Learning to learn

INTRODUCTION:
The given case revolves around Michael Faye, a knowledge professional, currently the senior VP International Affairs at Salvetec, a major medical solutions company. Having been awarded a brand new assignment for Salvetec’s operations in greater China, the case unravels his dedicated attempts at learning the most effective method to expand his company’s hold in greater china and establish the regions importance for the rest of the company. The case analyse is the quality of the success that has been achieved in the process as also exploring newer ideas for enhanced efficacy.

OBJECTIVE: * To understand Michaels idea hunting style. * Identifying the peaks and troughs in the same. * His derivation from the methodology applied in seeking information. * Suggesting alternate and more effective style of working.

ANALYSIS: Michael Faye was born in 1944 and raised in Zimbabwe. After receiving his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1967, he worked for pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. for 13 years. India, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea are few countries in which he was posted during his working years. Later, he joined Squibb, as Vice President for the Japan/Pacific region. During that tenure, Squibb went into a joint venture with two Chinese partners in Shanghai. Though he was not directly involved in the venture, still he was highly influenced by his two bosses to see China’s potential.
After leaving Squibb, he joined Salvatec in 1990 as President of the region comprising of Europe, Middle East and Africa in 1995. Soon, he became senior VP and joined the company’s Executive Committee. Soon, he covered Canada and Latin America and then was promoted to run company’s international business, outside its home base. A number of achievements followed like he was appointed senior VP international Affairs to lobby major governments in August 2005. Till date, Faye has worked and lived in 12 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Michael Faye has built a successful career on being associated with good ideas. He is an idea- hunter and has been good at it. He has been put in charge of a new assignment in China. He is a workaholic. Even when he was on a holiday in China, he was thinking about work, he was engrossed in the thoughts on how he can make Salvatec important in China and vice versa. He met a number of people who had worked in China earlier. With their piece of mind and the present day business situation prevailing in China, he would predict the upcoming nature of the Chinese market. He noticed all the pros and cons of setting up his business in China and even found out the ways to reduce the disadvantages. He had the habit of collecting information from all the sources and he could go till any extent to get relevant data that could be useful to him in some or the other way. He contacted his wives ex as he was the Attorney living in Shanghai and naturally could update him about China. He also got details about an investment banker who was considered to be the best in that region. Since Salvatec was a health care company, he went all the way to Shenzhen to see the largest hospital monitoring equipment firm in China. He would not rely on the information given to him by someone else and hence he would talk to a number of government officials, physicians, people related to pharmaceutical company, from medical insurance company, distributors of medical devices. He wanted to look into every aspect all by himself. He has great interpersonal skills and was an expert at networking. Since he would gather all information on his own, that would increase his work load, but he would deal with it. At the end, Faye used to combine all the information or the details that he had gathered and would come up with what he has to do. He came to the conclusion that China was running faster than what people had expected and therefore he wanted a master plan that would help him set his foot in the market.

OFFSHOOTS AND ISSUES:

* Faye’s idea hunting methodology albeit effective is one that leads to self-exhausted in the process of acquiring the maximum relevant data thereby reducing efficiency. * The absence of delegation of work among his subordinate is one of the primary reason for the cumulative work load that Michael has to endure. * Incompetency on the part of his employees further strengthens his distrust for his employees. * Despite the efforts that have been put in by Michael he is still ineffective in devising an all-inclusive master plan that could guarantee success. * Lack of structure in the accumulation of data has led to apprehensions and few unanswered questions in his mind.

SOLUTIONS: 1. Distribute the work load among the subordinates.
Pros: this would decrease his work load and increase efficiency and less time consuming and new innovative ideas could be fronted.
Cons: incompetency on the part of employee could prove to be detrimental.

2. Enhance competency among the employees by inducing stringent measures also Michael Faye could make and an attempt to cut the employees some slack and provide for a second chance to improve upon their mistakes.
Pros: on time completion of work
Cons: second hand information might not be as per the needs and requirement of Faye.

3. Avoiding arbitrary data collection and searching for a more focused and structured business plan.
Pros: leads to lesser confusion, enhance clarity and efficient research.

BEST SOLUTION: Avoiding arbitrary data collection and searching for a more focused and structured business plan. Distribute the work load among the subordinates The first thing is to set a goal. Then separate teams need to be formulated which could gather information and depending upon the data a focused and structured plan to achieve the goal need to be formulated. One of the basic things is to avoid impulsiveness while taking decision. And the final step is to assign work accordingly to different groups working under him for the achievement of the goal.

THEORETICAL LEARNING:

* Faye is an active processor that is whenever he gets new information he uses it immediately rather than reflecting on it and then using it. * He is a concrete perceiver; he tries to absorb information on his own through direct experiences and does not depend on others and on analysis. * He is a concrete experiencer; he is excited by new activities or experience.

CONCLUSION:
Characterization of Learning Style * Fiercely independent * unorganized data collection * Workaholic * In-depth researcher * Extensive networking * Determination

High points * In-depth researcher * Extensive networking * Determination * Fiercely independent

Low points

* Workaholic: He thinks about his business even when he is on a holiday with his family. * Unorganized data collection: He collects data related to every field but not in a proper manner.

MANGERIAL LEARNING:
It can be learned from the above case study that it becomes imperative to ensure distribution of workload in order to establish ease of data collection and information thereby facilitating increased productivity. Also, sequential and planned execution of a business strategy assumes highest importance for a successful establishment.