Successful Public Relation (PR)

Public relations is the opposite of advertising. In advertising, you have to pay to placed you message in a newspaper. PR is the article that features your company is not paid for. The reporter (whether they broadcast or print, write about or films) about your company as a result of information he or she received and researched.

Definition – efforts to establish and maintain a company’s / organization’s image with the public.

How to tell corporate story effectively;

1. The starting point – a simple, recognizable truth. E.g; Nike’s slogan “Just do it”

2. The point of view must leave a space for the listener – good stories fire the listener’s imagination. They draw people in and include them in the story telling process.

3. The storyteller – author Mark Helprin believes that every good company requires a strong personality and a credible narrator whom people will want to listen to. Helprin asserts that a good storyteller “can’t help himself”. The passion comes through. He or she becomes a vessel in which an urgent story wells up and must be told. One person who exemplifies this is Steve Jobs.

**Steve Jobs – Steven Paul Jobs, he’s a co-founder and chief executive officer of apple Inc. he has contributed greatly to the myths of the idiosyncratic, individualistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur where by he emphasizing the importance of design and understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal. His work driving forward the development of products that are both fractional and elegant has earned him a devoted following.

** Silicon Valley – situated in southern part of San Francisco where the large number of silicon chip investors and manufacturer is there. Now it eventually comes to refer to all the high tech business (some kind leader high-tech hub) because it’s large number of engineers and venture capitalists.

How can PR boost my business?

1. Increase sales – by targeting a pool of potential buyers, you can build visibility and thus grow your client base. Each time people read your company name and associate it with something positive, it will reinforce their awareness of your firm and help them differentiate your company from your competitors.

2. Build credibility – business start ups often need to build their credibility quickly to compete with more establish rivals. By positioning yourself as an expert in your filed, you can attract media attention and serve as a quoted source in published articles.

3. Forge a customer relationships – emerging-growth entrepreneurs will tell you that its not enough to win a new customer. You need to convince a new comer to come back and buy more. By aligning your PR campaign with your goal of attracting repeat business, you can build consumer confidence and trust. E.g; profiling some of your best customers on the web, you send a message that you value your customer and share a stake in their success.

4. Penetrate new market – when you enter a new market or launch a new product or services, you need to alert potential buyers that you have open for business. Effective PR can draw them in and educate them about what you offer.

9 PR tools

1. Press release – short document details about what’s new, different or exciting about your business. Press releases make it easy for journalist to understand how their audience might benefit by learning more.

2. Press kit – often includes in press release along with background information and your business card all packed neatly in a snazzy, eye-catching folder. Folder might also include photos, product info sheets, articles from other publication, customer testimonials, list of FAQ.

3. Newsletters – provide short articles and practical info that interest your target audience.

4. Bylined articles – the advantages of writing articles about your area of expertise and persuading editors to publish your submission for your name, phone no, websites and a few sentences about your business to appear at the end of the piece.

5. Awards – applying for industry or local awards provides great visibility if you win or earn recognition as a finalist. Many trade journals, government agencies and professionals association sponsor annual best of awards programs for entrepreneurs.

6. Outline outreach – smart, media-savvy entrepreneurs use chat rooms, their own websites and other internet based tools to launch awareness-building campaigns.

7. Special events – examples include fund-raises, contest and drawing, public celebrations of your company milestones such as your firm’s anniversary, book signing and client parties.

8. Trade shows / conferences – to maximize your presence at a large event, you may want to pay for a centrally-located booth that’s guaranteed heavy ‘foot traffic’. Or you can save money and strategically prowl the aisles to spread the message, perhaps by introducing yourself to key contacts on participating in ‘breakout’ sessions that relate to your business.

9. Speech – deliver a speech on your business to community groups, local schools, or nonprofit agencies.

Keys to successful PR

1. Blog – it is unlikely that you will get a positive response by directly blogging about your service and products. Selling yourself too directly is a turn off rather than a turn on. However companies are finding success from courting popular bloggers, sending them samples and invites them to launch parties in return for an endorsement. By gaining the support of popular bloggers, your company can reach a growing market that is taking over traditional forms of media. Why bloggers? Bloggers are seen as real people with no motive, not an organization trying to manipulate us into something we (organization) do not want. Bloggers have their own core audience and you can use this to seduce the authors into advertising your products. E.g: Redmummy is one of the famous blogger in Malaysia and organizations like MAS, Brands Singapore, Nippon Paint, Nestle, etc. Visit her website for more info.

2. Do not point finger – don’t blame anyone else or don’t point out the mistakes of your competitors just to launch your own product because it will not win you any supporters. PR is all about positivity. Don’t tend to do something so that other company will look bad. Focus on positive aspects and features of your product – uniqueness, good quality and value for money.

3. Get people talking about you – we know the power of advertisement through “word of mouth” a catchy phrase or the use of a well known song can get people talking and when a friend recommends a product to us, we will give it more credibility than if a stranger on the tv says we should buy it.

4. Be sociable – the rise of social networking sites has been immense with everyone. The most popular social networking sites have over 200 million members with half of these members logging on at least once a day. Internets with huge percentage of users have memberships to one or more social networking sites and they are proving successful way to target potential customers. Creating a positive way of your organization and keeping your followers up to date with promotions and new products is tried and tested PR activity.

5. Maintain good relations – successful PR campaign do not start and end with the launch of product. If your initial campaign was successful and your products or services were bought, so your next aim should be retain those customers and keeping them with exclusive offers and promotions.

** Long term commitment – send message (story telling on corporate story), launch of new product. When people love it and bought the product with a good customer service and maintain your product and service.

** Short term fix – e.g; Colgate toothpaste, halal or haram? Colgate toothpaste displaying the Halal seal because of consumer confusion, Colgate petitioned for and was granted, special approval to place the seal on the pack. So after 50 years of being Halal in Malaysia, Colgate now displays the seal.

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility – form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Business would embrace responsibility for the impact of their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Furthermore, business would proactively promote the public interest by encouraging community growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that the sphere, regardless of legality.

Business ethics – form of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral on ethical problems that arise in a business conduct and is relevant to conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole. Applied ethics is a field of ethics that deals with ethical questions in many fields such as medical, technical, legal and business ethics.

E.g; Multinationals company take advantage of international differences such as outsourcing production and services to law-wage countries.

E.g; Foreign countries often use dumping as a competitive threat, selling products at prices lower than their value. This can lead to problems in domestic markets. It becomes difficult for this market to compete with the pricing set by foreign market. It seen as unethical because large companies are taking advantage of other less economically advanced companies.

E.g; Issue of child labor in India and other developing countries – its ethical to do but here in Malaysia and US, it is unethical.

Ethical issues can arise when companies must comply with multiple and sometimes conflicting legal on cultural standards as in the case of multinational companies that operate in countries with varying practices.

E.g; US law forbids companies from paying bribes either domestically or overseas. However, in other parts of the world, bribery is a customary accepted way of doing business.

** Wages – foreign companies like to hired labor from developing countries because its cheap.

** Misuse of the intellectual property systems to stifle competition, patent misuse, copy right misuse, patent troll. E.g; McDonald’s losses court battle against McCurry – the issue of local Indian food outlet, McCurry Restaurant to use ‘Mc’ in its business signage. McCurry signboard carried the words “Restoran McCurry” while McDonalds logo as a whole, consists of a distinctive golden arched “M” and using red color. While McCurry using white (lettering) and grey color. McDonalds accused McCurry copied their name and use it as a brand name / logo. But unfortunately, McDonald’s loss the case and McCurry continued using the name on their signboard.

What skills or competencies would be required for a Corporate Social Responsibility role? – it is vary according to the company / organizations:

1. Environmental responsibilities
2. PR oriented
3. Business skills, impact and vision – decision making, leadership, commercial awareness, IT, innovation, strategic awareness, problem solving
4. Communication, influencing and people skills – political awareness, building teams, open minded.
5. Professional and technical skills – technical expertise, understanding impacts, internal consultant, selling the business case, understanding human rights and society and understanding sustainability.

- Every private or public sector, international and non-profit concerns all need to consider corporate social responsibility. United Nation for example, launched the Global Impact as an initiative to convince international companies to commit to universal principles regarding protection of human rights, labor rights and the environment.

Some examples / cases that related to corporate social responsibility;

1. Shell Sustainability Report 2008 – committed to contribute sustainable development. For them, it means helping to meet the world’s growing need for energy in economically, socially and environmentally responsible way.
2. McDonald’s 2009 Global Best of Green – listed a few McDonalds outlet for people to vote as the best outlet who have done a great social responsibility. ( http://crmcdonalds.com ).
3. Nike – the ultimate resources for business side of Nike is considered design and environment. The purposes are to; (i) reduce waste generated across their entire supply chain, (ii) reduce CO2 emissions, (iii) use chemistry and design innovation to eliminate toxins and waste, (iv) design themselves into ultimate, aspiration goal of creating closed-loop products and business models (products that can be reused and recycled).

8 STEPS TO PREVENT COMMON ETHICAL LAPSES

8 Steps to Prevent Common Ethical Lapses in Organizations

By James Gehrke

A review of case studies of ethical problems various organizations have encountered show that many common ethical problems that organizations find themselves facing arise from individuals protecting their own financial benefit and/or the short-term economic goals of their organizations and not protecting other key stakeholders of the business or organization. Organizations can avoid serious consequences by considering the consequences of their actions to six key stakeholders, including; business partners, customers, employees, opinion formers, community and authorities (Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 196). By analyzing decisions using these six groups as a guide; "one can begin to identify how a variety of calamities might affect a company's reputation and the value of its brand, and how much those calamities might cost" (p. 196).

By reviewing how companies have both effectively and ineffectively responded to severe ethical dilemmas, leaders of organizations can identify 8 steps for preventing ethical dilemmas in their own organizations.

1. Top down responsibility for ethical behavior must exist within an organization. The head of the organization must take responsibility to manage the ethical behavior of the organization. This responsibility cannot be delegated. Furthermore, this responsibility cannot be downplayed to a lesser role than other key leadership responsibilities, such as, short term profits. Top leadership must set the ethical tone of the organization. They must communicate their vision regarding ethical behavior to employees often and with as much emphasis and clarity as they do with other organization goals. The leader cannot leave the ethical tone of the organization to chance or to others within the organization.

2. Organizations must design a code of ethics for the organization. This code should be developed with input from a broad section of individuals within the organization. It should be distributed to every member of the organization and referred to often in training and other types of communication to employees so that it is not just a manual that sits in a file but is seen as a valid document for answering questions regarding what is accepted and not accepted as appropriate behavior within the organization.

3. Policies must be established and reinforced in the organization regarding how to report ethical abuses. Employees must understand how to report problems and know that they can do so without fear of retribution. Care must be taken that this is not just a theoretical exercise but that examples of real reporting be given and employees are rewarded for reporting ethical dilemmas.

4. Ethical responsibility must be taught to members of the organization. This must be done in various settings including on boarding of new employees, ongoing workshops, business meetings, round-table discussions with leaders, newsletters, websites, etc... Training should include case studies where employees must examine and discuss ethical dilemmas that they realistically might face and possible actions they should take. These case studies should include real cases that have occurred or theoretical cases that may occur in the organization so individuals can understand the proper way to handle real life issues. Employees must clearly understand what they have a shared individual ethical responsibility to each of the stakeholders along with the responsibility of the organization.

5. Practices must be incorporated to ensure that discussions regarding ethics are included in the decision making process. For example, a "devil's advocate" should challenge decisions in order to explore whether unforeseen stakeholders may be jeopardized as a result of the decision; or decisions should be reviewed by an ethics committee or department to evaluate whether other stakeholders may be at risk. The practice of questioning decisions and openly exploring their consequences must be encouraged and rewarded.

6. Accountability for ethical behavior must be taken seriously by all levels of the organization. Unethical behavior should be punished and not allowed to continue. Ethical behavior must be rewarded. Performance management systems should include ethical behavior as well as other key aspects of job performance. Those higher in an organization should be punished equally as those lower in the organization. In fact, it could be justified to punish those higher in the organization more severely than those at entry level positions because they should know better and because of the example it sets for others in the organization.

7. Organizations should act swiftly to protect stakeholders when dilemmas occur. Contingency plans should be made for dealing with a crisis in order to act quickly to protect stakeholders in times of emergencies.

8. Members of the organization must know that their primary responsibility is to defend and maintain the high reputation of the organization at all times. Leaders should encourage standards of behavior to be set higher than what the law requires. What is lawful should be considered a minimum standard; however, standards should be set higher than this minimum in order to enhance and protect the reputation of the organization. Conduct below that standard should not be accepted and raising the bar higher should be rewarded and recognized by senior leaders.

References:

Trevino, L., and Nelson, K., (2005). Corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

MORE NOTES ON CONTROLLING

What's the transformation process in a service business like a dry cleaners or a VCR-repair shop?

The transformation process in a service business is very similar to that of a manufacturing organization. That is, a service business takes in inputs, transforms them or processes them into the service being provided which, in effect, is the output. What makes it somewhat difficult to understand this transformation process in service businesses is the fact that you don't "see" the output of a service business. The transformation process and the output are inseparable since the service is produced and consumed simultaneously.

Is productivity an individual or an organizational measure?

Both! And it's also an industry or a national (country) measure! Very simply, productivity is a measure of output divided by the inputs needed to generate that output. It's an identical term to efficiency. The term "productivity" typically is used as a measure of organizational, industry, or country performance although you may hear references to how productive an individual is. Government agencies collect productivity information for various sectors of the economy and use these as measures of how well our economy is doing. Likewise, organizations will collect information about resource usage and level of outputs in order to determine organizational productivity. Some organizations even collect productivity information for their various divisions, departments, or units.

Why have operations issues become so important to organizations?

Operations issues have become important to organizations because every single organization "produces" something-even not-for-profit organizations. Doing this in a way that is efficient and effective and that leads to an organization's being globally competitive requires strict attention to operations issues. Those organizations that expect to successfully and profitably compete in the future are incorporating operations decisions into their strategic plans and are approaching the operations processes as carefully as the marketing, financial, and human resource management processes. Do you think that Southwest Airlines would be where it is today if it hadn't paid attention to its operations? Would it be able to have the quick gate turnarounds that it does if it didn't pay close attention to operations inputs and processes? After all, as Southwest's CEO Herb Kelleher says, "You don't make money sitting on the ground." Successful companies know that operations management issues are important ingredients in success.

Why have organizations recently become so enamored with building strong supplier relationships?

Organizations have begun to recognize the interdependent relationship they have with their suppliers. Since suppliers provide the "inputs," the organization is heavily dependent on them. Their fortunes are closely linked! In this supplier-organization relationship, two goals that tend to be quite important are controlling costs and increasing quality. By collaborating and partnering with suppliers, organizations are discovering that they can achieve better quality of inputs, fewer defects in finished products and services, and lower costs. Wal-Mart is an example of an organization that has a system of highly developed alliances with its suppliers. This hand-in-hand collaboration is good for Wal-Mart because it gives them greater control over costs and quality. And it's good for the suppliers because they have assurances that their products are being sold through the world's largest retailer!

How does value chain management provide value?

Well, first off, let's define what value is-the performance characteristics, features and attributes, and any other aspects of goods and services for which customers are willing to give up resources. Value is created through the transformation of raw materials and other resources into some product or service that customers need or desire when, where, and how they want it. Value means different things to different people. For instance, your next class starts in 30 minutes and you're hungry. You're willing to give up resources (money) for a product and service that's quick and filling. You see a Subway Sandwiches poster on a campus bulletin board and decide to go there because it's close by. You willingly hand over $3.99 for a sandwich at Subway. You received value because you got a product that met your specific needs at that time and place. How did Subway provide that "value?" It was created through the value chain-which simply is the entire series of organizational work activities that add value at each step. From the purchasing of the food supplies to the assembling of the sandwich to the advertising that you saw on the campus bulletin board, each work activity was designed to provide value to customers. Because every organization needs customers if it's going to survive and prosper, it's important to understand how value is created and delivered to those customers. By the way, that's the whole concept behind value chain management.

Why should an organization want to closely integrate its work activities with other outside organizations?

This does seem counter-productive, doesn't it? After all, wouldn't this type of close collaboration seem to give managers less control over important work activities? And since when can you trust others outside your organization? These cultural beliefs are among the hardest to change as an organization pursues a value chain management approach. Yet, we have to remember that the goal of value chain management is to create a value chain strategy that meets and exceeds customers' needs and desires and allows for full and seamless integration among all members of the value chain-inside and outside. For this value chain strategy to work, all value chain participants must collaborate. That's the only way to provide the value that customers want and are willing to pay for. The result of this collaboration-better customer solutions. And, when value is created for customers and their needs and desires are satisfied, everyone along the chain benefits.

How can an organization successfully manage its value chain?

The first thing to recognize is that it's not easy to manage the value chain because it can be difficult for managers to know and understand what the organization's value chain encompasses. However, successful value chain management is possible if six main requirements are met. These include (1) a close coordination and collaboration among value chain partners, (2) a significant investment in technology, (3) a critical evaluation of organizational processes to determine where value is being added and making changes, if necessary, (4) strong, supportive, competent leadership, (5) human resource requirements including flexible approaches to job design, an effective hiring process, and ongoing training, and (6) very important...a supportive organizational culture and attitudes.

A business model sounds a lot like a strategy. Is it?

You're very perceptive. Yes, a business model is simply a strategic design for how the company intends to profit from its strategies, processes, and activities. As today's managers face a dynamic competitive marketplace, they're having to experiment with new business models that will allow them to be more efficient and effective.

***Big thank you to Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter, Robbins Online Learning System (R.O.L.L.S), Pearson, Prentice Hall

NOTES FOR CONTROLLING

CONTROLLING

If things are going as planned, why is control necessary?

I think this question can be answered by saying how do you know things are going as planned unless you do control. Control is much more than just taking care of problems that have come up. It also involves monitoring activities, comparing performance to standards, and then taking action as needed.

How is controlling related to the other functions of management?

Controlling is the final link in the ongoing management process. It's the only way we know whether goals are being met and why they are or are not being accomplished as planned. Managing doesn't involve just one or two or even three of the functions. It takes a manager performing all four management functions-planning, organizing, leading, and controlling-to ensure that organizational members' work activities are completed effectively and efficiently.

What's the difference between immediate corrective action and basic corrective action? Which is more difficult to do? When should each be used?

These are all good questions! What options does a manager have when he or she discovers that actual performance isn't measuring up to standards? One option is immediate corrective action. This involves correcting problems immediately in order to get performance back on track. It's "putting out fires" as they arise. The other option for correcting performance is more general and comprehensive in nature. Basic corrective action involves digging deeper-determining why and how performance has deviated and then correcting the source of that deviation. Because it's more thorough, basic corrective action tends to be more difficult to do because it takes time and effort to look for reasons why performance is deviating and then taking action to correct these deviations. Immediate corrective action is real-time, right-now, get-it-solved. There's not the search for reasons behind the deviation. The focus is on getting the problem solved immediately. Each of these approaches does have its place, however. A manager should use immediate corrective action when a problem arises that must be addressed immediately. Let me share an example. One school night I was running late and stopped at a local fast food restaurant to pick up something quick for dinner. When I got home and set out the food for my family, we discovered that part of our order was missing. I got back in my car, drove back to the restaurant, and asked for the manager. When I explained what had happened-trying my best to remain calm-she gladly gave me the missing items and even threw in dessert for all of us. The manager took immediate corrective action to resolve the performance deviation. However, let's say that this problem keeps occurring. Customers aren't getting what they ordered. At this point, the manager needs to take basic corrective action. She needs to uncover where the problem lies. Do employees need better training in order taking and order filling? Is there too much noise in the kitchen and work area for people to properly hear what is being ordered? Is there a problem with the cash register? Knowing when immediate corrective action is appropriate and when basic corrective action needs to be taken is something that managers must learn.

Can managers delegate control?

Yes, managers can delegate, and have been delegating, control to subordinates. Many employees have been empowered to measure actual performance, compare that performance against standards, and then take any necessary action. This doesn't relieve the manager of the ultimate responsibility for work performance, however. The manager's job is to coordinate work efforts so that goals are being met efficiently and effectively. And this means keeping an eye on things even if control has been delegated.

Why is what we control probably more important than how we control?

What we control is more important than how we control because the criteria we choose to focus on determines what organizational members will attempt to excel at. What performance measures will be used to determine whether goals are being met? The choice of performance measures will influence employees' work behaviors.

Which is more serious: overvariance or undervariance?

Overvariance and undervariance refer to the range of variation between actual performance and the established standard. Determining which is more serious really depends on the performance being measured. For example, undervariance on a measure such as quality or profits can be serious. But undervariance on safety violations can be a positive thing. Likewise, overvariance on a measure such as product defects can be serious, but overvariance on number of sales calls completed can be good. Either way, when there is a variation outside the acceptable range, a manager needs to assess the situation to determine if action is needed.

Why would managers want to control for organizational performance?

Performance is the end result of an activity. It's "how you do" on a test after reading and studying your textbook and class notes. It's the score you receive on a term paper after researching, writing, editing, and rewriting the material. It's how a sales rep for Eli Lilly does in convincing physicians to prescribe one of the company's new drugs. It's how an organization is doing in its work. The performance that results lets us know how well we've done at what we said we were going to accomplish. And, of course, managers want to control for organizational performance since that's how they know the end results of all the work processes and activities that are taking place, whether the organization has 100, 1,000, or 10,000 employees.

Isn't MBWA a subjective and inferior way to control work activities?

Quite the contrary! MBWA (management by walking, or wandering, around) is a great way to find out "up close and personal" what your subordinates are dealing with and the types of issues they're facing. You may have the impression that just because MBWA doesn't generate quantitative measures that it's too subjective and thus is inferior to other methods of controlling. However, by getting out and personally observing employees at work, you're getting first-hand information that's not filtered or subject to someone else's interpretation.

***Big thank you to Stephen P. Robbins & Mary Coulter, Robbins Online Learning System (R.O.L.L.S), Pearson, Prentice Hall

more NOTES!!

LEADING

Leadership is the process of influencing a group to achieve goals. The person or someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority is the leader. In leading, there are many motivation theories that can be applied. One of the theories is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. We know human need physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization needs. Maslow’s theory is a motivation theory because it addresses unsatisfied needs. If a need is already substantially satisfied, it won’t motivate. Those needs that are unsatisfied and dominant are motivators.

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y, is also one of the motivation theories. Theory X is the assumption that the workers are lazy, avoid responsibility and dislike work. While Theory Y is the assumption that the workers are creative, seek responsibility and can exercise self-direction. In reality, either set of assumptions may be appropriate. It depends on the situation – the type of job being done, the experience and skills of the worker, and so forth. If the manager followed the X theory, he/she can be effective, if they doing the job they like, and have experience about the job.

How can managers motivate high achievers? – the secret to motivating high achievers is designing jobs that score high on personal responsibility, feedback, and offer moderate risks. Interestingly, that probably makes working on teams less appealing. It doesn’t mean that high achievers won’t perform well on teams. But it does mean that you should probably make sure they have their own clear area of responsibility, let them know how they’re doing, make their tasks challenging but not too challenging, and provide individual as well as team rewards.

Isn’t it possible for goals to hinder motivation and performance? – Goals can hinder motivation and performance when they are set unrealistically high. Employees are likely to give up or only go through the motions if they realize their goals are reachable. Additionally, some people are likely to take offense if the goals are given to them without the being able to provide any input. This is particularly true among professionals. So assigned goals with such types could have negative results.

Do effective leaders have common traits (characteristics)? – Media seems to think that effective leader do have common traits. They always stated that in their articles. The research tells us that there are some common traits that regularly seem to differentiate leaders from others, which are ambition and energy, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence, and job-related knowledge. But those traits provide no guarantee success because it depends on the cause and effect.

For example, are leaders self-confident, or does success as leader build self-confidence. But the fact is that an individual can show his/her traits and others will think that he/she is the leader, but not necessarily mean that the individual is successful at getting his/her team to achieve its goals.

Are leadership styles fixed? – Some people have a fixed style and some people are not. The reason for the person have fixed style because they are comfortable with it and regardless of the situation, they stay with it. Leadership success will require this leader (with fixed style) to select situation that match-up well with their style.

Do effective leaders treat all followers alike? – Leaders often act very differently toward different individual or groups. They put people they like into their “in-group” and people they dislike into their “out-group”. Those who are in the “in-group” normally have the same characteristics (age, gender, and attitudes) as the leaders have or have a higher-level of competence than out-group members. They are more trusted, get a disproportionate amount of the leader’s attention, and are likely to receive special privileges.

It seems like a lot of readers really can’t lead, but they do a good job of looking like a leader. Are such leaders still effective? – To answer this question, you must know how you define effectiveness. If you define effectiveness by looking at objective performance, then you are looking for leaders that can perform very well in achieving the organization’s goals. If the leaders perform poorly on objective measures, but you see him/her as smart, attractive, verbally adept, friendly, with good sense of humour; their consistent and unwavering in their decision making. People often mistakenly confuse these qualities with leadership, because they look at the person by perceptual measures. So, in reality, we need to be aware that in situations where hard and objectives measures of performance aren’t used, leaders are likely to be judge by their ability or inability to exhibit the appearance of leadership.

Is charisma a desirable characteristic for every leader? As a leader, how would you know when you needed to use charisma and when you didn’t need to use it? – Charismatic leader is someone with an enthusiastic, self-confident leader whose personality and action influence people to behave in certain ways. All situations don’t require a charismatic leader. Charisma is most appropriate when there is a strong ideological component. Charisma is something that most of us can turn off and on. Even if we could, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. People will see you as manipulative and inconsistent-neither characteristic which is desirable in a leader. On the other hand, if you can develop it, do so. It’s not going to hurt you.

new notes!!!

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE & DESIGN

Organizing defined as arranging and structuring work to accomplish the organization’s goals. While organizational structure is the formal arrangement of jobs within an organization. Every management level will have to organize the company/organization, even the lower level manager. As a lower-level manager, the kind of organizing he will be doing is to be concerned with the design of specific jobs. He/she has to find out; should a job be done by individuals or teams? What tasks need to be completed? What’s the best way of completing these tasks? Who in the given department is best qualified for doing the tasks?

Nowadays, lower-level managers always are asked to participate in decisions that affect the structure above them. For example, a department supervisor might be on a committee involved with reorganizing her/his division.

Normally if we’re the manager, we have authority. But it is not necessary we will have power over people. Authority is the rights inherent in a managerial position to tell people what to do and expect them to do it. Authority is actually a subset or power. Power is the large concept. All managerial positions come with a degree of authority. But you don’t have to be a manager to have power. You have power if you have something that others want and which you control. People will look up to you, admire your expertise and accomplishment, and willing to follow your directives. In today’s organizations, a lot of technical specialist has power not because they have managerial authority, but because they have an expertise that others need.

Organizational structure that can be applied with several ways, such as;

1. Work specialization – dividing work activities into separate job tasks. Work specialization can be done either in groups or by individuals. Sometimes people will ask either working in groups will undermine work specialization. As a fact, teams can do specialized, repetitive, and routine activities too. Hence, no matter how hard or simple the job is, it can be done in groups. So, teams are not going to undermine work specialization.

2. Span of control – the number of employees a manager effectively and efficiently manage. To make sure the span of control structure being applied effectively by identifying the type of job being done, the amount of training and experience the workers have, the degree of formalization, and the presence or absence of supportive colleagues.

e.g : consider two company, company A have employees that are doing routine tasks, they’ve all been doing them for years, there are specific rules and regulations to govern their jobs, and department members help each other out with problems. The supervisor in this department might be able to directly oversee 20 or 25 people. While company B made up of mostly new employees with little experience. The jobs are complicated; the company doesn’t have many formal rules and regulations. And there are no manuals to go to when employees have a problem. Moreover, workers tend to be not friendly with each other. In such situation, a supervisor might not be able to handle more than 4 or 5 employees.

The most effective span of control depends on a number of contingency factors. The fact that organizations is giving managers wider spans is largely made possible by hiring people with better skills and providing these employees with increased training.

3. Formalization – how standardized on organization’s jobs are and the extent to which employees behaviour is guided by rules and procedures. There are pros and cons for high formalization, the pros are:

a. Reduces the need for tight supervision or a strong culture – the rules and regulations provide employees with guidance in how they should behave.

b. Allows organizations to hire less qualified and less costly applicants.
And the cons is costly to create and can demoralize workers who desire autonomy and decision discretion.

Amongst all the organizational structure, high specialization tends to increase organizational politics because it creates separate groups that people try to protect. While high formalization tends to reduce politics because of the rules and regulations. Narrow spans of control probably discourage politics because managers have a closer contact with employees and so they are likely to have clearer and more accurate picture of employee performance. This makes it harder for people to act politically and to promote their self-interest.

Organizational Design Decision

There are two types of organizational design, i.e:

1. Organic structure – highly adaptive and flexible.
2. Mechanistic structure – rigid and tightly controlled.

Managers have choices which organizational structure to implement. They can choose between mechanistic and organic forms. Which one they select depends on four variables of contingency approach, which are size, technology, strategy and environment. Mechanistic structure is better matched to cost-minimization strategies, large size, routine technology and a stable environment. Organic structure work best with innovative strategies, small size, non-routine technologies and a dynamic environment.

Because of the increase in environmental uncertainty, for a better respond to global competition, for example, companies need greater flexibility which offered by organic structure.

Innovation & Change

The calm water metaphor is always related to Lewin’s three step change process – unfreeze, change and refreeze. The calm water metaphor views changes as a response to some occasional disruption in an otherwise calm and stable world. But the 3-step change process is not appropriate for the white-water rapids metaphor because the changes are continual and chaotic. It is not just a simple 3-step process, instead it requires flexible, adaptable change management techniques and organization should react and anticipate with the change.

Organizational change defined as any alteration of people, structure or technology in an organization. The best way to manage the continual and constant change is by being alert to what is happening both inside and outside the organization. We will never be able to eliminate change so the best solution is learning how to deal with it.

But organization always faces difficulties while making changes in an organization because employees will not tolerate with the changes. They don’t like it. Employees fight change because they are comfortable with the status quo. They are familiar with the way things are now (the way they do their work now) and they uncertain about what the change will do to them. They might even realize that change is needed but still fight it because they don’t like the uncertainties associated with changing.

We know that organizational culture is made up of relatively stable and permanent values, myths, symbols, practises, beliefs and rituals. There are 3 reasons organization needs to change the culture, that is:

(1) The was no longer appropriate and weak
(2) Dramatic crisis – for example unplanned drop in revenues or a major customer decided to go with another supplier
(3) Change in organization’s top leadership – normally goes hand-in-hand with dramatic crisis.

Stress will happened when the members of an organization is not agreed with the change. But not all stress are bad, there are times when stress is positive and good. Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure placed on them from extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities. Stress is good when it stimulates a person on to high levels of effort and performance. Stress can be bad when it involves uncontrollable constraints and demands, and we normally get easily distracted.

Success in business today demands innovation. For most organization, with today’s rapidly changing and complex environment, innovation is important. There may be some organization that doesn’t need to be innovating, but the number is decreasing. Innovation is going to continue to be a key competency for successful organizations.

For an organization to be creative and innovative, first thing to have is having an innovative and creative members / employees. Creativity is the ability to combine ideas in a unique way or to make unusual associations between ideas. Innovation is taking creative ideas and turning them into useful product or work methods. But how do you get people to be creative and innovative? There are 3 sets of variables that are absolutely required. They are:

(1) Structure – creative and innovative organization must have flexible, open, adaptable structure where flow of ideas and resources is much easier because few structural mechanisms that acts as a barrier to creativity and innovative process.
(2) Culture – the culture needs to encourage risk taking, focus on goals and emphasize the realities of the organization as an open system.
(3) Human resources practises – organizations must promote the training and development of employees so that their knowledge is “cutting edge”. Organizations also need to give support, embrace, celebrate and reward the idea champions.

All three of these variables contribute to an organization’s ability to be creative and innovative.