Best Buy Co., Inc. Customer-Centricity Essay

The consumer electronics giant, Best Buy, was first established in 1966 with a single location and a staff of three in St. Paul, Minnesota, selling audio equipment targeted at 18-25 year old males. Initially Sound of Music/Best Buy grew through acquisition, expanding to nine locations in the Twin Cities area by 1978. The name, Best Buy, and expanded product line, ranging from audio and video equipment to large appliances, were a result of a â€Å"best buy† sale of damaged inventory at bargain prices in 1981. In the mid-1980s, Best Buy launched superstores similar to those of their main competitor, Circuit City and expanded by 15 stores between 1985-86. In 1989, Best Buy launched itself as a self-service, value-store staffed with a salaried sales force to provide a no-pressure shopping experience. This approach resulted in Best Buy becoming the second largest electronics retailer. By 1995, Best Buy was opening an average of 35 new stores annually and in 2000, the retailer respo nded to the market by launching BestBuy.com. Best Buy attributes some of their success to their SOP, standard operating platform, which is a 200 page â€Å"how to† manual for nearly every feasible store situation ranging from product sales and service to inventory management. The purpose of the SOP was to train the sales force and promote uniformity across the organization. In addition to the SOP, Best Buy’s skillful merchandising and marketing, along with their sales force (â€Å"Blue Shirts†) are credited with the success of the retailer. Blue Shirts received extensive training and enjoyed a unique and rewarding corporate culture, with part-time associates making $8.00 per hour and full-time employees earning $20.00. Sales associates often received public recognition for strong performance in addition to immediate rewards such as restaurant vouchers. Supervisors were also incentivized based on annual department and store performance. Starting store managers in mid-size stores were compensated with salaries between $50,000 and $150,000. The success resulting from these practices did not go unnoticed by competitors such as Wal-Mart and Dell, who imitated many of Best Buy’s strategies and stole well trained Blue Shirts. Best Buy continued their growth by opening new stores and through the acquisition of various competitors through the U.S. and reaching into Canada, with the acquisition of Future Shop Ltd. in 2002. By November 1995, Best Buy operated 796 Best Buy stores plus 20 Magnolia Audio Video stores in the U.S. and 162 Best Buy owned stores in Canada (978 stores, not including Geek Squad outlets). In contrast, Circuit City operated over 600 stores in the U.S. and Canada around the same time, however, Best Buy managed to double the sales per square foot of their main competitor. With nearly 1600 stores between the two main players in the electronics market, the market is nearing saturation and growth will have to be achieved by a means other than new store openings. Best Buy’s pre-centricity model was easy for competitors to imitate and encroach on Best Buy’s market share. Best buy borrowed the superstore concept from Circuit City and Circuit City mirrored Best Buy’s staffing model and merchandising decisions. Low prices and a wide selection are hardly inimitable characteristics. While wide selection and expansive product offerings at discount prices (due to volume purchases) may be difficult for new entrants to copy, it is a minor/temporary barrier to entry with the introduction of the internet. Best Buy’s CEO, Brad Anderson, joined the company in 1973 when he joined the staff of three at the then single, Sound of Music, location. A music buff addicted to sales, with his long tenure with company and in the industry seems like the logical choice to lead the company to even greater success as CEO. Prior to becoming CEO in 2002, Anderson had spent 11 years as President and COO of Best Buy. Like most industries, it seems electronics consumers were prone to change as products evolved, so did the end-users and their buying habits. Best Buy had a history of being able to adapt to the changing markets and their ability to do so contributed to their success (i.e. the vastly expanded product line, evolution to superstores, expansion, acquisition, converting from commission to salaried sales force.). The perception that customers were focusing less on the technical aspect of products and redirecting their attention to service and support, led to Anderson’s custom-centricity initiative. This transition and the rollout of 144 new â€Å"centricity† Best Buy stores was being blamed for the company missing third quarter earnings in 2005, resulting in a 12% decline in stock value and a loss of nearly $2B in market capitalization. Did Anderson perform the proper strategic market planning analysis before selecting and implementing the centricity initiative? Assess the need for a change in Best Buy’s strategy when Brand Anderson became CEO. If the centricity concept is being blamed for not meeting earnings and the decline in Best Buy’s stock price and market capitalization, the question becomes was there a need for this change to the company’s strategy, was the strategy poorly implemented, was there a delayed market response to the change, or was the launch an overly aggressive action of a newly appointed CEO? The Best Buy leadership team first needed to evaluate whether there truly was a need for a (drastic) change and if so, was centricity the appropriate response to the market. The electronics industry and retail in general is cyclical and while Best Buy needs to be proactive and receptive to market changes, it is not uncommon for the industry to experience temporary contractions that would not require (costly and risky) restructuring of the company’s value proposition. Granted, Best Buy’s one style fits all approach may have been too broad and unrealistic for the long-term. Ignoring the signs that the market was changing or a delayed reaction to those changes could be more costly or even fatal than centricity and the alleged result on earnings and stock price. There are several approaches for Best Buy to evaluate this situation, the most desirable of which might be the Structure-Conduct-Performance-Paradigm. I will provide somewhat of a Resource Based View (listing a few marketing resources) and mention some of their Dynamic Capabilities, as provided in the case. Best Buy should fist consider their resources and the strengths that have made them successful in the past. While the past is not always indicative of the future, a historical perspective will provide some insight as to not only what has worked in the past, but how the company was able to implement various strategies to learn from their successes and failures. Historically, Best Buy has utilized their knowledge resources well. Their rapid growth and success would imply a strong customer and competitor knowledge. Overall, the Best Buy reputation, as the place to get brand name electronics at discount prices with just the right amount of customer service, has proven to be a positive reputational resource. Blue Shirts are a (human) resource that should not be overlooked; retention is crucial, as training is costly. Blue Shirts are a valuable (informational) resource to gain insight into what customers â€Å"really want,† as sales associates have the most direct customer interaction. Extracting this information from sales associates is a cost effective approach to assess the market before implementing major changes, such as centricity. Best Buy’s unique culture and structure are organizational resources that distinguish the company from the competition and support (non-managerial) employee retention. While supplier relationships are clearly a solid relational resource, customer relationships are somewhat of a gray area for Best Buy, as many customers are not loyal and often buy through various channels. Best Buy has responded to trend by launching their Reward Zone program to incentivize return customers and as a source to gain customer knowledge. An obvious physical resource of Best Buy is its number of stores, which results in volume purchases, allowing the company to sell brand name merchandise to customers at discount prices. In contrast, an operation of this size with nearly 1000 stores and 120,000 employees incurs significant overhead costs (a potential weakness and often the first resources to be cut in an effort to reduce expenses). Many of the aforementioned resources are imitable in some way or another. For example, employees can be trained or Blue Shirts poached or the competition could open more stores and purchase more inventory, strengthening their relationships with suppliers and pass along the resulting volume discounts to customers. A resource based view would indicate that while these are valuable resources to Best Buy, they (along with many of the company’s resources and capabilities) are substitutable (i.e. suppliers can be interchanged) and imitable by the competition. In response, Best Buy strives to not only offer the customer similar products and attributes as the competition, but to find a way to do so that provides a sustainable advantage. What makes Best Buy superior to its rivals? This requires a constant assessment of Best Buy’s marketing capabilities and this need to differentiate might explain Anderson’s drastic centricity approach. Pricing management is a complicated marketing capability at Best Buy with new technology products being constantly introduced, while others are becoming obsolete. It seems Best Buy excels in the selling and channel management marketing capabilities, with their ability to attract and retain knowledgeable sales associates and to maintain ongoing relationships with key suppliers. The likely and often misused approach would be for the organization to perform a current SWOT analysis to consider their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. I have already listed a few of Best Buy’s strengths (size, supplier relationships, Blue Shirts). Additionally, Best Buy has a history of evolving in response to the changing market and applying various innovative concepts in response. The ability to foresee or quickly assess and respond to market change seems to be a strength of the retailer. While extensive product offerings are a strength of Best Buy, having a significant inventory of products that rapidly become outdated is a necessary weakness of being an electronics retailer; finding a way to manage this would be a significant opportunity. Accordingly, keeping up with rapidly changing products and customer interests are a threat of Best Buy any technology retailer. Anderson is exploring the opportunities component of the analysis when he and his team identified and pursued the following initiatives: â€Å"customer centricity, efficient enterprise, win with service, and win in entertainment,† ultimately selecting on customer centricity. A few obvious threats to be considered are competitors such as Wal-Mart, Circuit City, and Amazon, as well as the ever changing electronics market. Not keeping up with the latest trend, product, or channel could be fatal and explains why Anderson and his team concluded the need to focus on customer centricity, which he felt was a proactive response to the shopping experience that customers were seeking going forward. What does the Customer-Centricity strategy imply and how is it different from a strategy of simply providing great service? The Customer-Centricity strategy implies that Best Buy knows their customers well and that only a few sub-segments are profitable enough to merit an increased level of service and attention. This increased focus on these target segments or fewer/more profitable clients and the assumption that catering to these customers will result in solution purchases is the foundation of Anderson’s initiative. The concept seems to do very little to increase sales to the groups outside of the target segment(s) and seemingly does not consider the untapped potential of these customers. This approach is in contrast to the concept of trying to be â€Å"everything to everyone† or â€Å"one style fits all.† Centricity was an effort to meet customer individual needs while still maintaining the chain’s broad focus. The idea of centricity was based on research that had found many of Best Buy’s customers were leaving dissatisfied and that roughly 20% of customer visits were unprofitable. It was an effort to revamp the store’s value proposition, which was a deviation from their previous winning formula and questionably a step a in a different direction from a core competency. Instead of the â€Å"one style fits all† approach which admittedly would leave some customers dissatisfied, while attempting to cater to the masses, Best Buy’s approach to centricity involved focusing on only one or two distinct customer segments at each store, which also required a new set of segment leaders. This approach was also a focus on Best Buy’s most profitable segments in an effort to deter their unprofitable shoppers. Best Buy could have expanded their customer service efforts, while still maintaining the â€Å"one style fits all† concept through a far less radical change than centricity required. This would seem to be the logical choice and would have relied more on the strengths that made Best Buy great. With the market nearing saturation due to the number of stores, the focus became to sell more to existing customers (versus adding stores to acquire new ones) based on a better understanding of customers’ requirements and â€Å"lavishing them with attention, service, and know how.† This would have been attainable by tweaking Best Buy’s current strategy. Both approaches would involve collecting and analyzing customer data and creating an appropriate action plan based on the findings. One aspect of the change was to â€Å"encourage employees to think and behave as owners and engage with customers to meet their unique needs.† This is one way to provide great service and obtainable outside of the centricity strategy. The objectives of building loyalty with profitable segments and leveraging the company’s existing assets, is not unique to centricity and could have been achieved by providing great customer service to all customers, while focusing on those that are more profitable. Both options involve customer research and additional training of sales associates; it would seem not implementing centricity, which required revamping the store format, new processes, and risked isolating some segments would be the more cost effective method to address the expected shift in the market. Best Buy assumed that their customers were comprised of 5 major segments, who combined accounted for 50%-90% of total revenue. These 5 segments were identified by shoppers’ demographics, behaviors, and attitudes, then assigned a name (Barry, Buzz, Jill, Ray, or BB4B (small businesses with less than 20 employees)) and assigned a segment leader focused on deeply understanding their segment’s shopping behavior and attitude. The case states â€Å"the idea behind customer-centricity was to become the customer’s â€Å"smart friend† and provide a â€Å"complete solution.† While being a trusted advisor to customers and working to sell bundles of products is a logical response to the changing customer orientation, this could have been achieved by less drastic means than those used to implement Anderson’s centricity. This concept seems to center around Best Buy’s market orientation, specifically the increasing customer benefits component, as Be st Buy already cannot take much action to further decrease the buyer’s costs. The introduction of Reward Zone was a step in the right direction for the centricity initiative. The benefits of the reward program were multifaceted; providing additional customer data as well as incentivizing current customers to be repeat customers and to make additional purchases. This is one means by which to help Best Buy achieve a SCA, however, many competitors offered similar programs. It is unclear whether Best Buy directed much, if any attention on their competitor orientation. In addition to gathering and analyzing customer data, it is advisable for the company to consider the strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and capabilities of their competitors. Anderson’s centricity plan does not appear to consider competitor orientation and focuses solely on a few select target segments. Keeping with the market orientation research, Best Buy already uses low costs as a source of competitive advantage and they are hoping that centricity will be a source of differentiation, however, competitor orientation is critical to the success of such an initiative. Customer-Centricity has many similarities to simply providing an increased level of customer service. The most significant difference is the focus on the chain’s most profitable segments, specific to each store and complicated testing and implementation process that was chosen for the launch. Both concepts could be used to move toward solution selling and the â€Å"smart friend† concept. Centricity and improved customer service could involve empowering managers and encouraging employees to think and behave as owners. Centricity was a drastic way to improve customer service, which resulted in some pilot stores reporting double the performance gains of other U.S. locations. There were many benefits that resulted from Anderson’s strategy such as reward zone and Geek Squad, which complimented the goal of providing a solution by adding a service component that Best Buy did not previously provide. Geek Squad was also a means by which to suggest a solution sale as well as it placed the retailer in the customer’s home or business, further strengthening the relationship with customer and providing the opportunity for addition recommendations and referrals when the â€Å"Geek† was onsite. The scientific approach that was used in the implementation of centricity was unique to the strategy, but in many ways could have been applied to multiple approaches to improve the customer experience. Centricity was ultimately a differentiation strategy used in hopes of being difficult for competitors to imitate. When Anderson launched centricity, he clearly realized that long term survival is more important than short-term profits. If nothing else the st rategy is rare and difficult to imitate. How was the new Customer-Centricity strategy implemented? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy’s implementation as described in the case? The Customer-Centricity strategy was first introduced in 12 laboratory stores, then 32 pilot stores (most of which were in California), then introduced to 110 addition stores after some pilot stores reported performance gains double some comparable U.S. stores. Deviating from the clearly defined SOP, associates were now trained to approach problems using a scientific method involving the creating of a hypothesis regarding the customer, testing it, and analyzing the results. If the hypothesis was substantiated, it could be tested in other stores, and ultimately become a general recommendation throughout the organization. This was concept of centricity that empowered associates and increased innovation from within, which is a strength of the new strategy. In contrast, the SOP was created to promote uniformity across the organization; this scientific component of centricity is a deviation from the uniform concept(s) that had been attributed to the company’s success. The resulting confusion in practices and procedures, while they may ultimately lead to a positive outcome and greater innovation, could be viewed as a weakness of the strategy (at least during the transition period). The additional responsibilities placed on managers and staff, were a struggle and weakness. Employees who had previously been given guidelines for most any issue were now being given the freedom to develop and test their own responses, however, they were held accountable for the resulting outcomes. It was now up to the store manager to execute the value proposition. GMs were expected to lead by example, in light of the increased responsibility. The new processes were stated to take â€Å"five times more time† and while the resulting innovation is good, the extra effort required resulting in a turnover rate of two-thirds among GMs and an expectation among associates to be compensated for their extra effort. However the ability for associates to tailor responses to individual customer situations, should ultimately improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to increased profits. The entire focus of centricity is to increase customer satisfaction and improve retention, as acquisition is becoming increasingly difficult. This realization and reaction is itself if a response to the changing market, which is a strength of the organization. The empowerment of employees will result in exceeding customer’s initial expectations, as they are not accustomed to individualized solutions. This is another strength of centricity and how it was implemented. I question why the majority of the initial 32 pilot stores were in California and why only top performing stores were selected for centricity conversion. It would seem focusing on a single geographic region would generate findings based on an isolated group of similar customers. Marketing studies suggest that in order to increase confidence, research must be replicated in diverse environments over time. This does not appear to be the approach with the testing of centricity at Best Buy and could be viewed as a weakness. I further question the decision to launch the concept in only top performing stores. It makes sense to test the strategy in some top performing stores to see if their performance improves further; it does not make sense to risk a large number of top performing locations with an unproven theory that could negatively impact their performance. It seems logical to use the profits from top performing sites to offset some of the potential losses that are typical with the ramp up period of any significant launch or change. If a store is a top performer, I would first analyze what contributing factors make those stores top performers, be it location, management, or customer interactions, etc. to see if these points of differentiation could be applied to other locations to improve the performance of lesser stores, before revamping how the most successful locations achieve their success. There are many strengths and weakness of centricity and how Best Buy chose to implement it, the reality is that it is a long-term approach, which typically result in short term struggles and reduced profits. How would you resolve the tension between the three parts of the organization (merchandizing, stores, and segments)? Is the notion of a three-legged stool viable? Can Best Buy sustain its competitiveness with P&L responsibilities residing with three different organizations? The new strategy forced collaboration among groups that had not previously collaborated. It increased responsibility and accountability, while taking away control from groups that were accustomed to being in power. Shifting focus from a wide segment to a particular customer’s needs was a new concept requiring different resources. Segment organizations were now held accountable to deliver incremental growth. As a result of all these changes, the various parts of the organization felt â€Å"completely handcuffed.† As the previous sections indicate, higher gross profit margins could not compensate for the conversion costs of the changes being implemented. While the goal may have been to â€Å"have everybody feel like they’re part of the same story,† making three parts of the organization responsible for their individualize P&L only added to the tension. I do not dispute that the organizations should monitory P&L and be held accountable, but when the success of the organization is the common goal, they should be working together to improve the overall P&L of the organization. This approach made it unclear which part owned customer insight and who should report to whom and how they should work together. Clarifying these gray areas of ownership and responsibility are the first step in resolving the tension among the groups. The current practices promote confusion and tension. A uniformed approach would be optimal. In a retail organization, such as Best Buy, merchandizing, stores, and segments, are all critical to success. In varying situations, one â€Å"leg of the stool† may receive greater attention or responsibility, but that is typically for the advancement of the organization as a whole or to offset some of the focus of another part of the organization. All three legs are necessary for Best Buy to properly deliver their value proposition and all three are necessary to help management implement the marketing strategy. Merchandizing, stores, and segments are all part of Best Buy’s marketing mix. Merchandising and segments contribute to stores, but all are intertwined. The individualized P&L structure and scorecard assessment add to the tension and switch the weight placed on each leg, but without a leg or if one leg gets too weak (not enough focus), the stool (entire organization) could collapse. As new products are suggested and tested, this changes the (buying and selling) processes, causing merchandising to be more reactionary than they were accustomed to being in the past, shifting the weight from one leg to another, but not reducing the importance of that organization. The absence of any one particular group or attribute could be detrimental to the organization as a whole. While each piece is interdependent and critical to the whole and policies should be designed accordingly. The realization that each piece contains and shapes the other will result in policies that help to reduce the tension between varying parts of the organization. While Best Buy is focusing on the customer and tailoring products and services to meet their needs a reflection on internal practices and satisfaction would be helpful and achieving those goals and should be considered, tested, and adjusted as well. It will difficult for Best Buy to sustain its competitiveness with P&L responsibilities residing with three different organizations. As mentioned in the prior to sections, this practices ad tension to the organization, which is not good toward long-term success, and causes undue competition among the various organizations. Merchandizing is encouraged to improve their P&L, this may come at the price of a negative impact on the store’s P&L. This is the result of collaboration and reduces the competitive advantage of the overall organization. Centricity involves significant and complex changes, which both help and hinder the marketing strategy implementation. The success of the change will require the cooperation of all groups within the organization, especially merchandizing, stores, and segments. Having policies and practices in place that discourage cooperation within the organization by holding complimentary groups accountable for separate measurements does not help Best Buy (or any organization) create synergies leading to a sustainable competitive advantage. The degree of alignment in itself is an implementation driver and contrasting accountability measures do not lead to alignment of goals. Best Buy experiences enough competitive rivalry in the marketplace without encouraging it internally among organizations. Best Buy is clearly a marketing organization and contributing factors of success are: â€Å"all the components of marketing organization fit together †¦ in a way that simultaneously fits with the requirements of the firm’s strategy †¦ while also matching the needs of the marketplace.† Centricity is Anderson’s strategy to match the needs of the marketplace; the changing strategy requires some changes in various aspects of the company (including merchandizing, stores, and segments), however, it is still a requirement that they fit together, like the legs of a stool. I question if the continuation of separate P&Ls are the optimal way to maintain the fit and cooperation that is necessary for the success of a marketing organization. This seems contradictory to fit and is obviously a source of tension. How long before this becomes apparent and reveals itself to the marketplace; what effect with this have on stock price and market capitalization? In order for centricity to be successful, Best Buy must alter their resource deployments to conform to their strategy changes to achieve the intended goal(s) vs. creating practices that foster tension without any long-term benefit. Granted, it is a tradeoff to fit the strategy to the structure or the structure to the strategy, which is complicated by the complexity of the organization. It is a requirement that they match their resources to their capabilities to their strategy and to market conditions. I hope that I have provided a few suggestions on how they could go about achieving this goal. While I have questioned many aspects of centricity and its implementation, it was obviously a success as unlike Circuit City; Best Buy still exists today (although they continue to struggle due to short product life cycle and the ever changing technology market).

John Locke outlinect Essay

â€Å"Rationalism is the thought that appeals to reason or intellect a primary or fundamental source of knowledge or justification. † â€Å"It is typically contrasted with empiricism, which appeals to sensory experience as a primary or fundamental source of knowledge or justification. † John Locke argues that, â€Å"We come to this world knowing nothing whatsoever. † (Warburton 74). He believes that experience teaches us everything we know. This view is usually known as empiricism, in contrast to innatism, (the theory that some of our knowledge is in born), and to  rationalism (the strife that we can achieve knowledge of the world by the power of reason alone). ?Locke’s essay â€Å"Human Understanding† published in 1689, soon became a philosophical bestseller. He produced four editions of it in his lifetime, and it had already reached its eleventh by 1735. This book is complex and wide ranging work; its main focus is the origin and limits of human knowledge. He tries to answer these questions. * what can we know? * What is the relation between thought and reality? These are real the perennial questions of the branch of philosophy called epistemology, or the theory of knowledge. ?Locke described his role as that of an underlabourer , clearing away conceptual confusions so that the scientists, or natural philosophers, as they were then known, could carry on their important work of adding to human knowledge. (Warburton 75). ? No innate principle 1. Locke does not believe that it makes sense to say that someone could be having a thought without their knowing what that thought was about. He rejects any idea of unconscious thoughts as nonsensical. A) One argument he uses to support his claim that there are no innate principles is that it is obvious that there is not total agreement about what the supposedly innate  principles might be. If we were all born knowing that, for example, we should keep our promises, then everyone would recognize this as fundamental principle. But, as Locke points out, there is no such general agreement. (Warburton 76). Nor do children immediately recognize the principle as one binding on them. Locke continues to argue that there is no innate principle aside from the principle that is taught and learnt. ?Locke supports his idea by saying, if there were innate principles then children must strongly abide by them since adults have already influenced by the culture and people. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ These and other arguments lead Locke to reject the view that there are any innate principles. This led him with the task of explaining how it is that the human mind comes to be furnished with thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge of the world. His answer is that all our ideas come from experience. Ideas Locke uses the word idea to mean whatever it is that anyone thinks about. When you look out of your window, what you see – a tree perhaps, or a sparrow – is not the tree or sparrow itself, but rather representation of it, an idea, something like a picture in your head. (Warburton 76). Locke believes that not all our ideas are received from immediate sensation of the world. Some of them are ideas of reflection, such as when we reason, or remember or will do something. Locke believes that all our ideas ultimately come from experience, so that the contents of our thoughts, even when we are reflecting rather than perceiving, all come from sensation. Example: A child locked away would have no more idea of scarlet and green than he would of the taste of  oyster or pineapple if he had never tried them. Ideas can be combined in several ways, so that once we have the idea of scarlet and the idea of a coat, we can imagine a scarlet coat, even if we’ve never actually seen one. But the simpler ideas from which the complex ones are built all originate in perception by one or more of the five senses. ( Warburton 77). Primary and Secondary Qualities When we say that a snowball is greyish-white and cold and round, what we mean is that it can produce in us ides of these properties. Locke distinguishes primary and secondary qualities , giving a very different account of each. -Primary qualities are inseparable from objects. The primary qualities of a snowball would include its shape and solidity, but not its color or its coldness. Solidity and shapes are more likely to remain constant at place over time. – Secondary qualities would be color and coldness because its coldness can be changed at a different room temperature while different light settings can give shade to whatever object of your concentration that in a way gives you an illusion view of what you’re actually watching. Personal Identity.

Christmas Trees in the Workplace and the First Amendment...

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Strategic Supply Chain Management - 2572 Words

1.0 Introduction Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the management and administration of a network of interconnected enterprises involved in the fundamental provision of product and service packages required by end customers. This complex discipline is the systematic and strategic coordination of traditional business functions and the tactics across those business functions within a particular company and across businesses within that company’s supply chain. The end effect is improving long term performance of the company, the companies within the supply chain, and the supply chain as a whole for competitive advantage. Keith Oliver, an analyst working for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, coined the term â€Å"Supply Chain Management† in†¦show more content†¦It plays a key role in the total SCM functions. At strategic level, purchasing plays a decisive role in decisions on and implementation of business boundaries. It acts as a link between the vendors and the company to g et involvement and help of vendors in matters like purchased material specification, matching of lot sizes and transportation packing. E. Selling is the closest link with the demand side of the supply chain. It is directly responsible to help customer know, select, buy, pay for, and take away company’s product. These products may be sold to the customers directly or through a distribution network. A sale plays an important part in decision on design of the distribution and is directly involved in its day to day operations. F. Manufacturing represents the core of internal operations of a company. No SCM policies can operate in isolation from the manufacturing activities. Manufacturing supports SCM in many ways like, reducing manufacturing lead times and supplying material closely matched to customer lot size and time requirements. G. Product design has significant impact on efficiency and effectiveness of both supply and demand side of supply chain. In addition the basic quality of the finished product sold to the end user can be improved substantially by better collaboration among channel partners. Supply Chain Management has matured from a compelling method of deriving competitive advantage, toShow MoreRelatedThe Strategic Management Of The Supply Chain2162 Words   |  9 Pages The strategic management of the supply chain does not consist of introducing innovations in order just to innovate. It is about creating a configuration that will make the strategic objectives progress. According to Slack et al. (2004, p.67) an  « operations strategy concerns the pattern of strategic choices and actions that set the purpose, objectives and activities of operations  ». According to Hayes (2005), efficient operations strategies need to be consistent and contribute to competitive advantageRead MoreSupply Chain Management : Strategic Management833 Words   |  4 PagesAll flows of information, products or funds generate costs within the supply chain. Efficient management of these flows is the key to success in the supply chain. 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The globalRead MorePrinciples And Strategic Elements Of Supply Chain Management1323 Words   |  6 PagesObjectives, principles and strategic elements of Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Management already exists for more than hundred years. It wasn’t defined as terminology for some period of time and it took years to develop it. It began with Fredrick Taylor’s â€Å"The Principles of Scientific Management† that was concentrated on improvement of manual loading processes all the way to Supply Chain Management we have now (Lamprecht, James; Page 180). Because Supply Chain Management spreading beyond locationRead MoreAn Analysis of Toyotas Strategic Procurement and Supply Chain Management4932 Words   |  20 PagesPurchasing Materials Management | | Strategic Procurement Supply Chain Management | Introduction The topic selected is (Strategic Procurement Supply Chain Management). For this study, we have selected Toyota Motor Corporations as our company of choice. 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Managing and Leading Teams

Question: Write an essay oncritical analysis of the managing and leading of teams. Answer: The purpose of this report is to do a critical analysis of the managing and leading of teams. The various type of the findings of the report states the conceptualization and role of leader. The report also gives an augmented effort in the process of the managing and formation of the teams. It is equally important to learn the various concepts related to the effectiveness for the leadership in addressing the important issues prevalent within the organization. The main reason for the purpose of the evaluation of the leadership skills lies in knowing of the multiplicity of the variables existing within the teams. The study also shows the gaps which is observed in managing of the teams mainly due to the drawbacks in the communication within all the levels of the management. The study also highlights the strengths and weakness of the literature review. The latter part of the report also shows the summary of the key findings and addresses the significance of the figures and text found in t he report. Introduction The standard of Leadership is of paramount importance as it likely to affect both the efficiency and improving the effectiveness of a team. The importance of quality leadership lies in motivating the team and defining the various types of the goal of an organization. According to Spillane (2012), in the traditional concept of leadership it was observed that the concept of leadership was focused only on a single person. But in the recent times with increasing focus on the participation and decentralization if the companys decision it became important to consider the various aspects of the distributed leadership. According to modern leadership theorists, teams are not only easy to form but also capable of delivering effective and efficient work performance. On the contrary Day (2014) opined that the various type of the gap in the implementation of the teams lies in the increased amount of the cost arising out of the team decisions in changing or introducing various policies within the existing system of the business. A major part of the literature review is based on the journal by David Staniforth of managing and leading teams and also in the journal by Wellington named managing of successful teams. The problems are also seen by the conceptualization of social loafing existing within a group. This is referred to as the dependency of one team member on the other with hope that the other team member will execute the work. The report also shows the formation of teams with a motive to build and improve upon the overall average of the entire team rather than focusing on the best team member. It has been also observed that the potential benefits arising out of formation of the teams often outnumber the cons of working as an individual member. The frequent interaction among the teams leads to an improved focus on the group and clarification of the objectives existing within a particular team. Conceptualization and role of leadership According to Nichols and Cottrell (2014), the primary objective of a team leader lies in maximizing the benefits which arise out of formation and working in teams and also reduction of the weakness while maximizing the team effort. The basic activity for this starts with the awareness. The leader of the team should be aware of the purpose of the team and the important role to be performed within it. The next important and challenging step is the hiring of the appropriate people specifying the right role. Given this information, the role of the leader becomes more dynamic in nature. Some of the important concepts for the leader include sensitivity analysis, observation, and timely intervention to reap the best out of the teams. In order to get a better understanding of the team it can be observed a successful team needs to be finely tuned in accordance with the various types of the policies framed by the management. The three important management approaches designed to improve the eff iciency and the effectiveness of hen team includes:1. Managing- This take in to consideration the various roles of the individual working within team, defining the objectives and monitoring then performance the team members. 2. Coaching- The coaching activities are related to managing the daily interaction and the processes exiting in an organization. 3. Leading- This is related to the long term view of the strategic management. The various types of the roles which are being distributed among the teams leads to solving of important issues. The potential advantages is seen in the division of then labor which in turn assist the other people to take the responsibility for all the three approaches as mentioned above. Managing of the teams According to Stewart et al. (2012), the management of the teams is related to defining the role of the individual team members and defining he team structures and setting of the suitable goals among the employees of the organization. A significant amount of the communication is required to ensure that the commonality of the purpose is efficiently recognized and worked towards the working and development of an organization. It is also important to take into consideration the feedback of the employees in the organization. It is the role of the manager to emphasize on the individual tasks of the members to organize and allocate the individual tasks to the members of the teams. It is equally important to identify the social roles role of the employees and the clarification process should be made at all levels and communicated among all the team members. Then mangers also need to stress on the significance of the duties of the individual team members. According to Dingsyr and Dyb (2012) t he leader should be clear about the formulation of the statement and should show that the objectives are based on the clear differentiation of the tasks and the defining of the key managerial role of the individual employees. The formation of the teams should be done in such a way that the goals of the all the team members are congruent in nature. The effectiveness of the teams should be designs in such a way that the tasks are intrinsically interesting in nature. On achievement of the desired goals by the team leader it is important to communicate the feedback information back to the team. The various types of the areas which are problematic and unsuccessful in nature need to be first identified. The manager of then team needs to concentrate on the areas which are found to be exception by the management. The management of the team needs to take into consideration the clarification of the goals and assignment of the roles to the individual employees. This is supplemented by making t he team structures and making the objectives explicit among all the members if the team. Then individual team member also needs to consider the needs and be aware of the individual responsibilities which are needed for the purpose of communication and authority. The various types of the conflicts have a definite possibility of occurrence in a particular company but framing a clear guideline through a team structure will minimize the occurrence of several issues and ensure that the team is able to tackle several of the problems arising in the future. Examples of managing teams with relevance to industries As discussed by Baldwin et al. (2012), the most important aspect of the management of the team was seen in the health care industry, where people were responsible for promoting the health of the local population. This particular measure the team functioning is often referred as Team climate inventory. The operation of the health care industry was compared with the several teams of industries related to Oil Company. The comparison was done on the basis of the management of the teams in the oil companies. Then NHS hospital management of the teams included various type of the components related to the social services team and community psychiatry teams. The teams related to the primary health care industries was found to be less significant in nature and also the team objectives of the teams objectives was seen to be irrelevant in compare to the other industry taken for the purpose of the comparison. As stated by Heldman (2013) the examination of the role of the team of the management r evealed diverse line of the management was needed for the purpose of competing with the objectives It has been also observed that one of the most concepts in the management is to put an augmented focus on the right things and the work appropriate for the workers. Many researchers have further identified the term double loop in the learning process which described the regular cycle if the reviewing of the several types of the objectives, methods, processes and the structures. This cycle is often referred to as the cycle of the reflexivity and this should take in to account both the soft and hard parameters, such as assessment of the relationships which exists within the team and the measurement of the of the performance of then team member against then performance of the targets existing in then organization. Importance of coaching According to Charness (2014), Coaching plays a vital role in the facilitation of the management in processing of the day to day activities .it is related to the internal processing of the and the assignment of the informal team process role and the requirement for the supportive communication, this is also seen in form of the heavy emphasis which is laid on the active listening of the participant within a team. The primary objective of coaching is to facilitation of the role, guiding, supporting and motivating the members of the teams to improve the daily performance. Then day to day coaching of the skills is mainly seen in the communications related to the active listening and the restatement of the various types of the issues perceived in the organization As discussed by Northouse (2015), Active listening is another important activity by the members of the team which ensures that the message is understood and communicated along all the level of the organization. The process of the active listening also ensures that the listening process drives the various type of the interpersonal relationship among the employees of the organization. The reflective listening by the employees or the members of the team further ensure that a significant form of the coaching among the team members is performed by listening carefully to what is being stated and the paraphrased version is further seen for the purpose of the clarification so that both the empathy and the understanding can be improved. The recognition and the revealing of the feelings often involve the coach to consult openly and honestly about the wide range of the factors which might affect the performance among the members of the team. It is the duty of the leader to seek for both the positive and negative aspects of the revealing of the intimacy which is required to ensure the revilement of the skeletons and which is not being kept in the cupboard for later application of the same. This is particularly seen in the sensitive role and the nature of the individual team members (Hosseini and Chileshe 2013). The final process of the team management involves the considerations of the small improvements which can act as powerful tools in changing and provide strength to the members of a particular team. It is the duty of the coach to deliver the action plans in appropriate time. This process is often referred to as the process of the positive feedback (Mukherjee et al. 2012). In a practical situation conducted in the national voluntary organization it was observed that the employee of the organization were experiencing a major setback in the functioning of the personal relationships and it had come to a situation of breaking down of the entire system . Role of Team Leadership According to Thamhain (2012), Leadership has an important role to play in managing and coaching is the process of framing of appropriate strategic interventions to guide the team and also motivate the existing members of the team. It is also the duty of the team member to identify the intuitions of the various employees and make fine judgment and the ability to evaluate and manage the risk. The external confidence and the charisma were observed to be the main components which could have been brought in the team. As stated by Heldal and Antonsen (2014),the concept of the team leadership is about providing of the long-term strategic approaches within the existing system of the organization. It is the ability of the leader to clearly define the goals of the organization and provide the vision which will enable the other member of the team to clearly see the way in which the team is leading. The concept of the leadership is of macro level Strength and weakness of teamwork According to Wellington et al. (2012), the majority of the research on the teamwork has been done favor of the teamwork and a positive feedback has been observed from the identified research. The various pros of the team work include improvement to the overall communication among the team members and a remarkable improvement in the collaboration and building of relationship among the employees of the organization. The formation of the team has seen several aspects of the hidden talents which are found among the several members of the team. It has been observed that there has been a sense of buy in and sense of ownership demonstrated by the personnel who have undertaken the project. Several other benefit of the managing of team is seen in the importance in the increased amount of output by the members of the team and increased effectiveness and efficiency and productivity of the team As stated by Tenzer and Pudelko (2015), as there are positive side to the formation of the team some of the negative side of the experiences of the have been observed in the way the teams are formed in order to perform up and running. Most of the members of the team can experience a drop in the performance and this can result the manager to panic. The organizations pilot and the formation of the team can be seen in the resentment from the various other parts of the workforce. Another drawback in the formation of the team is seen through changing roles of the managers to whom the team is responsible for reporting. It can be also seen that that there can be turf wars which can cause several problems seen in the abilities being transferred from the departments of the team. The interpretation of the hypotheses in the gaps of knowledgeAccording to Menguc et al. (2013) the major portion of the study is based on the various type of the role of the management and the way the leadership works to organize a team. It is not always possible to communicate the various types of the barriers whic h exist in the management of the teams. It has been observed that the team members are unable to share their viewpoints to the team leader. This in turn leads to barriers to effective managing of the various activities of the team. In various organizations due to increase size of the members it is not always possible to hear the grievances of all the members of the team. This has been mainly seen in the multinational organizations which are unable to provide an amicable solution to the existing members of the team. Some of the most noted challenges in leading of the teams include: Morale: Keeping of high morale and maintaining a positive attitude among the employees is becoming a problem based on the present market situation. Creativity: In the recent times the leaders are finding it difficult to generate new ideas and tackling of the old problems prevailing in a team. The inability to generate fresh ideas may fail to turn unexpected events into opportunities. Conflicting ideas: Th e conflicting nature of the values and aspirations among the employees makes it more challenging for the leaders to collaborate the differentiating ideas and getting the team members agree to a certain decision. Motivation: As stated by Hoch and Kozlowski (2014), many team leaders make the mistake of misunderstanding motivation with only monetary benefits. According to the recent management practices it had been observed that people seek to have a greater amount of work life balance and at times they might be motivated flexible working hours, recognition for achievement and sense of camaraderie. Role and responsibility: Misunderstanding the role and responsibility of the individual employees is a major issue for the existing employees of the organization. This may lead to higher employee turnover and negative motivation among the team. Communication: According to Pater (2016), Poor communication is a noted problem in the recent times. Due to less freedom and flexibility among the e mployees the team members may not be able to express their views during the board meeting. The poor communication may result in failure to formal addressing of the various problems existing within a team or it may also lead false consensus, where every member nods in agreement without truly acceding to the statement. Bridging the gaps of leadership problems The present problems of the leadership needs to be addressed by implementing several research proceduresSurvey Approach In a survey method carried out to find the importance of leadership, 20 participants were selected o know about the success factor as a result of leadership in the next five years. The several questions were asked to the leaders based on the following parameters:The results of the findings show the various importances for leadership skills and perspectives showing the improvement in the future. The table given below shows the critical importance of both present and the future, the responses are based on various respondents who rated the skill based on the top 2 rating points: Bridging gaps strategy In order to develop the skills of the team members a leader needs to follow the follow several approaches: Sensitize strategy: This strategy will ensure that the management is provided with a group of competencies that are associated to the development of the skills of the team. This also includes a 360 degree development and assessment for the managers. Training: According to Howe and Xu (2013), providing of training by reputed leaders ensure better understands among the employees and resolves several issues related to cultural conflicts among the employees. The development of internal group further ensures development of forums to share the knowledge and implement the best strategies into practice. Building and maintaining relationship: It is important for the employee to build a good relationship with the management and the leaders. This will resolve several issues related to the communication problem and false consensus. Performance appraisal: As stated by Tortoriello et al. (20 12), the leader needs to report to the concerned authority to recognize the work of a well performing employee and ensure that the employee gets well recognized for his/her efforts. A reward system should be implemented which will ensure that the employees are able to get the desired flexibility for better performance in the organization. Summarization of the key findings It is important to understand the key role of management and a leader. The report has also provided several discussions on the role of the manager and the leaders. The various types of the important role exercised by the mangers and the leader are defined as follows:(Jorvigconsulting.com 2016). Management LeadershipThe main function exercised is directing of the tasks A leader is a risk taker Improving the Operational excellence The main activity lies in motivating and inspiring the members if the teamMainly process oriented A Leader is considered to be a visionaryWork as a entire system Influence the changes within the organizationPlans to bring about the excellence Takes decision guide to do the right thing for the team membersInstills a sense of Predictability Challenges the assumptions and brings abut innovation into the system Conclusion The report provides an extensive analysis of the role of the manager and the leaders to drive a team and focus on the organizational and team efficiency. Then key findings of the report states about the importance of managing, coaching and leading of the teams. The study also shows the importance of the allocation of the the various type soft h tasks to the members of the teams. The various highlights of the management process of the team are related to the effective implementation and the finding relevant to the present industries. The study shows the implications and the gaps in the managing of the teams in the health care industry. The report shows a qualitative gap analysis by the comparing the findings with the observation sin the oil company. Then report further states on the importance of coaching and proper allocation of the tasks to the teams members based on specific skill set. The latter part of the report briefly shows the strength and weakness of managing in teams and th e differentiating role of the manager and the leader. Reference List Baldwin, T.T., Bommer, W.H. and Rubin, R.S., 2012. Managing organizational behavior: What great managers know and do.Ccl.org. (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.ccl.org/Leadership/pdf/capabilities/LeadershipGap.pdf [Accessed 8 Jul. 2016].Charness, A.N., 2014. The Role of Practice and Coaching in Entrepreneurial Skill Domains: An International Comparison of LifeSpanChess Skill. The road to excellence: The acquisition of expert performance in the arts and sciences, sports, and games.Davis, Z. and Davis, H., 2015. Taking the show on the road: In-situ clinical simulations role in promoting teamwork. Knowledge Management E-Learning: An International Journal (KMEL), 7(3), pp.425-435.Day, R.D., 2014. Leading and managing people in the dynamic organization. Psychology Press.Dingsyr, T. and Dyb, T., 2012, June. Team effectiveness in software development: Human and cooperative aspects in team effectiveness models and priorities for future studies. In Proceedings of the 5th Internation al Workshop on Co-operative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (pp. 27-29). IEEE Press.Heldal, F. and Antonsen, S., 2014. Team Leadership in a High-Risk Organization The Role of Contextual Factors. Small Group Research, 45(4), pp.376-399.Heldman, K., 2013. PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley Sons.Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), p.390.Hosseini, M.R. and Chileshe, N., 2013. Towards an integrated approach for leading and managing transcultural virtual teams (Doctoral dissertation, IGI Global).Howe, E.R. and Xu, S., 2013. Transcultural teacher development within the dialectic of the global and local: Bridging gaps between East and West. Teaching and Teacher Education, 36, pp.33-43.Jorvigconsulting.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://jorvigconsulting.com/newsletter/jan_08.gif [Accessed 5 Jul. 2016].Mengu c, B., Auh, S. and Uslu, A., 2013. Customer knowledge creation capability and performance in sales teams. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41(1), pp.19-39.Mukherjee, D., Lahiri, S., Mukherjee, D. and Billing, T.K., 2012. Leading virtual teams: how do social, cognitive, and behavioral capabilities matter?. Management Decision, 50(2), pp.273-290.Nichols, A.L. and Cottrell, C.A., 2014. What do people desire in their leaders? The role of leadership level on trait desirability. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(4), pp.711-729.Northouse, P.G., 2015. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.Pater, R. 2016, "Overcoming Seven Ergonomic Leadership Mistakes", Professional Safety, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 40.Spillane, J.P., 2012. Distributed leadership (Vol. 4). John Wiley Sons.Stewart, G.L., Courtright, S.H. and Barrick, M.R., 2012. Peer-based control in self-managing teams: linking rational and normative influence with individual and group performance. Journal of Applied Psycholo gy, 97(2), p.435.Tenzer, H. and Pudelko, M., 2015. Leading across language barriers: Managing language-induced emotions in multinational teams. The leadership quarterly, 26(4), pp.606-625.Thamhain, H.J., 2012. The changing role of team leadership in multinational project environments.Tortoriello, M., Reagans, R. and McEvily, B., 2012. Bridging the knowledge gap: The influence of strong ties, network cohesion, and network range on the transfer of knowledge between organizational units. Organization Science, 23(4), pp.1024-1039.Wellington, P., eBook Library (EBL), Ebooks Corporation Books24x7, I. 2012, Managing successful teams, 1st;1; edn, Kogan Page, Philadelphia, PA.

Teachers Inspiration free essay sample

My desk rattles. My chest heaves. I struggle to catch a breath. Concerned glazes from my fellow classmates dance around me, inquiring why I am splitting my sides at Dr. Persins corny, hackneyed joke. I regain my sanity, re-sync my breathing and smile as we begin todays AP Physics class. No, its not just his notorious catch phrases, eclectic attire, his manuerisms, corny jokes, or savvy intelligence. Its the blending of his eccentricity and his brilliance that allows students to excel in an enjoyble atmosphere. Dr. Persin informed me about the natural world, taught me valuable life lessons, and golly, someone that shares my qwerky humor? We bonded like the positive and negative poles of magnets. Magnets, circuits, trajectory motion. Indeed: a difficult class. However, Dr. Persin broke it down into simpler matter. He presented tangible models and explained concepts thoroughly. I struggled with mirrors and lenses until he pulled out the giant mirror and my cloud of confusion drifted away. We will write a custom essay sample on Teachers Inspiration or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He provided us with weekly, hands-on lab activities where we recieved insight towards the subject matter, gained useful experience of working with scientific equipment, and collaborated in a groups. AP Physics taught me time management and organizational skills with weekly note checks. Finally, this class granted me insight to how a college class will be. Homework was due weekly and tests were heavily weighted. Though a challenging cirriculum of advanced physics topics, I was blessed to have a teacher that creatively presented such knowledge. He has positively influenced me academically and enstilled in me irreplaceable wordly skills. I proudly imPERSINate his qualities.