...Ricardo Semler and Semco 'When I took over Semco from my father, it was a traditional company in every respect with a pyramid structure and a rule for every contingency. Today our factory workers sometimes set their own production quotas and even come in their own time to meet them without prodding from management or overtime pay. They help redesign the products, the make and formulate the marketing plans. Their bosses for their part can run our business units with extraordinary freedom determining business strategy without interference from the top brass. They even set their own salaries with no strings. Then again everyone will know what they are since all financial information at Semco is openly discussed. Our workers have unlimited access to our books. To show we are serious about this, Semco with the labour unions that represent our workers developed a course to teach everyone, including messengers and cleaning people, to read balance sheets and cash flow statements. We don't have receptionists. We don't think that they are necessary. We don't have secretaries either, or personal assistants. We don't believe in cluttering the payroll with un-gratifying dead-end jobs. Everyone at Semco, even top managers, fetch guests, stand over photocopiers, send faxes, type letters and use the phone. We have stripped away the unnecessary perks and privileges that feed the ego, but hurt the balance sheet and distract everyone from the crucial corporate tasks of making, selling...
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...cattle one was branded cattle and second was unbranded cattle. The unbranded cattle were increased by natural conditions and branded cattle were belongs to him. So which were unbranded cattle those all cattle were called mavericks. But at present the word maverick is used to identify any person who carries an autonomous position or is unique than another. And that person should be with slight effect of wildness. (Gunderson, Folke, Lee & Holling; 2002) Ricardo Semler was owner of the Semco Corporation in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Semco Corporation of Brazil was his family business. He ran his organization by very beautifully way. He organized his business by using Mavericks in his organization. He made his company successful in all over the world by Mavericks. He made the most revolutionary success history of business of that time period. Those mavericks resisted recession, overcoming inflation, continuous strikes and many more hurdles of business. In all those situations that person had turned Semco Corporation from bottom to the top by removing nine stratums of management and by permitting all employees of his organization unexampled democracy at the place of work. This was his best use of mavericks. Ricardo Semler has given his marvelous ideas of his business by giving practical information about business organization. Those ideas are very useful to all business persons, anywhere. Ricardo Semler has touched off a series of events that has been changed an idle. He has changed a very...
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...Ricardo Semler The Brazilian CEO and best-selling author transformed his pump plant into a model of participative management, and launched his company on 14 straight years of double-digit growth. by Lawrence M. Fisher strategy + business issue 41 Won’t Take features the creative mind Photographs by Rogério Reis / Blackstar Control Semco Group Chief Executive Ricardo Semler at his impromptu office — a coffee shop near his company’s headquarters 2 features the creative mind Lawrence M. Fisher (fisher_larry@strategybusiness.com), a contributing editor to strategy+business, covered technology for the New York Times for 15 years and has written for dozens of other business publications. Mr. Fisher is based in San Francisco. 3 Like many chief executives, Ricardo Semler used to wonder what would happen to his company if he were hit by a truck. One night in February 2005, he found out — while driving 85 miles per hour on a highway in Brazil. Miraculously, he was still alive within the 20-inch pancake of crushed steel and shattered glass that remained of his car. Also miraculously, his company, Semco Group, of São Paulo, Brazil, carried on seamlessly during the months he spent lying in intensive care and recuperating from the multiple surgeries he needed to repair his broken neck and battered face. Numbers were met, deals were closed, and business continued pretty much as usual. Mr. Semler, 46, is the leading proponent and most tireless evangelist...
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...Ricardo Semler The Brazilian CEO and best-selling author transformed his pump plant into a model of participative management, and launched his company on 14 straight years of double-digit growth. by Lawrence M. Fisher strategy + business issue 41 Won’t Take features the creative mind Photographs by Rogério Reis / Blackstar Control Semco Group Chief Executive Ricardo Semler at his impromptu office — a coffee shop near his company’s headquarters 2 features the creative mind Lawrence M. Fisher (fisher_larry@strategybusiness.com), a contributing editor to strategy+business, covered technology for the New York Times for 15 years and has written for dozens of other business publications. Mr. Fisher is based in San Francisco. 3 Like many chief executives, Ricardo Semler used to wonder what would happen to his company if he were hit by a truck. One night in February 2005, he found out — while driving 85 miles per hour on a highway in Brazil. Miraculously, he was still alive within the 20-inch pancake of crushed steel and shattered glass that remained of his car. Also miraculously, his company, Semco Group, of São Paulo, Brazil, carried on seamlessly during the months he spent lying in intensive care and recuperating from the multiple surgeries he needed to repair his broken neck and battered face. Numbers were met, deals were closed, and business continued pretty much as usual. Mr. Semler, 46, is the leading proponent and most tireless evangelist...
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...Radical Leadership RADICAL LEADERSHIP I. Significant Case Facts Ricardo Semler the CEO of Semco Group of São Paolo, Brazil was not just the typical or traditional leader. He is radical; he breaks all the traditional “rules” of leading. He’s the ultimate hands-off leader; he doesn’t even have an office at the company’s headquarters. Semler’s philosophy is simple: Treat people like adult and they’ll respond like adults. Semler’s participative management approach is the belief that “organizations thrive best by entrusting employees to apply their creativity and ingenuity in service of the whole enterprise, and to make important decisions close to the flow of work, conceivably including the selection of their bosses.” And according to Semler, his approach works well. The employees have free will because there are no organizational charts, no long term plans, no corporate values statements, no dress codes, and no written rules or policy manuals. They also decide their work hours and their pay levels. The employees also select the corporate leadership and decide most of the company’s new strategic initiatives. Semler maintains his approach and has enabled Semco to survive the roller-coaster nature of Brazilian politics. Semco not just survive but also prosper. Semler says “If you look at Semco’s numbers, we’ve grown 27.5 percent a year for 14 years.” And Semler attributes that fact to flexibility…of his company and, most importantly of...
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...Recardo semler leads in possibly the most radical place to work in the world – the group of companies that makes the Brazils semco SA. Everything is constantly questioned at semco, nothing is taken for granted. Which is how they come up with a radically different way of recruiting, which keeps their employee turnover at 1-2 percent per annum. Semler explain in this 60 second leader tale: Get the Right people a key part of leadership is getting the right people. But recruitment today internal dating. Two dates and you get married forever? That’s why your employee turnover is so high and you are so often disappointed by some of the people you recruit. How semco recruit leaders? Step 01 At SEMCO we recruit leaders differently. We employees 4000 people. When a business unit comes up with something new, first of all we ask people in house ‘do you need a leader for this new thing you are doing? Usually they say yes’ The internal discount Then we ask ‘is one of you right to be the leader? We discount internal people 30 percent when applying for new role, when we are scoring them against the profile. Because the 30 percent is the existing value of knowing we can work with them and them with us’ The recruitment ad When we place an ad for a position it says something like ‘interested in working for us? We want to seeif we like you and vice versa The recruitment conversation We then have a long conversation with all the candidates. Anyone interested in the new appointment internal...
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...“Treat people like adult, and they will respond like adults” This is the philosophy of Ricardo Semler, which is used to build the business Semco Group with great leadership management. Ricardo Semler that only one person breaks all the traditional rules of leadership and making their own rules. Other business also can belief and follow this philosophy because can improve and more positive in leadership management to build great management. Every people have their own ego, so if we serve them with proper or right method they also will give good feedback. Example the employees was done wrong step in production, so the manager reprimand and correcting them with right way not to anger to them. So the employees will accept the reprimand and remind the step also, indirectly the production will increase and more quality will produce. In this situation the employee easier and more comfort to working with this environment. In the modern life style, every people have their own behaviour that different with each other. Ricardo Semler belief that the “organization thrive best by entrusting employees to apply their creativity and ingenuity in service of the whole enterprise, and to make important decisions close to the flow of work, conceivably include the selection and election of their bosses”. Good environments of working also paste a role to contribute more quality in production. Ricardo Semler wants all our people to feel free to change and adapt their working...
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...INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CALCUTTA BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE II (BS-102) (PGP-1 Compulsory Course) Term 2 – (September 16, 2013 – November 2, 2013) Instructors |Prof. Vidyanand Jha |Prof. Nimruji Prasad | |E 206, New Teaching Block |K 402, New Academic Block | |Ext: 519 |Ext: 721 | |vjha@iimcal.ac.in |nimruji@iimcal.ac.in | |Prof. Chetan Joshi |Prof. Devi Vijay | |K 406, New Academic Block |K408, New Academic Block | |Ext: 782 |Ext: 784 | |chetan@iimcal.ac.in |devivijay@iimcal.ac.in | COURSE OUTLINE Objective The course aims at building and further developing on the perspectives of why organizations exist and how they are designed to achieve their objectives. This course would require you to analyze and examine organizations around you...
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...subsequently through some of my Experiences: * Dehumanized Workers, Lack of Autonomy and Monotony of Work: Introduction of Execute Only concept has led to workers being dehumanized as they were not allowed to voice their opinions while performing an activity. This leads to dissatisfaction among the workers which affects the sustenance of maximum speed state. Monotonous work added fuel to the fire aggravating the level of dissatisfaction among workers. In the famous “Hawthorne Experiment” it was revealed that one of the main factors in productivity improvement is the autonomy allowed at workplace i.e. Involvement and Authority to take decisions in the performed activities. In the famous bestseller “Maverick”, Ricardo Semler – Owner of SEMCO shows that involvement of workers and letting them take decisions has a profound impact on the performance of the organization. Even from my Personal Experience at Tata Group I can state that autonomy and TEI (Total Employee Involvement) is a critical success factor. When I joined my organization I was posted at one of the plant locations at Faridabad where I was supposed to take care of the operations...
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...creative employees, don’t smother them with ridiculous rules. For 25 years, Semler has been putting into practise what increasing numbers of modern management gurus are now preaching. He heads a democratic company, Semco, where employees set their hours, determine their salaries and choose their bosses. Managers don’t have secretaries, reserved parking spaces or even desks. There is minimal bureaucracy. No IT or human-resources departments. No mission statement, no five-year plan. Meetings are voluntary and every employee has a say in everything. Once, when Semler organized a meeting to discuss developing a speedier dishwasher for the consumer market, no one showed up. And the idea was shelved. Semco was a traditionally managed engineering company when the young Ricardo Semler took over from his father. He was just 22 and had brought philosophical conflicts with his father to a climax: The son demanded that Semco steer away from its activities as a shipbuilding supplier and abandon autocratic management in favour of decentralization. He threatened to leave the company, so his father gave him a free hand. On his first day as director, Ricardo Semler fired 60 percent of senior management and began laying the foundation for a democratic organization. Semco has long since abandoned its engineering activities. The company now develops software, is building a hotel and ecological resort and is involved with hospital and...
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...York, J.D., Assistant Professor of Management, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT 1 Through his unique leadership style, Ricardo Semler, President & CEO of Semco S.A., a Brazilian manufacturing company, has literally redefined the concept of employee empowered leadership. At 20, the youngest graduate of the Harvard Business School, Semler is known around the world for championing his employee-friendly management style. Researched from primary sources including his best selling books, Maverick: The Success Story Behind The World’s Most Unusual Workplace (1993 ) first published in 1988 as Turning the Tables, and THE SEVEN-DAY WEEKEND: Changing the Way Work Works (2004), as well as two articles he authored in the Harvard Business Review, Managing Without Managers, (1989) and Why My Employees Still Work For Me (1994), this paper provides readers with insights on how to get beyond those who say that organizations are too large and/or too bureaucratic to change. In addition, it provides concrete examples of how his company routinely ignores the rules while at the same time creating a new paradigm for creative leadership and organizational effectiveness. Overview Semco S.A., founded by Antonio Semler in 1912, was a traditionally managed industrial equipment company, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Today Semco S.A. manufactures pumps used to empty oil tankers, high volume industrial dish washers, cooling units for air conditioners and various types of industrial mixers for the...
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...Plan For A Product Of Innocent Drinks Marketing Essay The report describes the marketing plan for the repositioning of the product “This Water” offered by “Innocent Drinks”. Company was founded in 1999 and offers smoothies and flavoured spring water in Super markets, coffee shops, cinemas and other outlets in UK and other countries. Company has decided to re-launch its existing product “This Water” in the cinemas in the UK with the new name “This Water Plus”. This report covers the marketing plan and marketing strategies to reposition the product. The period for the marketing plan is set from 2nd January 2011 to 1st September 2012. All the effecting factors are consider while planning the plan including current world and specifically UK economic position after recession as UK economy is still in process to gain its recovery position. Innocent Drinks has improved the design and packaging of its product to make it more attractive and focused on the corporate social responsibility. They used recycled material for the packaging and also contributes portion of the profit towards charitable work. They have targeted the UK cinemas to offer this product. Innocent Drinks is a UK based company established in 1999 by three Cambridge graduates. Its main business is producing smoothies and flavoured spring water. Company sells its products in supermarkets, cinemas and coffee shops. It has branches in UK, France, Austria, Denmark, Amsterdam, Brussels and Germany. Company enjoys 71% of UK...
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...Ricardo Semler is one of the greatest business managers of all times in the Brazilian city Sao Paulo. After joining his father in the company it was his father's believe that if his son does not work for him he will do so for someone else. But to maintain him in the company the father had to resign as the CEO and handed over the vast business to his younger son who was only 21 by then and had just graduated from Harvard Business School. Initially his father used the traditional style of management but his son was to use a more centralize leadership method. To effect this he started by firing all the top managers of the company on the day he started working as the CEO and introducing young innovative minds of whom he knew would adapt easily to his style of management. Having been introduced to run his father’s enterprises immediately after graduating from a business school he moved on to introduce great changes in the working environment and ended up having the best productive workforce. With a turnover of less than $ 4 million at his entry he led the company to an annual turnover of $ 212 million in 2003. When you treat your employees like adults they purely behave like adults and hence they become more productive and dedicate themselves to the work environment. With these changes he allowed and encouraged the employees to evaluate themselves and their managers as well. They were also encouraged to rate themselves as to how much they should be paid and learn each other’s jobs...
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...A15-98-0024 Ricardo Semler and Semco S.A. Introduction In 1982 at the age of 24, Ricardo Semler took control of Semler & Company, a business founded and, until then, managed by his father. At that time, this Brazilian company’s organizational structure, like many historical Latin American enterprises, was a paternalistic, pyramidal hierarchy led by an autocratic leader with a rule for every contingency. Upon taking office, the younger Semler began dramatic organizational restructuring. Among other things, he immediately renamed the company Semco, eliminated all secretarial positions, and implemented an aggressive product diversification strategy. Most observers predicted that these actions would destroy the company. Semler’s changes, however, did not bring about the demise of the struggling industrial equipment manufacturer. Rather, they created a remarkably flexible organization whose sales grew from $35 million in 1990 to $100 million in 1996. Semco became one of the most sought-after employers in Brazil, manufacturing over two thousand different products, including marine pumps, commercial dishwashers, digital scanners, filters, and mixing equipment, and diversified into banking and environmental services. Over 150 Fortune 500 companies visited Semco in an attempt to discover the secret of its success. Ricardo Semler’s accomplishments were all the more remarkable when considered against the backdrop of the erratic economy that all of Brazil operated under as the country...
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...Organizational culture : SEMCO has three core values 1. employee participation 2. profit sharing 3. free flow of information Employee participation: It is the cornerstone of the semco culture which indicates the participation of every employee in major decisions. Participation gives people control of their work. The company admits that it operates on involvement and participation of its employees. Employees were encouraged to share their ideas and opinions. For example, the purchase of new site or any merger is done via vote of all employees. The main problem according to semler is autocracy. According to him we are still restricted by a system that doesn’t allow democracy in workplace. It’s very important to include our every employee in day today decisions that we take in the company. Profit sharing: The employees determine the profit share that they should get and also decide how to split it. It creates the feeling of ownership, says semler. Employees enjoy 25 % of company’s total profit. It directly affects their efficiency. The way of working is different by the employees when they have a sense of ownership. Profit sharing give them a reason to do things better. They work more sincerely and with more effort. In this way employees themselves can decide that what they will get at the end of the year. Free flow of information: Each piece of information is available to everybody. Nothing is kept as secret. Every employee is trained how to read a balance...
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