advantages will be people related and driven.
Population growth of educated and skilled people will not keep up with the present and future global job growth.
The new dimension of wealth for the future will be through people and their motivations.
Interview Questions for Assignment Part
1) What do you feel is one of the most important skills as COO?
Importance of Communication Skills
a) Establish information technology (IT) systems that facilitate information and knowledge sharing among employees, customers, and suppliers.
b) Sparking creativity and innovation through open dialogue.
c) Focusing on the needs and wants of others and not the self through empathetic listening.
d) Ability to effectively listen, conveying ideas and opinions clearly and concisely.
e) Facilitate open dialogue to eliminate self-protection, secrecy, denial, and establish accountability.
f) Communicating expectations and setting clear performance goals.
g) Communicate to external stakeholders about important milestones, strategic directions, and specific challenges.
h) Understanding enough to ask the right questions.
i) Open communication allows creative and innovative ideas, thoughts, and concepts to grow and multiple. This will lead to high quality and strong profits, which are sustainable elements of a business.
j) Allows groups of people to work together synergistically with a synchronization that drives creativity and innovation to higher levels not achievable through individuals.
Ability to execute
a) Ability to lead through change and navigate the ambiguity of chaos and uncertainty of the environment.
b) Alignment of people with goals and objectives that are based on the vision and mission.
c) Attacking the inefficiencies in productivity, homogeneity (consistency), and process and system flows.
d) Setting priorities between new product development, diversification of products and product lines, while increasing productivity simultaneously.
e) Capturing the spirit of objectives and empowering others to achieve goals and objectives through your ability to build confidence and energize them.
f) Results orientated with a focus on achieving goal and not the possibility of failure. Effort and trying is not the same as achieving executable results.
g) Establishing leader's intent and clarifying through steps, creating a path of goals that lead to the achievement of objectives.
Ability of learning how to learn
a) Research and acknowledge emerging trends and changes in customer preferences.
b) Utilizing SWOT, Porter Five Forces, and value chain analysis to remain competitive in the rapidly changing market environment.
c) Understanding and application of financial and accounting techniques. What all the costs are and how to follow the money.
d) Understanding the cash flow characteristics of the market and your business.
e) Using technology as a tool and a means to increase the flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of customers and employees.
f) Strategic thinking, the endless pursuit of understanding the relevant markets, development of competitive strategies, and creating possibility scenarios for future market changes.
g) Reflecting on the implications and consequences of actions and decisions in order to learn from these experiences and develop wisdom.
2) Some say that cash is king. At TBS we feel that the customer is king. How do you feel about this business philosophy?
a) Showing respect for others and appreciation for different views.
b) Customer orientation, the understanding of customer's motivation, their challenges presently and in the future, which capabilities that are missing, and how you bridge that gap for them. Communication strategies must view the customer base with a 4-lens perspective.
c) Ability to make good decisions and sound judgments based on thorough understanding of financial implications, strategic initiatives, and tactical deployments.
d) The understanding that symbiotic relationships exist between society, business, and mankind. Science, economics, and ecology are melding together, which is a convergence of this knowledge into one.
e) Taking the collaborative approach to problem solving that includes all of the relevant stakeholders and assessing the consequences of actions up front.
f) Strong cash flow is vital to ensure momentum and superior service to customers.
3) The role of COO is a huge responsibility, tell us why you have what it takes to run the operations of Tactical Business Solutions and why you feel this attribute is so important.
a) Bold enough to take risks on new possibilities and approaches.
b) Understand all of the accounting issues and consequences of federal, state, and local regulatory rules and laws.
c) Financial consequences of building, purchasing or leasing space for the business.
d) Financial considerations for manufacturing: renting equipment and temporary workers, purchasing equipment and permanent workers, or outsourcing to contract manufacturers?
e) Assessment of capital requirements for start up and growth.
f) Hiring the right people and ensuring that the right people are in the right position.
g) Continually assess the risks of new technology obsolescing your products.
4) There may be times in your job when you are tempted by vendors or others to do something that may not be ethical. Share with us how you would deal with a situation like this.
a) Integrity above all else with fairness for everyone and the courage of conviction for what you believes. Standing up for your values, beliefs, and principles.
b) Your behavior creates a model for the entire organization, its culture and values.
5) Connecting with TBS associates is paramount. Tell us how you will be successful.
a) Focus on the soft skills, the people aspect of leadership. Embrace conflict and confrontation, demanding an open and truthful forum.
b) Commitment is facilitated by the ability to speak openly and actively be listening to as well as clearly understood.
c) Build and foster teams through empowerment and coaching
d) Importance and awareness of Human Capital
e) Foster and build extraordinary teams by empowerment and coaching.
f) Establish strong and competent training programs for all employees, to establish consistency in the product.
g) Establish evaluation programs for these training programs.
h) Establish freedom and independence as part of the culture. This will facilitate innovation and give employees a voice in the company’s success. This protects knowledge and experience from leaving the company, due to loyal employees.
6) Delivering quality IT consulting services is a very challenging business, especially given the soft market and threatening competition. Knowing your leadership styles what message will you push to associates so that TBS becomes a better consultancy?
a) Synergy of people to work together cohesively and effectively.
b) Capturing, applying, and exploiting the intellectual property.
c) Knowledge management systems to capture the valuable and possible irreplaceable knowledge when people leave or retire.
d) Competitive advantages will be people related and driven.
e) Leadership style: Informal, flat or horizontal structure, and independent in nature.
f) Use a combination of both and become the pace setter, culture creator, a player as well as a coach.
g) Ability to keep the company balanced where gaps and threats exist internally and externally.
h) Keep the company sharply focused by staying true to marketing goals, targeted markets and customers, and the budget versus costs.
i)
j) Population growth of educated and skilled people will not keep up with the present and future global job growth.
k) The new dimension of wealth for the future will be through people and their motivations.
1. Importance of Communication Skills
Establish information technology (IT) systems that facilitate information and knowledge sharing among employees, customers, and suppliers.
Sparking creativity and innovation through open dialogue.
Focusing on the needs and wants of others and not the self through empathetic listening.
Ability to effectively listen, conveying ideas and opinions clearly and concisely.
Facilitate open dialogue to eliminate self-protection, secrecy, denial, and establish accountability.
Communicating expectations and setting clear performance goals.
Communicate to external stakeholders about important milestones, strategic directions, and specific challenges.
Understanding enough to ask the right questions.
Open communication allows creative and innovative ideas, thoughts, and concepts to grow and multiple. This will lead to high quality and strong profits, which are sustainable elements of a business.
Allows groups of people to work together synergistically with a synchronization that drives creativity and innovation to higher levels not achievable through individuals.
2. Ability to execute
Ability to lead through change and navigate the ambiguity of chaos and uncertainty of the environment.
Alignment of people with goals and objectives that are based on the vision and mission.
Attacking the inefficiencies in productivity, homogeneity (consistency), and process and system flows.
Setting priorities between new product development, diversification of products and product lines, while increasing productivity simultaneously.
Capturing the spirit of objectives and empowering others to achieve goals and objectives through your ability to build confidence and energize them.
Results orientated with a focus on achieving goal and not the possibility of failure. Effort and trying is not the same as achieving executable results.
Establishing leader’s intent and clarifying through steps, creating a path of goals that lead to the achievement of objectives.
3. Ability of learning how to learn
Research and acknowledge emerging trends and changes in customer preferences.
Utilizing SWOT, Porter Five Forces, and value chain analysis to remain competitive in the rapidly changing market environment.
Understanding and application of financial and accounting techniques. What all the costs are and how to follow the money.
Understanding the cash flow characteristics of the market and your business.
Using technology as a tool and a means to increase the flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of customers and employees.
Strategic thinking, the endless pursuit of understanding the relevant markets, development of competitive strategies, and creating possibility scenarios for future market changes.
Reflecting on the implications and consequences of actions and decisions in order to learn from these experiences and develop wisdom.
4. Importance of Vantage Leadership
Showing respect for others and appreciation for different views.
Customer orientation, the understanding of customer’s motivation, their challenges presently and in the future, which capabilities that are missing, and how you bridge that gap for them.
Ability to make good decisions and sound judgments based on thorough understanding of financial implications, strategic initiatives, and tactical deployments.
The understanding that symbiotic relationships exist between society, business, and mankind. Science, economics, and ecology are melding together, which is a convergence of this knowledge into one.
Taking the collaborative approach to problem solving that includes all of the relevant stakeholders and assessing the consequences of actions up front.
Bold enough to take risks on new possibilities and approaches.
Integrity above all else with fairness for everyone and the courage of conviction for what you believes. Standing up for your values, beliefs, and principles.
Your behavior creates a model for the entire organization, its culture and values.
Focus on the soft skills, the people aspect of leadership. Embrace conflict and confrontation, demanding an open and truthful forum.
Commitment is facilitated by the ability to speak openly and actively be listen to as well as clearly understood.
Build and foster teams through empowerment and coaching
5. Importance and awareness of Human Capital
Synergy of people to work together cohesively and effectively.
Capturing, applying, and exploiting the intellectual property.
Knowledge management systems to capture the valuable and possible irreplaceable knowledge when people leave or retire.
Competitive advantages will be people related and driven.
Population growth of educated and skilled people will not keep up with the present and future global job growth.
The new dimension of wealth for the future will be through people and their motivations.
Interview Questions for Assignment Part
1) What do you feel is one of the most important skills as COO?
Importance of Communication Skills
a) Establish information technology (IT) systems that facilitate information and knowledge sharing among employees, customers, and suppliers.
b) Sparking creativity and innovation through open dialogue.
c) Focusing on the needs and wants of others and not the self through empathetic listening.
d) Ability to effectively listen, conveying ideas and opinions clearly and concisely.
e) Facilitate open dialogue to eliminate self-protection, secrecy, denial, and establish accountability.
f) Communicating expectations and setting clear performance goals.
g) Communicate to external stakeholders about important milestones, strategic directions, and specific challenges.
h) Understanding enough to ask the right questions.
i) Open communication allows creative and innovative ideas, thoughts, and concepts to grow and multiple. This will lead to high quality and strong profits, which are sustainable elements of a business.
j) Allows groups of people to work together synergistically with a synchronization that drives creativity and innovation to higher levels not achievable through individuals.
Ability to execute
a) Ability to lead through change and navigate the ambiguity of chaos and uncertainty of the environment.
b) Alignment of people with goals and objectives that are based on the vision and mission.
c) Attacking the inefficiencies in productivity, homogeneity (consistency), and process and system flows.
d) Setting priorities between new product development, diversification of products and product lines, while increasing productivity simultaneously.
e) Capturing the spirit of objectives and empowering others to achieve goals and objectives through your ability to build confidence and energize them.
f) Results orientated with a focus on achieving goal and not the possibility of failure. Effort and trying is not the same as achieving executable results.
g) Establishing leader's intent and clarifying through steps, creating a path of goals that lead to the achievement of objectives.
Ability of learning how to learn
a) Research and acknowledge emerging trends and changes in customer preferences.
b) Utilizing SWOT, Porter Five Forces, and value chain analysis to remain competitive in the rapidly changing market environment.
c) Understanding and application of financial and accounting techniques. What all the costs are and how to follow the money.
d) Understanding the cash flow characteristics of the market and your business.
e) Using technology as a tool and a means to increase the flexibility and responsiveness to the needs of customers and employees.
f) Strategic thinking, the endless pursuit of understanding the relevant markets, development of competitive strategies, and creating possibility scenarios for future market changes.
g) Reflecting on the implications and consequences of actions and decisions in order to learn from these experiences and develop wisdom.
2) Some say that cash is king. At TBS we feel that the customer is king. How do you feel about this business philosophy?
a) Showing respect for others and appreciation for different views.
b) Customer orientation, the understanding of customer's motivation, their challenges presently and in the future, which capabilities that are missing, and how you bridge that gap for them. Communication strategies must view the customer base with a 4-lens perspective.
c) Ability to make good decisions and sound judgments based on thorough understanding of financial implications, strategic initiatives, and tactical deployments.
d) The understanding that symbiotic relationships exist between society, business, and mankind. Science, economics, and ecology are melding together, which is a convergence of this knowledge into one.
e) Taking the collaborative approach to problem solving that includes all of the relevant stakeholders and assessing the consequences of actions up front.
f) Strong cash flow is vital to ensure momentum and superior service to customers.
3) The role of COO is a huge responsibility, tell us why you have what it takes to run the operations of Tactical Business Solutions and why you feel this attribute is so important.
a) Bold enough to take risks on new possibilities and approaches.
b) Understand all of the accounting issues and consequences of federal, state, and local regulatory rules and laws.
c) Financial consequences of building, purchasing or leasing space for the business.
d) Financial considerations for manufacturing: renting equipment and temporary workers, purchasing equipment and permanent workers, or outsourcing to contract manufacturers?
e) Assessment of capital requirements for start up and growth.
f) Hiring the right people and ensuring that the right people are in the right position.
g) Continually assess the risks of new technology obsolescing your products.
4) There may be times in your job when you are tempted by vendors or others to do something that may not be ethical. Share with us how you would deal with a situation like this.
a) Integrity above all else with fairness for everyone and the courage of conviction for what you believes. Standing up for your values, beliefs, and principles.
b) Your behavior creates a model for the entire organization, its culture and values.
5) Connecting with TBS associates is paramount. Tell us how you will be successful.
a) Focus on the soft skills, the people aspect of leadership. Embrace conflict and confrontation, demanding an open and truthful forum.
b) Commitment is facilitated by the ability to speak openly and actively be listening to as well as clearly understood.
c) Build and foster teams through empowerment and coaching
d) Importance and awareness of Human Capital
e) Foster and build extraordinary teams by empowerment and coaching.
f) Establish strong and competent training programs for all employees, to establish consistency in the product.
g) Establish evaluation programs for these training programs.
h) Establish freedom and independence as part of the culture. This will facilitate innovation and give employees a voice in the company’s success. This protects knowledge and experience from leaving the company, due to loyal employees.
6) Delivering quality IT consulting services is a very challenging business, especially given the soft market and threatening competition. Knowing your leadership styles what message will you push to associates so that TBS becomes a better consultancy?
a) Synergy of people to work together cohesively and effectively.
b) Capturing, applying, and exploiting the intellectual property.
c) Knowledge management systems to capture the valuable and possible irreplaceable knowledge when people leave or retire.
d) Competitive advantages will be people related and driven.
e) Leadership style: Informal, flat or horizontal structure, and independent in nature.
f) Use a combination of both and become the pace setter, culture creator, a player as well as a coach.
g) Ability to keep the company balanced where gaps and threats exist internally and externally.
h) Keep the company sharply focused by staying true to marketing goals, targeted markets and customers, and the budget versus costs.
i)
j) Population growth of educated and skilled people will not keep up with the present and future global job growth.
k) The new dimension of wealth for the future will be through people and their motivations.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
MBA 765 - Waves of Change and Fourth Wave Implications
The waves of change consist of
I. First Wave – Agricultural age: The societal and cultural triumph over hunting and gathering. Leaders were viewed as hero and masters of nature. Uncertainty is caused by nature or the environment. The agricultural age is defined by
v The control of land and the agricultural products became the primary sources of wealth, privilege, and prestige in society.
v Surplus crops were traded for other goods and products.
v Development of a monetary based economy and specialization of work.
v The economically strong (controllers of land and water) dominated and suppressed the weaker nations and controlled the economy.
v Emergence of social classes and the rise of entitled nobility.
* The explosion of pent up human creativity, the challenging of old ways and thoughts lead to the beginning of scientific thought and the start of the second wave (The 4th change wave, 2004).*
II. Second Wave – Industrial age: Emphasizing the nuclear family, synchronization, mass-production, mass-education, mass-everything, and mass-anything. Leaders were viewed as executives and masters of machines. Futile attempts to eliminate or reduce uncertainty through the application of structure, controls, rules, and procedures. This age was defined by
v Development of a large amount of paying consumers.
v Beginning of fixed discoverable and governing laws for society. Impersonal rules, regulations, and the rigidity of a mechanical universe ruled this age.
v Wealth and power shifted to those who controlled the means of mass producing products and the supply of the raw materials needed to manufacture these goods.
* The speed of transportation continued to increase and global travel was cost effective for many types of business. The invention of vacuum tubes and the electronic circuit lead to the creation of computers. This provided the necessary technology to mark the beginning of the third wave (The 4th change wave, 2004).*
III. Third Wave – Information or Knowledge age: Emphasis is on networks, which lead to the destruction of hierarchal structures and de-massification. The concept of a one-size fits all is no longer a valid assumption or belief. Leaders were viewed as networkers and masters of information by making knowledge productive. Uncertainty was created by lack of leadership. The third wave was defined by
v Information replacing physical forms of power and means of growth.
v Wealth shifts toward those who control information and knowledge in an organized form.
v The creation of socially value products instead of physical goods.
v Service products surpass products as the major economic power generator.
v The gap of wealth between knowledge based societies and agricultural/industrial (third world countries) widens.
v Production capacity has out stripped consumer demand of physical products.
* Continued release of pent up religious emotions and differences in opinions become more prevalent and pronounced, which leads to heated debates and religious wars. The growing concern over world wide poverty and concerns of the environment leads to corporate global stewardship. A revival and realization the power of knowledge and that knowledge is non-adversarial. The more people that consume knowledge, then the more powerful that knowledge becomes. The greater number consuming the knowledge results in the generation of more knowledge and the development of wisdom. Use of knowledge does not diminish it (The 4th change wave, 2004).*
IV. Fourth Wave – Judgment or Wisdom age: Emphasis is the accumulation of knowledge and this will be the main way people generate wealth in this age. It will be an age of judging what is true and what is untrue, what is real and what is virtual or fake. Uncertainty is accepted and embraced as a natural occurrence. Leadership will be the ability and awareness to recognize the dangers/risks and opportunities/successes that reside inherently in uncertainty.
v Life will make more demands and you will have more choices.
v Must exhibit flexibility and adaptability to survive and grow.
v Must embrace and feel comfortable with instability, chaos, change, and surprise.
v There are six adversary criteria that allows us to judge truth and untruth. These criteria are consensus, consistency, authority, revelation, durability, and science.
v Society shifts from the emphasis on information to imagination.
v Storytellers, coached, and mentors are rewarded more than leaders.
v Experiences and wisdom is more valuable than goods and services.
v Integration of principles (values, beliefs, and ethics) into the growing concern for the environment, personal integrity, and spiritual values.
v The melding or convergence of biology, information technology, knowledge systems, and business.
v Endless desire to mimic nature and the evolution patterns.
v The world operates at higher levels of complexity, ambiguity, unpredictability, and chaos.
Must have the ability to adapt to the evolving environment.
v Must be able to develop an awareness to believe what you see and observe instead of seeing only what you believe.
v Solutions reside in the simplicity of the complexity of the problems and issues.
v The fears and dangers are
o The impact of high technology on human connections.
o Not acknowledging the addictions and the consequences of technology’s ability to satisfy the quick fix.
o Worshipping of technology.
o Blurring or the inability to recognize what is real, fake, or virtual.
o Life void of human interaction.
*Leadership in the fourth wave will be like riding a bull. The actions and reactions of the bull are uncertain and can not be controlled, though some will try. To be successful, the rider must embrace the reality of uncertainty and careful ride and hold on for a set period of time. The only power is the power of sound judgment and decision making of when you choose to jump off and ride another bull (Gray and Otte, 2006).*
**Future markets and the fifth wave emergence will be due to the pent up need for togetherness, caring for others, being cared for, and human interactions. Stewardship becomes important after many years of avoiding human interactions and selfish acts against others. There will be the desire to display our personal conviction in peace and have our feeling and emotions safe and secure (The 4th change wave, 2004).**
The main points of interest that relate to Vantage MBA graduates and their impact to the post graduates are
v Due to the rate of change increasing, the actual skills taught or what is learned is obsolete by the time this knowledge is applied.
v Spending too much time gathering data and information that is obsolete before it becomes knowledge.
v There is an enormous amount of obsolete knowledge residing in our heads, books, culture, and databases.
v We are drowning in our own obsolescence and making big and personal decisions all based on irrelevant information.
v Important public and political decisions are based on aged knowledge of yesteryear that has no bearing on the present or future impact of the decisions.
v The continual upheaval of our social, political, and cultural institutions of values and beliefs will take place with the pace of change continuing to quicken. This is created by
o Fear of cloning
o Impact of virtual reality
o Continued emphasis on sculpting out niche markets
o Information overload
o The never ending product customization
o Spread of loneliness, due to increased reliance on technology
o Rise of religion and pent up hostility of religious factions
o The continued “Externalization of labor costs” (ATMs instead of inside bank teller, scanning your own groceries, shopping via the internet, etc.).
o Continued emphasis on insourcing where new technologies permit activities outside of the money economy. Channeling deeper inside the prosumer part of our wealth system.
o The prosumer costs and benefits are ignored and go unnoticed by our changing economy, which leads to consequences of these activities.
v The obsolesce of law, government, and politics due to technology and knowledge sharing moving many times the rate that government can react. Companies and consumers will adapt/evolve before societal governments react and address the behavior/activity/action.
v The de-synchronization of America’s institution and possible collapse in our economy and infrastructure.
v The mistake of society trying to slow down technological development instead of speeding up the necessary organizational changes.
v Growing intangibility of wealth and importance of knowledge and redefining capitalism.
v The convergence and inevitable clashes of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wave societies and cultures of the global economy. There will be a push to remove and eliminate cast systems or different classes of people.
v Continued movement of the USA from a land, labor, and capital of manufacturing based system to one of knowledge. Knowledge based wealth is infinite, unlike physical resources. The value of knowledge increases in value and benefits with wider circulation and acceptance of this knowledge.
Leveraging the 4th Wave as a recent Vantage MBA graduate
The judgment age will be a period of wide spread globalization and the melding of science, nature, economics and leadership. There are five regions of the future that are important to focus, because this will be a period of solutions and not just short-term results. The convergence of science, nature, and business results in the develop of these five views and consist of
Super tech is the super abundance of scientific and technological solutions.
Limits tech is based on scarcity, the need to work to survive, and the realization that nature knows best.
Local tech assumes that there are enough resources for everyone in the world.
Nature tech assumes that nature can meet all of humanities needs and that the solutions to critical problems reside in the secrets of nature.
Human tech conceptualizes that humanities real needs are not material or physical. Our principles, values, and beliefs drive our thinking and actions.
The sciences of genetics, robotics, nanotechnology, and information technology are tools to assist in the gaining of knowledge and information. Evolution of society is rapidly progressing and past or present information will not be an accurate guide to the future. The Vantage MBA graduate must
v Stop thinking and expressing in terms of either/or and start using both/and to develop the necessary flexible thinking.
v The future demands will require the use of your entire brain and the ability to learn is critical to future success.
v Innovational leadership will be the ability to understand radical and disruptive change, figure out what these changes mean (opportunities, risks, consequences, etc.), and then leveraging to your advantage.
v Wisdom will be the ability to integrate science, ecological, and economic discoveries, which contributes to leading through change and capitalizing on opportunities.
v Mastering the navigation through uncertainty and conflict and willfully engaging in coaching activities.
v Ability to shift back and forth between the big picture and the narrow details of issues, which allows one to address local, national, and global issue simultaneously.
v Leading by doing the right things as well as completing activities correctly and focusing on building relational networks.
v Focused leadership will be the effective application of knowledge, experience, and opportunity in the pursuit of optimal success.
v Mastery of judgment/wisdom will be the ability to make well reasoned choices from existing, possible, and future opportunities. Decision making is based on experience, values, principles, beliefs, and knowledge while voiding out assumptions, bias, self servicing agendas, and prejudices.
v Recognizing that the power of the internet and information technology obsolete present financial indicators that measure success of new age companies.
v Knowledge and experience is highly transportable and recognition of the real value of humans over machines is beginning.
v Future measures of success will be intangible and more behavioral than quantitative. The measurement will be the superior ability to execute. It will be the executable application of knowledge and experience into action that will define success.
v Sound judgment skills will be a highly sort after skill and will be how organizations will assess ones success and future potential. Current society and organizations are plagued by the leader’s inability to have good judgment. Poor judgment signs include poor decision making, inability to see the big picture, poor customer service, missing the implications of actions, failure to see or admit mistakes, and refusal to learn from mistakes.
v Guard against ethical malfeasance, which includes decision making for personal self gain at the expense of others. This will not be tolerated in this age.
v Values, beliefs, principles at an individual and organizational level will define ones ability to have sound judgment skills. The quality and soundness of the judgment will be based on the character of the individual.
v Judgments reflect your ideals. Employees will begin to select organizations that share their values, will leave organizations that conflict with their principles, and the importance of ethical concerns will become dominate.
v Endless pursuit of the perfect decision is not possible and leads to decisions that are not timely and results in loss of valuable opportunities.
v Organization need to become “large families” with shared values, beliefs, and principles. The focus will be on relationships and relationships will be defined as the pursuit of achieving positive goals.
v Leadership will be about taking on obligations for people, to develop them, and treat them like a colleague.
v Conflicts and embattlement will occur between the entrenched 2nd wave management values of structure, control, power, blame/fault finding, and superior/subordinate and the 4th wave values of relationship building and decentralized thinking (Gray and Otte, 2006).
References
Leading and managing closure. (2006). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing.
Franklin University. (2004). The 4th change wave.
Franklin University. (2004). Leveraging the 4th wave.
Gray, A. and Otte, P. (2006). The conflicted leader and vantage leadership. Columbus, OH: Franklin University Press.
Toffler, A. and Toffler, H. (2006). Revolutionary wealth. Knopf, a division of Random House.
I. First Wave – Agricultural age: The societal and cultural triumph over hunting and gathering. Leaders were viewed as hero and masters of nature. Uncertainty is caused by nature or the environment. The agricultural age is defined by
v The control of land and the agricultural products became the primary sources of wealth, privilege, and prestige in society.
v Surplus crops were traded for other goods and products.
v Development of a monetary based economy and specialization of work.
v The economically strong (controllers of land and water) dominated and suppressed the weaker nations and controlled the economy.
v Emergence of social classes and the rise of entitled nobility.
* The explosion of pent up human creativity, the challenging of old ways and thoughts lead to the beginning of scientific thought and the start of the second wave (The 4th change wave, 2004).*
II. Second Wave – Industrial age: Emphasizing the nuclear family, synchronization, mass-production, mass-education, mass-everything, and mass-anything. Leaders were viewed as executives and masters of machines. Futile attempts to eliminate or reduce uncertainty through the application of structure, controls, rules, and procedures. This age was defined by
v Development of a large amount of paying consumers.
v Beginning of fixed discoverable and governing laws for society. Impersonal rules, regulations, and the rigidity of a mechanical universe ruled this age.
v Wealth and power shifted to those who controlled the means of mass producing products and the supply of the raw materials needed to manufacture these goods.
* The speed of transportation continued to increase and global travel was cost effective for many types of business. The invention of vacuum tubes and the electronic circuit lead to the creation of computers. This provided the necessary technology to mark the beginning of the third wave (The 4th change wave, 2004).*
III. Third Wave – Information or Knowledge age: Emphasis is on networks, which lead to the destruction of hierarchal structures and de-massification. The concept of a one-size fits all is no longer a valid assumption or belief. Leaders were viewed as networkers and masters of information by making knowledge productive. Uncertainty was created by lack of leadership. The third wave was defined by
v Information replacing physical forms of power and means of growth.
v Wealth shifts toward those who control information and knowledge in an organized form.
v The creation of socially value products instead of physical goods.
v Service products surpass products as the major economic power generator.
v The gap of wealth between knowledge based societies and agricultural/industrial (third world countries) widens.
v Production capacity has out stripped consumer demand of physical products.
* Continued release of pent up religious emotions and differences in opinions become more prevalent and pronounced, which leads to heated debates and religious wars. The growing concern over world wide poverty and concerns of the environment leads to corporate global stewardship. A revival and realization the power of knowledge and that knowledge is non-adversarial. The more people that consume knowledge, then the more powerful that knowledge becomes. The greater number consuming the knowledge results in the generation of more knowledge and the development of wisdom. Use of knowledge does not diminish it (The 4th change wave, 2004).*
IV. Fourth Wave – Judgment or Wisdom age: Emphasis is the accumulation of knowledge and this will be the main way people generate wealth in this age. It will be an age of judging what is true and what is untrue, what is real and what is virtual or fake. Uncertainty is accepted and embraced as a natural occurrence. Leadership will be the ability and awareness to recognize the dangers/risks and opportunities/successes that reside inherently in uncertainty.
v Life will make more demands and you will have more choices.
v Must exhibit flexibility and adaptability to survive and grow.
v Must embrace and feel comfortable with instability, chaos, change, and surprise.
v There are six adversary criteria that allows us to judge truth and untruth. These criteria are consensus, consistency, authority, revelation, durability, and science.
v Society shifts from the emphasis on information to imagination.
v Storytellers, coached, and mentors are rewarded more than leaders.
v Experiences and wisdom is more valuable than goods and services.
v Integration of principles (values, beliefs, and ethics) into the growing concern for the environment, personal integrity, and spiritual values.
v The melding or convergence of biology, information technology, knowledge systems, and business.
v Endless desire to mimic nature and the evolution patterns.
v The world operates at higher levels of complexity, ambiguity, unpredictability, and chaos.
Must have the ability to adapt to the evolving environment.
v Must be able to develop an awareness to believe what you see and observe instead of seeing only what you believe.
v Solutions reside in the simplicity of the complexity of the problems and issues.
v The fears and dangers are
o The impact of high technology on human connections.
o Not acknowledging the addictions and the consequences of technology’s ability to satisfy the quick fix.
o Worshipping of technology.
o Blurring or the inability to recognize what is real, fake, or virtual.
o Life void of human interaction.
*Leadership in the fourth wave will be like riding a bull. The actions and reactions of the bull are uncertain and can not be controlled, though some will try. To be successful, the rider must embrace the reality of uncertainty and careful ride and hold on for a set period of time. The only power is the power of sound judgment and decision making of when you choose to jump off and ride another bull (Gray and Otte, 2006).*
**Future markets and the fifth wave emergence will be due to the pent up need for togetherness, caring for others, being cared for, and human interactions. Stewardship becomes important after many years of avoiding human interactions and selfish acts against others. There will be the desire to display our personal conviction in peace and have our feeling and emotions safe and secure (The 4th change wave, 2004).**
The main points of interest that relate to Vantage MBA graduates and their impact to the post graduates are
v Due to the rate of change increasing, the actual skills taught or what is learned is obsolete by the time this knowledge is applied.
v Spending too much time gathering data and information that is obsolete before it becomes knowledge.
v There is an enormous amount of obsolete knowledge residing in our heads, books, culture, and databases.
v We are drowning in our own obsolescence and making big and personal decisions all based on irrelevant information.
v Important public and political decisions are based on aged knowledge of yesteryear that has no bearing on the present or future impact of the decisions.
v The continual upheaval of our social, political, and cultural institutions of values and beliefs will take place with the pace of change continuing to quicken. This is created by
o Fear of cloning
o Impact of virtual reality
o Continued emphasis on sculpting out niche markets
o Information overload
o The never ending product customization
o Spread of loneliness, due to increased reliance on technology
o Rise of religion and pent up hostility of religious factions
o The continued “Externalization of labor costs” (ATMs instead of inside bank teller, scanning your own groceries, shopping via the internet, etc.).
o Continued emphasis on insourcing where new technologies permit activities outside of the money economy. Channeling deeper inside the prosumer part of our wealth system.
o The prosumer costs and benefits are ignored and go unnoticed by our changing economy, which leads to consequences of these activities.
v The obsolesce of law, government, and politics due to technology and knowledge sharing moving many times the rate that government can react. Companies and consumers will adapt/evolve before societal governments react and address the behavior/activity/action.
v The de-synchronization of America’s institution and possible collapse in our economy and infrastructure.
v The mistake of society trying to slow down technological development instead of speeding up the necessary organizational changes.
v Growing intangibility of wealth and importance of knowledge and redefining capitalism.
v The convergence and inevitable clashes of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wave societies and cultures of the global economy. There will be a push to remove and eliminate cast systems or different classes of people.
v Continued movement of the USA from a land, labor, and capital of manufacturing based system to one of knowledge. Knowledge based wealth is infinite, unlike physical resources. The value of knowledge increases in value and benefits with wider circulation and acceptance of this knowledge.
Leveraging the 4th Wave as a recent Vantage MBA graduate
The judgment age will be a period of wide spread globalization and the melding of science, nature, economics and leadership. There are five regions of the future that are important to focus, because this will be a period of solutions and not just short-term results. The convergence of science, nature, and business results in the develop of these five views and consist of
Super tech is the super abundance of scientific and technological solutions.
Limits tech is based on scarcity, the need to work to survive, and the realization that nature knows best.
Local tech assumes that there are enough resources for everyone in the world.
Nature tech assumes that nature can meet all of humanities needs and that the solutions to critical problems reside in the secrets of nature.
Human tech conceptualizes that humanities real needs are not material or physical. Our principles, values, and beliefs drive our thinking and actions.
The sciences of genetics, robotics, nanotechnology, and information technology are tools to assist in the gaining of knowledge and information. Evolution of society is rapidly progressing and past or present information will not be an accurate guide to the future. The Vantage MBA graduate must
v Stop thinking and expressing in terms of either/or and start using both/and to develop the necessary flexible thinking.
v The future demands will require the use of your entire brain and the ability to learn is critical to future success.
v Innovational leadership will be the ability to understand radical and disruptive change, figure out what these changes mean (opportunities, risks, consequences, etc.), and then leveraging to your advantage.
v Wisdom will be the ability to integrate science, ecological, and economic discoveries, which contributes to leading through change and capitalizing on opportunities.
v Mastering the navigation through uncertainty and conflict and willfully engaging in coaching activities.
v Ability to shift back and forth between the big picture and the narrow details of issues, which allows one to address local, national, and global issue simultaneously.
v Leading by doing the right things as well as completing activities correctly and focusing on building relational networks.
v Focused leadership will be the effective application of knowledge, experience, and opportunity in the pursuit of optimal success.
v Mastery of judgment/wisdom will be the ability to make well reasoned choices from existing, possible, and future opportunities. Decision making is based on experience, values, principles, beliefs, and knowledge while voiding out assumptions, bias, self servicing agendas, and prejudices.
v Recognizing that the power of the internet and information technology obsolete present financial indicators that measure success of new age companies.
v Knowledge and experience is highly transportable and recognition of the real value of humans over machines is beginning.
v Future measures of success will be intangible and more behavioral than quantitative. The measurement will be the superior ability to execute. It will be the executable application of knowledge and experience into action that will define success.
v Sound judgment skills will be a highly sort after skill and will be how organizations will assess ones success and future potential. Current society and organizations are plagued by the leader’s inability to have good judgment. Poor judgment signs include poor decision making, inability to see the big picture, poor customer service, missing the implications of actions, failure to see or admit mistakes, and refusal to learn from mistakes.
v Guard against ethical malfeasance, which includes decision making for personal self gain at the expense of others. This will not be tolerated in this age.
v Values, beliefs, principles at an individual and organizational level will define ones ability to have sound judgment skills. The quality and soundness of the judgment will be based on the character of the individual.
v Judgments reflect your ideals. Employees will begin to select organizations that share their values, will leave organizations that conflict with their principles, and the importance of ethical concerns will become dominate.
v Endless pursuit of the perfect decision is not possible and leads to decisions that are not timely and results in loss of valuable opportunities.
v Organization need to become “large families” with shared values, beliefs, and principles. The focus will be on relationships and relationships will be defined as the pursuit of achieving positive goals.
v Leadership will be about taking on obligations for people, to develop them, and treat them like a colleague.
v Conflicts and embattlement will occur between the entrenched 2nd wave management values of structure, control, power, blame/fault finding, and superior/subordinate and the 4th wave values of relationship building and decentralized thinking (Gray and Otte, 2006).
References
Leading and managing closure. (2006). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing.
Franklin University. (2004). The 4th change wave.
Franklin University. (2004). Leveraging the 4th wave.
Gray, A. and Otte, P. (2006). The conflicted leader and vantage leadership. Columbus, OH: Franklin University Press.
Toffler, A. and Toffler, H. (2006). Revolutionary wealth. Knopf, a division of Random House.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
MBA 765 - Relections on Module 4
How may the implementation of action steps differ in the closure stage from the prior stages?
Implementation during closure usually includes an organizational change in culture and leadership. Additionally, the leader will be attempting to shake everyone up in order to revive them and get them excited. During implementation, communication and open dialogue will be critical in this stage. The previous stages that required implementation had new and excited personnel. The leader was trying to keep them focused and limit the chaos and uncertainty of entering uncharted waters. Communication was important, but it is critical in the closure stage. Change is disrupting to most people and even more on an organization. People will want to know what is going on, why this is happening, are we going to lose our jobs, etc. If the leader does not communicate effectively, timely, and openly, then people will make up their stories and start leaving the organization. Talent leaving the organization would be devastating. Also the leader must think about the trust factor.
What types of personal and professional risks do leaders run into while attempting to complete the closure process?
The risks are not remaining objective and getting too emotionally involved in the closure process. This could lead to depression and lose of all motivation to complete the task at hand. The other danger/risk is how the leader implements and completes the closure is how the leader will be viewed by workers, the community, and other leaders. It is important that the leader looks at all of the stakeholders and their perspectives in order to sculpt out the best strategy for closure.
What type of closure implementation activity would you find to be the most personally difficult? Why?
I would find shutting down a business the most difficult activity to engage in. Shutting the doors on a facility would displace employees and I would feel powerless to help them. At least with bankruptcy the business is on life support and there is chance to save the business.
In what ways might the closure stage actually not be final?
Acquisition, mergers, and definitely IPO really mark closure with a new beginning for the organization. So closure would not really be final. Also there are times where the closure strategy would never enter into completion, due to plans falling through.
Should particular kinds of stakeholders be given priority in obtaining the remaining organizational assets? Why?
I would say no, but legally certain stakeholders are given priority over others. Typically the lien holder get their money up front. These include the banks and bond holders. The common share stockholders typically do not receive any funds after a company goes bankrupt or out of business. During takeover and mergers everyone is typically taken care of, but I suspect some stakeholders are given priority over others. The remaining assets should be equally distributed to all of the stakeholders that invested money and time with the organization. But many times powerful stakeholders with selfish and self gaining agendas dominate the decision making processes.
Implementation during closure usually includes an organizational change in culture and leadership. Additionally, the leader will be attempting to shake everyone up in order to revive them and get them excited. During implementation, communication and open dialogue will be critical in this stage. The previous stages that required implementation had new and excited personnel. The leader was trying to keep them focused and limit the chaos and uncertainty of entering uncharted waters. Communication was important, but it is critical in the closure stage. Change is disrupting to most people and even more on an organization. People will want to know what is going on, why this is happening, are we going to lose our jobs, etc. If the leader does not communicate effectively, timely, and openly, then people will make up their stories and start leaving the organization. Talent leaving the organization would be devastating. Also the leader must think about the trust factor.
What types of personal and professional risks do leaders run into while attempting to complete the closure process?
The risks are not remaining objective and getting too emotionally involved in the closure process. This could lead to depression and lose of all motivation to complete the task at hand. The other danger/risk is how the leader implements and completes the closure is how the leader will be viewed by workers, the community, and other leaders. It is important that the leader looks at all of the stakeholders and their perspectives in order to sculpt out the best strategy for closure.
What type of closure implementation activity would you find to be the most personally difficult? Why?
I would find shutting down a business the most difficult activity to engage in. Shutting the doors on a facility would displace employees and I would feel powerless to help them. At least with bankruptcy the business is on life support and there is chance to save the business.
In what ways might the closure stage actually not be final?
Acquisition, mergers, and definitely IPO really mark closure with a new beginning for the organization. So closure would not really be final. Also there are times where the closure strategy would never enter into completion, due to plans falling through.
Should particular kinds of stakeholders be given priority in obtaining the remaining organizational assets? Why?
I would say no, but legally certain stakeholders are given priority over others. Typically the lien holder get their money up front. These include the banks and bond holders. The common share stockholders typically do not receive any funds after a company goes bankrupt or out of business. During takeover and mergers everyone is typically taken care of, but I suspect some stakeholders are given priority over others. The remaining assets should be equally distributed to all of the stakeholders that invested money and time with the organization. But many times powerful stakeholders with selfish and self gaining agendas dominate the decision making processes.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
MBA 765 - Reflections on Module 3
When choosing the best option for organizational closure, what categories of selection criteria seem particularly important to employ?
Reason and purpose for closure
Financial condition of the organization
Lifecycle stage of the business
Organizational structure of the company
Present condition of market environment and future projections of the market
Where would you look for possible organizational closure strategies?
Looking internally and externally, among all of the stakeholders will help one decide on the best closure strategy. The other places include the balance sheet, income statement, cashflow statements, and P&L statement. Other places are to look at the changing market environments as well as emerging markets.
Has the organization lost its way in terms of competitive advantages, vision, and mission? Has the company diversified too much and into businesses that do match their core competencies.
What are the dangers involved with identifying and selecting among closure options?
The obvious ones are the bias and prejudices of the leaders or consultants used in the decision making. Must be careful to list all the pros and cons after the true purpose of closure has been revealed in order to ensure it is the best way. Additionally, consultants, etc. may have hidden agendas or incentives that lead the organization down the wrong path.
Selecting the best closure option should attempt to ensure a win-win for all of the stakeholders and not just monetary gains for a few. One must be watchful for greed creeping into the decision making process.
What emotions are likely to surface during the process of identifying and choosing among options?
Assuming that the decision makers are the founders and close to the business being decided for closure, emotions will run high. Emotions will include worthlessness (for a failed business), fear, greed, guilt, emptiness, frustration, denial, anxiety, excited, optimist, secure, strong, empowered, and various other feelings - depending on the circumstances.
How would you deal with them?
The best way to deal with them is to first acknowledge each and every one of the emotions. Break them down to as why you feel the way you feel. Objectively looking at why these emotions are coming out may help you find the true reason or purpose for closure. Acknowledging them will also help you see the closure all the way through - execution and great follow through.
All of this will help you consul others on the management team, employees, and all other stakeholders.
Reason and purpose for closure
Financial condition of the organization
Lifecycle stage of the business
Organizational structure of the company
Present condition of market environment and future projections of the market
Where would you look for possible organizational closure strategies?
Looking internally and externally, among all of the stakeholders will help one decide on the best closure strategy. The other places include the balance sheet, income statement, cashflow statements, and P&L statement. Other places are to look at the changing market environments as well as emerging markets.
Has the organization lost its way in terms of competitive advantages, vision, and mission? Has the company diversified too much and into businesses that do match their core competencies.
What are the dangers involved with identifying and selecting among closure options?
The obvious ones are the bias and prejudices of the leaders or consultants used in the decision making. Must be careful to list all the pros and cons after the true purpose of closure has been revealed in order to ensure it is the best way. Additionally, consultants, etc. may have hidden agendas or incentives that lead the organization down the wrong path.
Selecting the best closure option should attempt to ensure a win-win for all of the stakeholders and not just monetary gains for a few. One must be watchful for greed creeping into the decision making process.
What emotions are likely to surface during the process of identifying and choosing among options?
Assuming that the decision makers are the founders and close to the business being decided for closure, emotions will run high. Emotions will include worthlessness (for a failed business), fear, greed, guilt, emptiness, frustration, denial, anxiety, excited, optimist, secure, strong, empowered, and various other feelings - depending on the circumstances.
How would you deal with them?
The best way to deal with them is to first acknowledge each and every one of the emotions. Break them down to as why you feel the way you feel. Objectively looking at why these emotions are coming out may help you find the true reason or purpose for closure. Acknowledging them will also help you see the closure all the way through - execution and great follow through.
All of this will help you consul others on the management team, employees, and all other stakeholders.
Friday, June 29, 2007
MBA 765 - Reflections on Module 2
What are some of the most critical decisions leaders must make during the closure stage of the organizational lifecycle?
The leader must keep everything in perceptive for the sake of the company and the employees. Critical decisions include whether to revive the company, merge or become acquired by another company, to shut down and liquidate, or file bankruptcy.
Other decisions are how open should the leader be to the employees and other stakeholder in times of decline. This depends mainly on the trust between the leadership and the stakeholders. Open dialogue is a good way to open up the communication channels. The leader must ensure that the culture of the company does not become overly politicized and fiefdoms do not spring up within the company.
The leader must also identify what is causing the decline of the company. Once these have been identified through scoping out the emerging trends and the current as well as the future market place, the leader must decide how to attack these issues. The leader must also be able to understand what organizational pathologies plague the company and decide how to restore trust and creditability.
Under what conditions do rational logical decision making methods appear to work best?
These methods work well when the problem or dilemma is complex and inputs from various stakeholders are needed to make the final decision. The rational logical allows all of the facts to be gathered and critical questions asked about the facts, assumptions made, and possible solutions. These methods allows everyone to be heard and facilitates creative and innovations solutions to be discovered through open dialogue.
Under what circumstances do more intuitive approaches work best?
Intuitive approached work best when there are not many facts. This deals with the uncertainty and chaos of the future and how to react to it. This is also useful when a decision must be made quickly with a limited amount of information. The decisions are best guesses and reactions to the market environments. They are based on trends and patterns that have been identified.
Leaders that are attuned to emerging trends and the uncertainties in the markets can use this approach to seize opportunities that other wise would go undetected by the organization. The dangers are making decisions too quick and with emotion or bias. This may lead to not making the best decision or choice.
Which of the tools presented in the module has a particular appeal to you? Why?
The six facet approach seems to be the best tool for complex decisions. It allows one to drill down to what the facts, assumptions, bias, and solutions are in order to make the best decision. This tool allows a combination of rational logical and intuitive approaches to be used.
The regression equation and decisional balance tool would probably be good to use with intuitive approaches, since the pros and cons need to be reviewed.
How might you apply the tools presented during the module to a situation that you are now facing at work?
Cause and effect tools are used more on the manufacturing floor than any other tool. Problems are common and repetitive in nature. Additionally, most people are not worried about the real root cause of the problem. All they want to happen is trouble shoot the problem and have it go away, so they can get their job done before they go home. The six facet approach should be used for complex and repetitive problems, so a long-term solution can be found for the issues at hand.
Applying the six facet approach at work would take a team effort and the tackling of long standing and complex problems that have plagued the company. This would require cross-functional teams and rules to allow everyone to be heard and listened to by everyone. Open dialogue leads to great solutions, because every perspective is covered, assuming representation from all departments are included in the team. The intent is not for any one person to be right and every else wrong, but the stimulation of creative solutions from the free flowing of conversation.
At home?
Most of the problems are going to be simple and quick to solve - so cause and effect. Others are more complex and are decisional on which direction to go based on several scenarios, so the decisional balance sheet tool would work well. The six facet approach would also work at home, but would have to be a complex problems where a life changing solution must be arrived at.
The leader must keep everything in perceptive for the sake of the company and the employees. Critical decisions include whether to revive the company, merge or become acquired by another company, to shut down and liquidate, or file bankruptcy.
Other decisions are how open should the leader be to the employees and other stakeholder in times of decline. This depends mainly on the trust between the leadership and the stakeholders. Open dialogue is a good way to open up the communication channels. The leader must ensure that the culture of the company does not become overly politicized and fiefdoms do not spring up within the company.
The leader must also identify what is causing the decline of the company. Once these have been identified through scoping out the emerging trends and the current as well as the future market place, the leader must decide how to attack these issues. The leader must also be able to understand what organizational pathologies plague the company and decide how to restore trust and creditability.
Under what conditions do rational logical decision making methods appear to work best?
These methods work well when the problem or dilemma is complex and inputs from various stakeholders are needed to make the final decision. The rational logical allows all of the facts to be gathered and critical questions asked about the facts, assumptions made, and possible solutions. These methods allows everyone to be heard and facilitates creative and innovations solutions to be discovered through open dialogue.
Under what circumstances do more intuitive approaches work best?
Intuitive approached work best when there are not many facts. This deals with the uncertainty and chaos of the future and how to react to it. This is also useful when a decision must be made quickly with a limited amount of information. The decisions are best guesses and reactions to the market environments. They are based on trends and patterns that have been identified.
Leaders that are attuned to emerging trends and the uncertainties in the markets can use this approach to seize opportunities that other wise would go undetected by the organization. The dangers are making decisions too quick and with emotion or bias. This may lead to not making the best decision or choice.
Which of the tools presented in the module has a particular appeal to you? Why?
The six facet approach seems to be the best tool for complex decisions. It allows one to drill down to what the facts, assumptions, bias, and solutions are in order to make the best decision. This tool allows a combination of rational logical and intuitive approaches to be used.
The regression equation and decisional balance tool would probably be good to use with intuitive approaches, since the pros and cons need to be reviewed.
How might you apply the tools presented during the module to a situation that you are now facing at work?
Cause and effect tools are used more on the manufacturing floor than any other tool. Problems are common and repetitive in nature. Additionally, most people are not worried about the real root cause of the problem. All they want to happen is trouble shoot the problem and have it go away, so they can get their job done before they go home. The six facet approach should be used for complex and repetitive problems, so a long-term solution can be found for the issues at hand.
Applying the six facet approach at work would take a team effort and the tackling of long standing and complex problems that have plagued the company. This would require cross-functional teams and rules to allow everyone to be heard and listened to by everyone. Open dialogue leads to great solutions, because every perspective is covered, assuming representation from all departments are included in the team. The intent is not for any one person to be right and every else wrong, but the stimulation of creative solutions from the free flowing of conversation.
At home?
Most of the problems are going to be simple and quick to solve - so cause and effect. Others are more complex and are decisional on which direction to go based on several scenarios, so the decisional balance sheet tool would work well. The six facet approach would also work at home, but would have to be a complex problems where a life changing solution must be arrived at.
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