...Leading Change at Simmons with the GGOL Simmons Opportunity to Roll Out the GGOL Program William A. Owen MGMT 6351 Dr. Donna Stringer 10/16/14 Executive Summary The following case anlaysis has been conducted on the Harvard Business Review’s Leading Change at Simmons article. The analysis intends to present the situation at Simmons during 2001 and some key management decisions to consider that would positively decide the organization’s fate. There are several challenges facing Simmons, both within and beyond the organization’s control, that will require a visionary to help navigate them to success. This paper takes the position that the newly appointed CEO of Simmons, Charlie Eitel, can convince the shareholders to invest in culture change for Simmons and positively build the organization’s value. In an effort to provide objective analysis and empirically based recommendations, the analysis has followed a methodology that presents some important organizational theoreis pertaining to the situation with Simmons, as well as insight into goals, risk, and capabilities. Following that analysis will be a set of reommendations for how to implement the goals into plans that could achieve the desired results, namely convincing the investors to allow Eitel to roll out the costly Great Game Of Life program and rebuild the company from its core. Case Overview Simmons is currently one of the top mattress firms in the U.S. and has been repeatedly recognized as...
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...This case analysis mainly focuses on Organizational behavior, Decision making, Organization’s culture, Diversity, Values, and Leadership behavior. Today relatively small differences in performance between companies, such as in the speed at which they can bring new products or services to market or in how they motivate their employee to find ways to reduce costs or improve performance, can combine to give one company a significant competitive advantage over another. Managers and companies that use proven management techniques in their decision making and actions increase their effectiveness over time. Companies and managers that are slower to implement new management techniques and practices find themselves at a growing competitive disadvantage that makes it even more difficult to catch up. This case is all about implementing new management techniques like empowering employees and engaging in adaptive organizational culture. Culture leads to predictable behaviors and attitudes that set one company apart from others. Strong agreement to the values, beliefs and norms that constitute culture results in strong relationship to behavior. When culture is well match to strategy, it become the most powerful strategy implementation tool available This case study mainly concentrates on the challenges faced by Simmons in implementing the change program. There is a resistance to change from both individuals and organization. On top of the resistance to change dominant organizational culture...
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...Introduction. This course provides an introduction to cost management and management control. It is concerned with the generation, use and interpretation of management and cost information and related data by managers under various organizational systems. This information is used for planning and control, decision-making, performance evaluation, and reporting purposes. The course also examines the impact of quantitative information on motivation and organizational communication. This class presupposes some basic knowledge of financial reporting, economics and organizational behavior. Management accounting is a dynamic field and reflects many of the changes seen in business today. We will often use product-based companies to initially discuss a topic, and then expand our discussions to the service and not-for-profit sectors. Financial accounting is externally oriented and governed by fundamental concepts of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In contrast, managerial accounting is internally oriented. Managerial accounting is very context driven. Management accounting is more intuitively understandable than financial accounting. However, the material cannot be learned by ‘thinking’. You must work through the mini-cases, cases and problems, which are assigned for each class. The concepts and techniques must be used to see how they are developed and applied. Discussion in each class assumes you understand the material covered in prior sessions. Therefore...
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...Introduction: In the recent years, employers have recognised that the success of business is closely influenced by the motivation and professional capacity of their workforces. Accordingly, companies are faced with the challenge of increasing the level of employee commitment, job satisfaction and motivation (Greene, 2001). In this regard, it is important for companies to take into consideration the impact of employee needs, morale and expectations and to negotiate appropriate work arrangements for motivating employees as part of performance recognition. The following paper presents a discussion on the importance of employee motivation in the workplace. The discussion is mainly based on literature review and points that employee motivation is necessary for improved work performance. The paper has explored the important contributing played by work-life balance and financial incentives in improving employee motivation. The research indicates that the two factors foster loyalty by employees, increased performance and commitment, which are essential indications of motivation. The concept of Employee Motivation and Rewards Most discussions of motivation begin with the concept of individual needs – the unfulfilled physiological or psychological desires of an individual. Content theories of motivation use individual needs to explain the behaviours and attitudes of people at work. The basic logic is straightforward. People have needs. They engage in behaviours to obtain extrinsic...
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...performance (McShane & Sheen, 2012). Incorrect implementation of empowerment is clearly the underlying cause for the hotel’s recent performance, which is explained by the Expectancy Theory of motivation and Dissatisfaction Model. Problem Empowerment was too quickly placed in action without the consideration of culture differences and previous working ethics. This led to hotel performance failure because of employee dissatisfaction. The Dissatisfaction model (Exit-voice-loyalty-neglect) explains how employees had responded to job dissatisfaction (McShane & Steen 2012). The Expectancy theory of motivation complements the previous theory in explaining how employees worked towards a particular outcome (McShane &Steen, 2012). Analysis “After meeting with the managerial team at The Regency Grand Hotel, Becker was pleased with the response from the managerial staff and was eager to have his empowerment plan implemented (McShane & Steen, 2012).” Managers in this meeting expressed loyalty (Dissatisfaction model) by merely accepting the current conditions and waiting for the problem to work itself out (McShane & Steen, 2012). Empowerment encourages employee autonomy, decision-making, and innovation; all of these being opposite ideologies to the bureaucratic management system the hotel were used to. “In the past, the Regency had emphasized administrative control, resulting in many bureaucratic procedures throughout the organization (McShane & Steen, 2012).” By placing...
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...Holiday decision-making: an adaptable and opportunistic ongoing process Name: Institution: Course: Tutor: Date: Identify and discuss how holiday decision-making as described in the case, is different from the traditional problem-solving models of consumer decision-making Holiday decision-making process is different from the traditional problem-solving models of consumer decision making. This is because holiday decision-making model does not require fixed sequential stages that are required by traditional problem-solving models. Administrative factors play an imperative role when deciding time and choice of holiday decision-making process (Schermerhorn & Osborn, 2011). The typical factors that mostly influence the holiday decision-making process are levels of involvement, situational factors, anticipation, nostalgia and daydreaming. On the other hand, this is very different from traditional decision-making process that is well sequentialized and structured. In this model, the need for a specific service or product is identified and information search and other alternatives are evaluated. The consumer is further led towards purchasing a product and there after placing a purchase evaluation (Moore & Simmons, 2010). In the traditional consumer decision-making, the method of searching for information is well structured and it is either external, internal or both of them. Information collection process in the holiday decision making is an ongoing and...
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...they too wish they had stronger people skills. The aim of this course is to provide you with some of these skills so that you can become a stronger manager and more dynamic leader. However, management is not a science. Nor is it a profession. It is an art – a craft that is developed over a lifetime. This course is therefore not designed to offer you a magic formula for how to manage an organization. It is designed to offer you some of the tools that you will need to better understand why people in organizations do the things they do and how we can influence these behaviors. We will use theories of management, economics, sociology, psychology, and philosophy to help us discuss individual-, team-, and organizational-level behaviors. The format for this course will be highly interactive in order to provide a rich learning experience. We will do this through the use of debates, role-playing, simulations, and case studies. Each of these experiences will provide opportunities to reflect and analyze in order that we may walk away with new ways of looking at the world around us. We will have few traditional lectures and those that we do have will be short ones that serve to synthesize a class discussion or exercise. This means that the majority of our class time will require the inputs of the entire class...
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...Organizational Leadership Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction The term paper will cover the summative learning about the broad topic of organizational leadership. The paper will tackle the real organizational leadership aspects and state how important concepts, rules, and rules can be applied when correcting the problems of a given organization selected by the student. This paper will also give a case study on decision making in a specific organization selected by the student and give the solutions that can be set by the given company selected by the student. The paper will also illustrate a theoretical framework for organizational decision making. The selected topic for this term paper is organizational leadership. This topic is significant as it addresses organizational problems and challenges that the firms face and tries to give alternative remedies for those challenges. This topic is broad and helps managers in achieving the required level of production that is set for them by the board of directors and the top most managers. Although the majority of the organizations enjoy huge and healthy profits in their investments, optimal profits cannot be attained if they don't invest in organizational leadership (Zaccaro and Klimoski, 2001). This implies that the organizational decisions made by both the middle level and the top managers influence the productivity of the organization to a larger extent. The topic was also selected to give the student...
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...people skills. Alumni often affirm that they too wish they had stronger people skills. The aim of this course is to provide you with some of these skills so that you can become a more effective manager and leader. However, management is not a science. Nor is it a profession. It is an art – a craft that is developed over a lifetime. This course is therefore not designed to offer you a magic formula for how to manage an organization. It is designed to provide tools to help you better understand why people in organizations do the things they do and how to influence these behaviors. We will use theories of management, economics, sociology, psychology, and philosophy to help us discuss individual-, team-, and organizational-level behaviors. The format for this course will be highly interactive in order to provide a rich learning experience. We will do this through the use of debates, role-playing, simulations, and case studies. Each of these experiences will provide opportunities to reflect and analyze in order that we may walk away with new ways of looking at the world around us. We will have few traditional lectures and those that we do have will be short ones that serve to synthesize a class discussion or exercise. This means that the majority of our class time will require the inputs of the entire class, so...
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...BPM systems have evolved with the balanced scorecard as the dominant framework in use today. Despite the growing use of BPM systems in organizations of all kinds, significant problems cause firms to experience difficulty in implementing BPM systems. The problems range across a variety of topics: excessive diversity in the field of study, data quality and information system integration problems, lack of linkage to strategy, fundamental differences in how a strategy is formulated and executed in the firm, ill-defined metrics identification processes, high levels of change in BPM systems, analytical skills challenges, knowledge as a social and non-deterministic phenomenon, judgment and decision biases (from prospect theory literature) and organizational defenses that can undermine successful BPM systems use. To help address these problems, a set of critical success factors for BPM projects, derived from the literature, are identified. A minimal set of four criteria for designing successful BPM systems along with 12 BPM system factors to be considered when building BPM systems are discussed. Forty (40) software vendors with BPM related solutions are listed and the role of data visualization and metaphor is discussed as a potential means for...
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...Southwest Airlines Co. | Organizational Commitment and Communication | | | | Southwest Airlines, Co is according to Fortune magazine one of the best places to work for. The Company’s mission statement is "The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit." (Southwest.com) Southwest believes that their mission statement has led the way to the best cumulative consumer satisfaction record, according to statistics published by the U.S. Department of Transportation. They have the fewest customer complaints, and they have the most satisfied employees, their turnover ratio is less than 10% (D’Aurizio, 2008). Communication and Leadership play a critical role in any organization and Southwest Airline is not the exception. These two factors are crucial to their success. In this paper, I will discuss the role of organizational commitment and communication within Southwest Airlines. Specifically, I will discuss how the various sources of power and leadership styles impact the organization as a whole. Also, I will discuss the motivational theory that I believe fits best with Southwest’s current culture and how the organization communicates the motivational theory to its employees. Finally, I will take a look at the commitment of the employee and how they respond to the organizations attempt to motive them. Organizational Commitment and Communication ...
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...specialists worked in teams and reflected that it was not easy to evaluate the recent project carried out for mattress manufacturer Simmons. Dayton was a design engineer and head of IDEO’s Boston office. IDEO was a design and innovation firm known for the extraordinary range of products it had designed and its innovative approach to the design process. For the Simmons project, IDEO had embarked on a service that was not intended to result in a tangible product, at least not right away. Whereas a typical design project progressed through four phases designed to “do the thing right,” this service, known as “Phase 0,” was intended to help a client “do the right thing.” Rather than design a new product based on pre-specified needs, Simmons had asked IDEO to help it “look for unmet needs that exist and to identify new product opportunities.” The project proposal, entitled “Understand and Innovate,” described Phase 0 services as helping clients understand the world in a new way and innovate accordingly. At first glance, mattresses were not exciting territory for the firm, but as the team researched mattress consumers— conducting literature reviews, site visits, and interviews with customers and salespersons—they grew intrigued. One later recalled, “The more we looked, the more we found.” No tC Now two months after their final presentation to Simmons executives in Atlanta, Georgia, the team was still buzzing from the client’s enthusiastic response to the Phase 0 project’s...
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...analyzing BA’s strategic changes and dealing with managing these changes. In tradition, HRM is the organizational function that deals with requirement, training, assessment and rewarding of employees, while also managing people and the workplace culture and environment. Now the new role of HRM refers to overcome the challenge form implementing changes of organizational strategies. The case also indicates that the flexible HRM plays a significant role of dealing with the disputes between employees and management. Key words: strategy management, British Airways, change management, labor dispute Implication of strategic change in British Airways 1. Introduction Generally, a company makes strategies based on the changing environment. But if the strategies changes, there are many barriers to conduct. Human resource is performed as the most valuable asset of organizations. How to manage and more efficiently utilize the asset is so significant for organization to operate and develop. Obviously, there are resistance form employees. Therefore, human resource department is responsible for coordination in the organization. Human resource management (HRM) is always known as the governance of employees in organizations. It is responsible for creating, implementing or overseeing human resource policies to manage employee behavior and also the behavior of the organization towards its employees. Nowadays, because of the change of economic environment...
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...International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 1 No. 7[Special Issue –June 2011] Occupational Stress of Teachers: A Comparative Study Between Turkey and Macedonia Dr. Figen Eres Assistant Professor Department of Educational Science Gazi University, Ankara Turkey E-mail: feres@gazi.edu.tr, Phone: +903124844631 Dr. Tatjana Atanasoska Assistant Professor Department of Education University of St. Kliment Ohridski, Macedonia E -mail: t.atanasoska@pfbt.uklo.edu.mk, Phone: +38970853624 Abstract The aim of the study is to determine the stress level of Turkish and Macedonian teachers living in different socio-cultural and economic situations. The scale used in the study has been developed by researches. 416 Turkish teachers and 213 Macedonian teachers have participated in the study. At the end of the study it was seen that Turkish teachers have mild stress levels and Macedonian teachers have moderate stress levels. There is a meaningful difference in the stress level points of Turkish and Macedonian teachers. Policy makers are advised to analyse the teacher training and assessment system with the assumption that personal and social characteristics and working conditions may have an effect on teacher stress. Implications for further research are also discussed. Keywords: Teacher stress, primary education teachers, Macedonia, Turkey 1.Introduction Stress is the abnormal reaction that the organism displays against threating environmental elements. (Luthans, 1994)...
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...Equity Theory and Time: A Reformulation Author(s): Richard A. Cosier and Dan R. Dalton Source: The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr., 1983), pp. 311-319 Published by: Academy of Management Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/257759 . Accessed: 19/02/2014 05:31 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Academy of Management is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Academy of Management Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.220.71.24 on Wed, 19 Feb 2014 05:31:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 'Academy of ManagementReview, 1983, Vol. 8, No. 2, 311-319. Equity Theory and Time: A Reformulation RICHARD A. COSIER DAN R. DALTON Indiana University Perceptions of inequity generally have been associated with substantive employee responses in the workplace. These effects have been demonstrated in the laboratory and, to a lesser extent, in field settings. The most commonly used formulation of equity theory relies on a static view...
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