...CASE 3: Whose Turn Is It To Polish The Apple? GROUP 2 - CASE 3 Whose Turn Is It To Polish The Apple? Page 2 of 5 I. Synthesis Locked in an inward looking, closed culture that was proven effective for quite some time, Apple operated in a double agent corporate environment that eventually turned catastrophic to the organization. The founders, Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, relied on their guiding principles: “Do your own thing, defy the pessimists and ignore the Establishment.” Such custom gave birth to what would be Apple’s “insanely great” Mac, largely patronized and loved by users. When the shortcomings of the existing renegade corporate culture started to surface, Apple’s doomsday was inevitable causing changes in the leadership for a few times. At the time of the case, one of America’s celebrated CEOs, Gilbert Amelio, was invited to take the helm of the organization and was tasked to steer the company away from the imminent crisis it was then facing. Tasked with such great responsibilities of turning the sour crisis into sweet profitability, Amelio had to stand for what he believes would be beneficial to Apple even if he had to breakdown an existing grand old corporate system. Will his successful “chartreuse strategy” for the National Semiconductor Corporation be a duplicable victory story in the case of Apple? II. Point of View Gilbert Amelio, Apple’s New Chief III. Statement of the Problem How would Amelio change the pitch of Apple’s existing corporate culture...
Words: 1636 - Pages: 7
...Quintin Jernigan Case Study-Organizational Culture In any organization, its culture can have real effects on the organizational behavior and the individuals within the organization. The culture of an organization is made up of a group of expectations that have been built as a direct consequence of an organization’s efforts to change as it faces internal and external problems. Formal components of organizational behavior and culture include a structure of incentive plans in place, grouping and linking principles, and established routings and operating procedures. These components help piece together an actual culture of an organization that the organizational members use every day to conduct themselves in the manner the organization strives for. The culture of an organization plays an important role in building the behavior of individuals and the company for a couple of reasons. In many organizations, the top of the pyramid of command (i.e., managers, CEOs) have to make thousands of decisions every day, many of these decisions are made very quickly or without a substantial amount of information or details to thoroughly make a decision and so the decision is based on the concepts and principles of the organization’s culture. The decision is not made based on a personal view but of the view of the organization to make sure what is done is what is best for the whole company or organization and not just that manager. This way nothing is ever taken the wrong way by individuals of the...
Words: 1022 - Pages: 5
...implementation in the context of national culture Prof. Taina Savolainen School of Business, Management and Leadership, University of Joensuu, Finland taina.savolainen@joensuu.fi ABSTRACT This keynote address considers change implementation in the globalizing business environment in the context of culture. Organizations seek ways to cope with new situations in order to survive and be competitive. The primary strategic challenge in multicultural change processes is managing and implementing change successfully. The paper discusses the means of creating readiness for change and challenges they present to intercultural management. Keywords: Change, coping, culture, intercultural, implementation, middle management, readiness 1.0 Introduction Sustaining competitiveness force business organizations to adapt major changes and seek strategies that may be realized in varying, different cultural environments. This presents challenges to multicultural management, in general, and change implementation processes, specifically. Change implementation does no more concern organizational culture only. It is also dependent on understanding different national cultures and having behavioural skills accordingly. Organizations face, thus, constant challenge of change in management (Ascari, Rock & Dutta, 1995). Economic and social forces create a necessity for internal changes in organizations. Globalizing marketplace and fast technological changes force organizations to be superior and be proactive...
Words: 3836 - Pages: 16
...Cambridge Studies 6 Why Do Change Management Strategies Fail? ---Illustrations with case studies Xiongwei SONG∗ Department of Politics, University of Sheffield ABSTRACT: Change management is crucial to the survival and development of organizations, the more effectively you deal with change, the more likely you are to thrive. However there are a large number of failures of change management. Organizational change itself is a considerably complex activity; any tiny mistake in change management could lead to the failure of organizational change. Consequently this paper is impossible to encompass all factors that could result in the failure of change management. This paper attempts to explain why change management strategies fail from four perspectives (leadership, culture, people issues and quick response) that are major factors to determine whether change management is successful or not. INTRODUCTION Change for organizations both large and small, whether in the private, public or voluntary sectors has been inevitable for the past decades or so. Such trends of organizational change are increasing in frequency, pace, complexity and turbulence under current situation, and there appears to be no sign of abatement. The concrete purposes of change management for different organizations are probably not the same, but the ethos of change management is the same, that is, making the organizations more effective, efficient, and responsive to the turbulent environment changes. Through...
Words: 5241 - Pages: 21
...Analysis of Case Studies Titled: TGIF & What’s Your Culture Worth? Shenae Adams 0704671 Tutor: Myrtle Weir BBA4 – HRM (D) University of Technology, Jamaica April 11, 2011 Summary of Case: TGIF The case titled ‘TGIF’ speaks to a weekly beer bust held at Quantum’s Seattle Headquarters. The company, which was founded three (3) years ago by Stan Albright and Erin Barber, hosts these beer busts to allow the employees to relax as a reward for their extra efforts. Quantum has grown to more than 200 employees and $95 million in sales over the past three (3) years. Bill Carter, the company’s corporate attorney, on attending one of the weekly beer busts received good reviews about working at Quantum. After a work day of 16 hours, six (6) days a week, the beer bust held every Friday afternoon seemed to be keeping employee morale at an enthusiastic level. However, Bill Carter had some reservations or concerns about serving alcohol at a company sponsored party especially after observing a new employee’s behavior at the party after he had lost his balance and fell on the snack table. He believed that the beer bust parties were getting out of hand and could possibly result in an exposure to liability. There is now a dilemma between wanting to keep the team spirit and at the same time reduce Quantum’s liability exposure. Review of the Case The case, TGIF, presents an organization, Quantum Software that though it was founded three (3) years ago has managed to set for...
Words: 2300 - Pages: 10
...Introduction Culture may be defined as how a society perceives the world and how it should operate. Culture includes the beliefs, values, attitudes, and expectations for behavior that the society believes to be good, effective, desirable and beneficial. Organizations have unique culture even though they belong to the same industry. In this case, 5 Star Electronics and Amtech Electronics have different cultures even though both of these organizations belong to Electronics Industry and are in same state, Ohio. The leadership style of the organization decides the culture. Culture is the environment that surrounds you at work. Culture is also shapes your work environment along with your work relationships. The organizational culture can be identified by using the four variables which are Flexibility, Internal Focus, External Focus and Stability. The four variables are used to state the culture of a given organization. The basic types of corporate cultures are along with the dimensions are listed in the below table: Type of Corporate Culture Dimensions Clan Culture Flexibility, Internal Focus Bureaucratic Culture Internal Focus, Stability Adaptability Culture Flexibility, External Focus Achievement Culture Stability, External Focus The present discussion is to understand the corporate culture of 5 Star Electronics and Amtech Electronics using the above dimensions. Corporate Culture of 5 Star and Amtech Questions 1Q. Using the competing values model, what type of culture would...
Words: 991 - Pages: 4
...through Corporate culture Topic 2: Corporate Culture is the attempt to manage the values and emotions of employees so as to align them with the goals of the organisation. What might be difficult and questionable about such an attempt to manage employees? Introduction As it is realized by more and more people, especially executive managers and researchers, corporate culture plays a crucial role in the success of an organization. For many companies that have gained exclusively high fame, exposure and wealth, organizational culture is moreover an invisible property owned by the company. From 1970s, people began to understand the high competition from Japanese industry with unique corporate cultural background. Companies in America were found to behave very much like what happened in Japan (Parker 2000). It is usually known that a strong and positive corporate culture is a true asset under the perspective of economic and accounting. Although its advantages have been identified for decades, difficulties in how to utilize, develop and manage corporate culture remain to be uncertain. In this essay, the argument will be illustrated in three sections. The definition and significance of corporate culture will be introduced in the first section in detail. After that, deficiency of managing corporate culture will be discussed in separated two sections. The first section will talk about difficulties in developing and defining an appropriate organizational culture. The second section...
Words: 2521 - Pages: 11
...INSTRUCTOR’S RESOURCE MANUAL CHAPTER TWO The Organizational Context: Strategy, Structure, and Culture To Accompany PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Achieving Competitive Advantage By Jeffrey K. Pinto CHAPTER TWO PROJECT PROFILE: Project Management Improves Lenovo’s Bottom Line INTRODUCTION 2.1 PROJECTS AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY 2.2 STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT Identifying Project Stakeholders Managing Stakeholders 2.3 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 2.4 FORMS OF ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Functional Organizations Project Organizations Matrix Organizations Moving to Heavyweight Project Organizations PROJECT MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IN BRIEF: The Impact of Organization Structure on Project Performance 2.5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICES 2.6 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE How Do Cultures Form? Organizational Culture and Project Management PROJECT PROFILE: Creating a Culture for Project Management: The Renault Racing Team Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study 2.1 – Rolls-Royce Corporation Case Study 2.2 – Paradise Lost: The Xerox Alto Case Study 2.3 – Project Task Estimation and the Culture of “Gotcha” Case Study 2.4 – Widgets ‘R Us Internet Exercises PMP Certification Sample Questions Integrated Project – Building Your Project Plan Bibliography TRANSPARENCIES 2.1 PROJECTS AND CORPORATE STRATEGY [pic] 2.2 PROJECT STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS ...
Words: 3323 - Pages: 14
...LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS(Draft Syllabus) B01.1302.25 Spring 2010 Professor R. Kabaliswaran Office: KMC 7-56 E-mail: rkabalis@stern.nyu.edu Office Hours: 11:30 AM– 1:00 PM on class days and by appointment Class Hrs: Wed 1:30-4:20 PM on Jan 27; Feb 3, 10, 17, 24; Mar 3, 10, 24, 31; Apr 7, 14, 21, 28. Due Dates Team Case Write-up: 2/24. Final Team Project : 4/28. Indiv Take Home Final: 5/2. ____________________________________________________________ _________________ Course Overview Welcome aboard! What do leaders do? What happens inside organizations? And how do these relate to each other? In a nutshell, that’s the stuff this course is made of. Business organizations of all types face chronic management problems that pose significant challenges to them. These problems include the difficulty of designing organizations capable of coping with highly dynamic business environments, the challenge of developing strategies and structures for hypercompetitive conditions, the greater complexity of managing global enterprises, the difficult task of shaping a corporate culture, managing politics and conflict between individuals and organizational units, motivating employees who are more mobile than ever, designing attractive incentive systems, managing and harnessing intellectual capital, and so on. Such challenges and how the top leadership can deal with them are the subject of this course. The course has two major components. The first is “macro” in nature. It focuses on organizational...
Words: 6197 - Pages: 25
...a slightly higher risk of unemployment and hardly any salary losses compared to equivalent academics without paternity leave periods. In this project we will also practice of paternity leave in various parts of the world comparing it to US as my experience is from US. Based on research from by various universities and conducted interviews with managers and executives of companies and organizations where fathers have already taken paternity leave. Through this organizational perspective on paternity leave I wanted to address the following research questions: 1. What kind of organizational practices are related to paternity leave? What kind of framework conditions and support structures are in place? 2. How do companies and organizations perceive the political instrument of paternity leave? Do companies and organizations mention any advantages and disadvantages of paternity leave usage? 3. What kind of organizational culture exists in these companies and organizations and how does this affect the usage and design of paternity leave? PATERNITY LEAVE DECISIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES The decisions of fathers to take parental leave are influenced by a range of different factors: their own value based desire to be more involved in child care, the gender role identity of the spouse or mother, the division of labor in the household, the employment situation of partners...
Words: 5403 - Pages: 22
...territories across the globe in search of new markets or outsourcing some aspects of their production process. Management of employee cultural diversity, through the integration of suitable strategies plays a key role in improving the competitive advantage of the business, especially on the global platform. Globalization calls for specific approaches that promote harmonious working relationships within increasingly culturally diverse workplaces. Hansen (2002) observes that workplace diversity is critical to the existence of businesses and identifying key strategies to ensure harmonious working relationships among culturally diverse employees is integral to the survival of any business. Diversity in this case means the differences between individuals based on their culture, which influences their perceptions, values and beliefs. There is increased pressure on human resource departments to integrate culturally diverse employees, while at the same time maintaining high levels of motivation among the divergent groups. The main issue in a culturally diverse workforce is creating synergy, teamwork and...
Words: 13813 - Pages: 56
...Culture and strategy Introduction In the strategic literature the need to develop a strategy that requires the foundations of a culture that is compatible with the intended strategy is widely recognized. However, what is less widely understood is what happens when you have to fast track both cultural and strategic change when the strategy and its desired outcomes are both incompatible with the culture of the organization. How should managers deal with these challenges? How should such cultural appreciations be brought in to the discussion to develop and implement the business strategy? Cultural change is strategic change It is important to understand cultural change as also involving strategic change. Strategy can be considered as a cultural production that may involve cultural adaptation, or transformation, or both. This conceptualization is particularly useful if the organization is “betwixt and between” cultures and organizational identities i.e. a local authority department aspiring to become a commercially driven company. I will use a case study of such an organization that was changing from a council department into a Limited Liability Partnership to flesh out some ideas that illuminate the relationship between strategic development and organizational culture. Culture is not like a skin that an organization can discard as it selects a new organizational culture that is perceived to have strategic fit with its commercial strategy. In my view culture is the organization...
Words: 3690 - Pages: 15
...Summary of Case: TGIF The case titled ‘TGIF’ speaks to a weekly beer bust held at Quantum’s Seattle Headquarters. The company, which was founded three (3) years ago by Stan Albright and Erin Barber, hosts these beer busts to allow the employees to relax as a reward for their extra efforts. Quantum has grown to more than 200 employees and $95 million in sales over the past three (3) years. Bill Carter, the company’s corporate attorney, on attending one of the weekly beer busts received good reviews about working at Quantum. After a work day of 16 hours, six (6) days a week, the beer bust held every Friday afternoon seemed to be keeping employee morale at an enthusiastic level. However, Bill Carter had some reservations or concerns about serving alcohol at a company sponsored party especially after observing a new employee’s behavior at the party after he had lost his balance and fell on the snack table. He believed that the beer bust parties were getting out of hand and could possibly result in an exposure to liability. There is now a dilemma between wanting to keep the team spirit and at the same time reduce Quantum’s liability exposure. Review of the Case The case, TGIF, presents an organization, Quantum Software that though it was founded three (3) years ago has managed to set for itself an organizational culture that can majorly be described as fun, relaxed and amicable yet hard-working. Organizational culture, according to Robbins & Barnwell (2002), is the pattern...
Words: 2273 - Pages: 10
...Assignment [Name of Writer] [Name of Institution] [Date] Contents Introduction 3 Intercultural Issue 4 Verbal Issue 5 Non-Verbal Issue 5 Hofstede Cultural Dimensions 5 Strengths 6 Weakness 6 Case Study Issues 6 Recommendations: 7 References: 8 Executive Summary: The given report is Intercultural Communication and Negotiation Skills and the given barriers that occur in form of verbal and non-verbal communication. The selected framework is Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions which gives analysis various cultural factors in a business environment and the implication of theory on organization. The model and framework strength and weakness is discussed. The end part highlights the case study issues and the given recommendations to remove such barriers. Intercultural Communication and Negotiation Skills Introduction The influx of information technology and mass globalization in terms of markets and economies it is imperative for businesses and their employees to develop the art of cross-cultural interaction process which ensures negotiation and decision making ability. The method of making a particular decision is to reach a point of agreement to build general acceptance among all the key stakeholders. The establishment of various organizations doing business around the world by engaging in strategic alliance and ventures require that the managers and employees are accustomed to cross-cultural communication skills and competency. The application of such...
Words: 1687 - Pages: 7
...Organizational communication is a process through which organizations forge and shape events. Being a process, organizational communication is best understood by three different approaches: functional, mind-centered, and emerging perspectives. Functional approach asks how messages move within organizations and for what purpose communication works. The meaning-centered approach asks what communication is or if communication is responsible for decision making, organizing, or culture. The emerging perspectives ask if communication is a part or necessary process of social construction. The underlying message is that organizational communication can be explained through these three perspectives and that the organization can be successful in its endeavors if it employs what is argued by the approaches. The afore-mentioned approaches: functional approach, meaning centered approach, and emerging perspectives are vital in solving any company's communication problems. The functional approach describes communication as an intricate organizational process that serves the function of organizing relationship, change, and relationship functions, simply put, what messages do. The way messages move in an organization is understood by describing communication channels, networks, distortion, communication load, and message directions. This theory suggests that communication is responsible for transmitting rules, information, and regulations through the organization. Therefore, this theory underlines the need...
Words: 1138 - Pages: 5