Case Study

Case Study: David Fletcher 1. What are David’s greatest strengths as a team leader? Greatest developmental needs? How did these strengths and weaknesses affect David’s ability to build a successful team the first time around? Points for Class Discussion: Greatest Strengths: * David is focused on the objective of the team and he is well aware of the function of the team once assembled. * David is also good in building mutual connection with his team members as exemplified by his “student-teacher” relationship with Stephanie.

Developmental Needs: * David lacks people skills; He should be more critical in identifying and analyzing interpersonal problems within his organization and address these problems promptly. He should realize that collaboration of his team is as important as their individual contribution, if not more. Effects to Team Building: Having a clear objective of what the team is supposed to be doing will help a lot in achieving its goal. This was evident when the team was smoothly running the first couple of months.

However, as the team was not built on solid foundation and members are not really compatible working with each other, cracks eventually formed that lead to the downfall of the group. 2. What type of team was David trying to assemble? What type of team do you think would be most appropriate for this specific business environment? David Fletcher was originally trying to build a research team composing of analysts who are experts in certain industries.

His preference of having experts for team members came from the need to analyze and sift through huge amount of research data that can assist him in coming up with sound investment decisions. His decision of building a research team to handle the details of his day to day operations would be the most appropriate strategy given his specific business environment. 3. Discuss what you think the biggest problems/obstacles faced by David in the transition to teams.

Considering that David’s strengths rely on his ability to focus on what is in front of him and make sense out of the chaos of information that floods his day to day operation, one of his biggest obstacle is his lacks of skill in observing how his team members interact with each other which highlights his ineffectiveness in people management. Additionally, the lack of structure in the way they organized their team is not really helpful in the overall cohesion and synergy of the group although they claim to have only one goal which is to make money for their investors and improve their portfolio.

This brings in another obstacle for David as his initial intention for a team loosely rely on the strength of each individual members instead of capitalizing on a harmonious relationship of the group. 4. Assess David’s second attempt to build a team. As David’s original team falls apart, his effort of building another team has the potential to follow the same route and fall into similar obstacles that lead to the downfall of the original team if he doesn’t analyze deeper the circumstances and factors that lead to the failure.

Although the potential team members are promising, there is no guarantee of a cohesive team not unless David invests more on his people to build a harmonious relationship between his subordinates. On the other hand, his initiative to persevere even if challenged with the task of starting all over again to rebuild the team is commendable. 5. What advice would you give to Mary Robinson? Points for discussion: Joining a group involves a lot of risks especially if it is a small, closely-knit team since the interactivity between members is relatively high.

Although Mary’s initial impression is positive, there is no guarantee that she can effectively work with the members in the long run. Furthermore, focusing on her area of expertise alone does not guarantee her success since David’s team is involved in various industries which may require her to work with other experts of her team. On the other hand, being in a focused and driven team will greatly improve her skills in portfolio management. If she possesses adequate people skills to blend and work with her team members without any complications then joining David’s team may prove to be a great career move for her.

Shinsei Bank Case Shinsei bank has a rich history in terms of influence over the Japanese banking sector. Of all the defining moments, there are a few moments that reflect the culture shift of Shinsei bank from the more traditional Japanese approach to the more Western business model.

These moments include the denial by Shinsei to forgive 97 billion Yen in debt owed by Sogo, the creation of the Shinsei Securities operations and the institutional banking department, being listed on the Tokyo Stock exchange and the hiring of Tom Pedersen as the Chief Learning Officer All the above moments are important because all reflect the shift from tradition and probably may account for the current lack of culture or rift between the traditional Japanese employees and the foreign employees of Shinsei.

Traditional Japanese banks were expected to view profits as long term and were expected to be more socialist in terms of sharing the burden with society. By rejecting the request of Sogo to forgive its debt, Shinsei set the tone that its main responsibility is not to society but to earn a profit for its shareholders. This aspect was strengthened by the creating of the Securities Operations and the Institutional banking department. As the case pointed out, these positions were filled by foreigners who had experience in creating profits.

In turn, these employees were mostly paid on commissions, which exacerbated their risk taking for short-term profits, which is inconsistent with the views of the traditional Japanese employee. In addition, by being listed on the stock exchange marked a milestone for the company because now its focus was completely shifted to earning profits and doing whatever was necessary to earn profits. All the above changes led to a culture rift between the traditional Japanese employees and foreign workers.

As the case pointed, this rift or lack of culture was noted by Porte. Understanding the seriousness of the problem, Porte hired Tom Pedersen to become the Chief Learning Office and assigned him with the responsibility of unifying the corporate culture with one mission for all employees. Although I agree with the use of “pay for performance” in theory, I do not agree with the two-tier system as implemented by Shinsei. At Shinsei, it seemed that the two tiered system led to resentment.

As one employee put it “Frankly, for much of the first year the atmosphere in the bank was like civil war…Everyone was fighting everyone else. ” The problem with pay for performance systems is that detracts from team work as motivation for self reward goes against the idea of helping colleagues. On the other hand, pay based on the organization profitability leads to star performers being underpaid as well as social loafing. In order to effectively implement a pay for performance system, an organization must be careful to avoid the negative side effects.

What was the aim of the values and vision exercise? How successful was it? The main purpose of the vision and values exercise was to formalize and align the current values that were present within the organization. By doing this, Pedersen hoped to align the values to the banks strategic plans. I think Pedersen has done a great job so far in trying to bridge the gap between the employees and trying to promote an organizational culture based on a common mission. His vision and values exercise was successful.

In addition, he adopted a new “360 Performance Evaluation” system for senior executives and coaching session for evaluators so the evaluations were not inflated. By doing this, Pedersen was showing that there was more emphasis on those who could follow the values of the organization, rather than just on those that produced revenues. This showed great progress to the creation of a unified corporate culture. The primary role of a Chief Learning Officer is to work with HR and other corporate functions to create a learning environment to follow the vision of the organization.

This can include creating centralized training programs, performance evaluation programs, and other programs to develop employees internally. I think the performance evaluation program should be expanded, but not at the current time. Since this has been in operations for only a year, the firm should closely evaluate the response of this program, adjust and incorporate other metrics (which are more applicable to day-to-day employees). In addition, I agree with Luton that the results of the performance evaluation should be communicated to the one being evaluated.

It is very important to communicate the findings of an evaluation to the employee and get their feedback on the process. An employee needs to know where their performance stands versus expected performance and the steps they can take to improve the performance. This can empower the employee as its shift responsibility to the employee. Generally speaking, the decision to expand or eliminate a new initiative should be based on the results obtained from the initiative versus expected results. In addition, a new initiative should be judged as to how well it fits within the organizations missions.

There are numerous ways to assess the effectiveness of an initiative such as conducting employee surveys, benchmark studies, and soliciting feedback from middle and upper management. In order to further improve collaboration, Pedersen should implement a training program which includes specific learning principles. The main purpose of the training program should be to increase employee knowledge and skills. In order for a training program to be effective, the employees must know the objective of the training program. Employees should know exactly why they are participating in the training in the first place.

The specific purpose and objective must also be communicated. Second, the training content should be meaningful which means the concepts and examples should be familiar to the trainees. In addition, the employees should be given an opportunity to practice the principals they learned and then they should be given feedback about how well they are meeting the training objective. By incorporating the above steps in a training program, an organization can break down divisional barriers and foster a firm wide learning organization.

What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats the company will encounter? Strengths One strength of the company as a whole is the diversity of the workforce. Although majority of the workers are Japanese, the composition of the workforce includes people from all over the globe, including ex-workers of LTCB. This is important because if the company were to effectively manage the diversity, it can tap into the various specialized knowledge as well as the culture knowledge of current Japanese workers. Weaknesses

Currently, the lack of communication between employees is the biggest obstacle to change. In addition, the two-tier pay system appears to be a great cause of resentment. In order for the company to be competitive, Shinsei needs to effectively manage this divide. Opportunities Currently, Shinsei has a diverse workforce with knowledge in various sectors of the banking industry. By developing and strengthening an organizational culture in which all share the same mission, the company can become very competitive Threats One threat to Shinsei is the current structure of its revenue.

As non-interest revenues are growing, Shinsei needs to figure out a way to attract retail business. The only way to do this is by creating an unified culture and tapping into the talent and skills of the current employees. Without this, Shinsei will cease to grow and will eventually become obsolete. What are the ethical underpinnings of the case? Use Schumann’s ethical framework. Consider how these decisions impact on the stakeholders? The ethical issues in this case are that Shinsei needs to develop an organization culture by managing employee performance and pay.

Currently, the two tier pay system is not working as some employees feel they are unfairly treated. However, I think in this case, the firm will not be able to fairly treat all employees. This is not to say that the action will be unethical or illegal. This just means that not all employees will feel the same towards any decision made by the firm. As such, the decision that leads to the most good should be employed. Whatever the decision, the decision will affectshareholders of the company, the employees, their families and even society itself.

For example, if a company does not change the pay system or implements a performance system that is not fair, talented employees may leave. This can lead to loss of revenue and ultimately affect the bottom line of the shareholders. With loss of revenue, the company may be forced to downsize which can affect current employees and even society. As such, any decision made by the firm will have a great impact on the stakeholders. In the end, the organization needs to make the right decision that will have the most good for the largest amount of people.

Before starting the analysis It should be taken In consideration that Zappers business is done thru e-commerce and it managed to introduce itself at the early sass’s when society had trust issues with making business online, which is the platform that Capos used to create trust and enhance it’s value proposition. 1. Acquisition Capos strategy for calculations Is to aim to prospect customers by: Word of Mouth – The best policy for quelled a client trust Is thru a good referral, this fact is exponentiation when applied to e-commerce Excellence in Customer Service –

Achieved by an easy contact either thru the website and most importantly thru the call center, whose goal is not only help the client to complete their transaction and resolve any problem they may encounter, but to go beyond and create a connection with every customer. Actions speak louder than words. This is true for the WHOM policy on Capo’s which have made them famous since the company started, Capo’s understood in their early stages that the influence of “external effects” such as advertising or direct marketing, where not good enough tools to convince society to engage with the new rend of e-commerce.

One of the mall problems with e-commerce Is trust (Specially In sass’s), Capos managed to break the trust barrier by making themselves available 24/7 and by implementing one of the most flexible return policies in the market. This two elements take away the risk of buying online, since the client has the chance to give back the product if they don’t like it or it doesn’t fits, because of these, the buying experience Is just as if you go buy the same product on a store. Once the risk has been stable, capos creates value by providing an easier shopping experience here customer can go thru an online catalogue and buy from home.

Retention By excellence in customer service, clients are constantly in a delight stage bringing high satisfaction levels since they receive way more than what they would expect from any other company and even from capos Itself! Client service and returned policies have created several switching cost, which enable them to retain their clients and also very important they created strong imitation barriers against competitors Evaluation cost – once the customer has tried and trust Capo’s service, buying the risk, which makes it simpler Just to stay with capos.

Benefit loss cost – This is not a “premium customer” benefit, but the generous return policy is given to every capos client, and it represents a big switching cost that might be stronger than strong price reductions, since the money being saved on buying the product, might not be worth nothing if they can’t trust that the product will be delivered in time, with the quality expected, with a return policy, etc..

Relational Switching Cost – The call center staff is instructed to create personal bonds with customers, even if it means to talk about non-purchasing themes for hours, everything so that clients have a personal relationship with the brand (not only one staff member, but all of them) Development All these combined had created both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, which translates into positive whom and continued repurchase habits. No matter the cost, the repurchase habits on clients must be kept specially if we take in mind that capos might constantly increase their product assortment.

Having this in mind, even when the cost of the returned policy and the call center seem high, the company is investing in the Customer Lifetime Value, as said in the article, once a customer gets acquainted with the shopping experience thru Capos their repurchase levels increase as Capos keeps growing their catalogue it’s assuring future purchases of their loyal customers. As seniority in clients grows so does their social value, which completes a cycle for new clients acquisitions by making WHOM a major drive for consumption in this industry, thus making the investment on loyalty measures completely worthwhile. . Returned Merchandise Policy Capos brand has been built from gained trust from clients, this is what makes it exceptional, since it has created customer experience of delight that comes not only from exceptional operational process but from the service provided, making client’s needs a first priority. As previously explained, the returned merchandise policy is a main component in the customer life cycle, not only is present in all stages, but its relevant for throughout acquisition, retention and development.

As if it wasn’t enough, this policy is crucial to the product value proposition and its a main differentiation factor from all competitors, since there’s no other company that’s so flexible on the returned researched. Customer equity, might be affected “negatively’ by high acquisitions/retention costs, but rather than an expense, this should be counted as an investment (as Capos attract more customers induced by a social network effect.

If Capos decided to cut down on returned policy, it would create a “dissatisfied effect” since as we had learned, the problem with delighting customers is that from now on this special treatment is now an expectation that if its not fulfill would bring to disappointment. Secondly, e-commerce is filled with competitors, big and small, you can find any kind f product assortment on the web and most importantly most of this companies try to attract their clients thru advertisement (mainly on web) and low prices.

If Capos applied the same strategy, it might destroyed value, since it won’t be able to differentiate from the rest of competitors that rely on publicity instead of being a one of a kind company that you will discover thru a very good referral. The proposition of cutting down on returned merchandise to invest on advertisement should be completely rejected, rather than advertise, it would be a better idea for the many to invest on social network management Just to make sure they are present and to empower their spokespersons to amplify the social network effect.

The merchandise returned policy might have room for improvement for profitability purposes, we haven’t been provided with the numbers, but for instance the time lapse of a one year could be cut down without having a big negative effect on clients, allowing the company to recognize profits accounting wise at an early stage. 3. Client Service by Ranking As discussed before, the call center is the key for profitability, since its the element hat creates a personal bond and the element of trust.

If Capos decides to apply a distinctive service to their clients, they will no longer be providing an exceptional customer service, at least not to all of them. The commerce industry is still in the initial phase, they are new customers buying products for the first time, they are the late adopters and they might need an incentive to take this step. The call center is exactly what this potential customers need, they are interested enough to try to contact the company, they need to check that everything is legitimate and a good client service will assure them that they can trust Zapped.

The call center is even more important for new clients, by applying a priority service based on seniority, Capos might lose a big share of their potential customers, since they will provide a disappointing first impression and some of them will defect even before they become customers. If the company is forced to cost reduction, they must do everything in their power to keep providing the excellence in customer service, because this is what the brand transmits to both new and current clients. By changing this factor, the brand will lose reduce its operational cost on logistics, their inventory, anything else before affecting client service.

Nextcard, Inc was a model for successful people who were looking to the internet in the 1990’s as an enterprise. Nextcard credit card was founded in 1996 in California as the first credit card company to issue cards online. Since the internet was still being introduced to households throughout the United States internet companies were still developing effective methods to reach potential customers.

One of the driving factors behind Nextcard Inc believing that it could succeed in the credit card industry was it believed that it could cut cost that tradition ‘brick and mortar’ credit card companies could not. During the 1990’s it was believed that the people who were using the internet were generally more affluent than your average consumer. Third Party Problems

Nextcard was unable to meet its own expectations and the philosophy behind the corporate ideas were beginning to fail. As it turned out, people were using Next card as a last resort for credit and had less than idea credit scores. In addition to this, the cost of obtaining a new customer was much higher than anticipated. All of this led to a culmination of a virtually dead IPO that was launched in 1999 during the tech bubble bursting, virtually shutting off all options to this struggling company (General Information, FDIC). This lead to floating the company until 2001 and it was reported that the company was severally undercapitalized, causing the FDIC to launch a full scale investigation. However, instead of owning up to the problem at hand, Nextcard fraudulently claimed that its losses were due to fraud and not credit losses; its allowance for bad debt was never appropriately assessed. Fraud Risk Factors

The truth is that fraud can happen in just about any company given the right circumstances, in the audit world, we usually refer to this as the fraud triangle. But at Nextcard it was more than just a few people given the opportunity to collude with intent to steal. Overall management at Nextcard Inc failed to be honest to themselves and the public about their accounting. And it wasn’t just the reports that they published, they also failed to set up an internal audit review. And on top of that the management continued to reassure investors of profit and growth during the next quarter. This lie was necessary given that the industry was dominated by a few giants who truthfully control the market they were trying to break into. But the biggest control that was broken? The use of a third party attestation firm. Fraud likely would not have occurred if it was not for Ernst & Young enabling the actions. By giving a clean opinion when not considering their position in the industry was truly damming. Ernst & Young clearly not only violated their own standards, but those of their industry. Work Paper Manipulation

Given this information one of the grade requirements is to discuss whether we believe that public accounting firms can successfully manipulate audit work papers. I do not think this answer has changed since paper work papers to the early form of electronic work papers of the late 1990’s/ early 2000’s to today. Any time that you have the ability to run your reports in a share point site like most of the larger firms use, it gives you a back door into the system to control what the interface displays (Associate Press, 2004). The real issue here is integrity and the reliability of third parties who benefit/have a liability to a service performed there is no other check that could be done without a central repository made to another agency/firm. I think the AICPA is clear in its code of conduct how events like these should be handled, but when someone goes rogue it often gets magnified and over shadow’s all of the positive compliance.

Ernst & Young Problems
Ernst & Young were named to a class action lawsuit once it was discovered that Nextcard was being deceitful in their reports. One of the biggest reasons that a lawsuit was brought forth to Ernst & Young was that it had given Nextcard Inc a clean audit opinion the year before. But Ernst & Young were not ready to accept that they were in fact negligent in their opinion, so they were found to have doctored the work papers and the time stamps on to try and hide any form of liability by one of their own auditors, Oliver Flanagan (Michael Liedtke, 2002). It’s likely that Ernst & Young may have gotten away with this if it had not been for one of their own auditors who saved the edits and turned them over to the authorities. However, I would like to point out that Oliver may not have truly been a hero, but someone just doing some CYA without trying to ruffle anyone’s feathers. You see, when he was asked to alter the work papers, he didn’t immediately notify his work hotline or outright deny this request. Instead, Oliver did what he was told and saved a copy just in case it would be needed later on. It became apparent that he did not offer this information until the investigation was already underway and there would have been a chance that he would have been caught. Oliver should have refused to adhere to this request and then ran the action up the flag pole. And if Oliver did not have the internal fortitude to do the right thing face to face, he at the very least should have notified the work abuse hotline, the AICPA hotline or even the regulatory agency. This would have allowed to him to keep the information as confidential as possible. Financial Fallout

Once all of this had been brought to light, investor confidence in Nextcard had plummeted, causing the stock price to fall from an all time high of $53.12 to $0.14. Furthermore, in early 2002 the FDIC had to take over Nextcard as they tried to negotiate a buyer for what was left of the company. A year later in 2003 Nextcard Inc was completely liquidated for $20 million in assets and with over $470 million in liabilities (General Information, FDIC). Conclusion

During 2003 several charges were brought forth against Nextcard executives for insider trading and fraud. These charges were finally settled in 2006 while the SEC had dropped the fraud charges against the founder in 2005. The firm itself was found to be in viloation of the Professional Code of Conduct by the AICPA. And while the punishment was within the standard opperating cases, it is hard to tell what the real impact to the firm overall was. Ernst & Young as still a hugely successful firm and enjoy a reputation for quality work. Depending on the geographic location and industry they are often the leader. In the end it was Nextcard Inc who suffered the worst of the charges and punishment while Ernst & Young were hardly cited a culprit. Once the case had ended so did the talk about their involvement. I do not think that the punishment was enough but I do not think that the AICPA could have done any worse. Its up to the markets to determine trust and punishment.

References
Associated Press (September 29, 2004). Retrieved October 26, 2013 from http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/29/business/fi-next29

General Information (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2013 from http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/nextbank.html

General Information (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2013 from http://securities.stanford.edu/1024/NXCD01-02/

Michael Liedtke (September 7, 2002). Retrieved October 26, 2013 from http://articles.latimes.com/2002/sep/07/business/fi-nextcard7

Instructions

Read the following case study about a woman, Allison, who is suffering from anxiety. After you have read the case study, diagnose Allison and present some methods of treatment by answering the questions.

Presenting Complaint

Allison, a 33-year-old white woman, knew that it was finally time for her to seek psychological services. She had always been an anxious person and, for years, had managed to keep it under control. But, this time she felt as though she was fighting a losing battle and worried that it was going to result in her being fired from her job.

Allison worked as a flight attendant for a major airline and loved interacting with the passengers. She was particularly proud of her extensive knowledge of aircraft safety regulations and had confidence in her ability to properly manage a crisis situation should it arise. However, over the past year she had missed a significant amount of work because of her extreme anxiety about flying and staying in hotels in different cities. She had wanted to believe that her worry about her career was justified, but she knew deep down that she worried about everything, not just work.

She worried about other things that most people would see as trivial: whether she would be caught in the rain without an umbrella, if she was going to remember to pay her bills on time, or if the bus she was riding would break down and leave her stranded. Allison recalled that she noticed a change in her thinking after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. She repeatedly thought, “That could have been me in that plane. What would I have done? This is just one more sign that the world has become a very dangerous place. Allison finds that she can’t relax on her days off because she spends the entire time worrying about taking her next flight. “I worry all the time—about everything. She worries that she will miss the bus to the airport and be late for work. She worried that she will have a panic attack on the airplane and the pilots will have to make an emergency landing. She also worries about the hotel that she is scheduled to stay in and whether or not they will still have her reservation when she arrives. Furthermore, Allison worries about the danger of being out at night in a strange town.

She explains, “It’s just not safe for a single woman to be out at night. Some cities have a high rate of crime and are extremely dangerous. ” Allison finds that she worries about all of these things simultaneously, which leaves her exhausted and overwhelmed. However, when she tries to sleep, she cannot shut her mind off. She lays awake for hours thinking about all of the things that could happen. Therefore, Allison is often sleep deprived which leaves her stressed, tense, and irritable. Allison has experienced a few panic attacks in her life, but has not had a panic attack in more than two years.

But she still carries Xanax with her everywhere she goes, just in case she needs it. Ever since she was 7 years old, she has worried about random issues. Allison remembers walking through her house at 7 years old, checking on all of the appliances to make sure that they were all unplugged before everyone fell asleep in fear that a fire would break out and burn the house down. Allison was also worried as a 3rd grader about her mother dying any day from cancer, since her mother was a smoker. When Allison was 16, she had great difficulty with learning how to drive in fear that she would be involved in a car accident.

Indeed, Allison was involved in 2 car accidents, none of which were her fault. Regardless, Allison quit driving and has taken public transportation ever since. Allison has had difficulty with seeking treatment because she is afraid to give up her worrying. She believes that some of her anxiety has been helpful because it has kept her safe. And by worrying, Allison believes that is able to help prevent the negative event from occurring. For example, because of Allison’s worrying, her mother quit smoking and is cancer-free today.

In fact, Allison is considering removing herself from treatment because she is afraid that the psychologist will tell her that she has a serious problem that is beyond help. If she cannot get help, then what will she do? Social and Family History Allison is the youngest of 6 children, 4 of which are boys. She was raised by both parents and considers herself the “black sheep” of the family. Allison felt very different from her brothers because of gender and the way that they treated her with a paternalistic manner. Allison felt inadequate around her sister, who seemed to be successful in everything she did.

Allison feels like her sister looks down on Allison because of the anxiety. Allison’s father never understood her, either. He was very distant and did not seem to want much to do with the children. He worked long hours and spent much time taking Allison’s mother on long errands since Allison’s mother was afraid to go out alone. Allison tried really hard to do well in school to get her father’s attention, but it never seemed to be quite enough. Allison often had to rely on her older siblings to take care of her since their mother was always “sick”. Her mother rarely left the house and would spend hours locked in her room.

Allison thought that her mother suffered from agoraphobia and remembers conversations with her mother about how dangerous the world is. Because of her mother’s beliefs about the dangerousness of the world, Allison was not allowed to play outside with friends unless a parent was supervising at all times. Therefore, Allison did not make many friends. Instead, she played in the neighbor’s garden since her mother could see Allison from the window. One day, Allison’s neighbor, Jack, was helping Allison in the garden and offered her some cookies and milk.

Allison had to go inside with Jack to get the cookies and milk, but she thought that it would not be a problem since mom was right next door. Once inside Jack’s home, he sexually abused Allison. She never told anyone since she believed it was her fault for going inside and not staying in her mother’s line of sight. Allison has been unable to stay in a long-term relationship. Just after Allison moved away from her home town for the first time in her life, her boyfriend broke up with her. He was supposed to move in with Allison, but a week after Allison bought a home and moved her belongings in, he ended the relationship.

That was the last time Allison had a severe panic attack. She was hospitalized and has been terrified of living alone ever since.

Diagnosis

Refer to the DSM-IV-TR checklist for generalized anxiety disorder.

• Which of Allison’s symptoms meet the diagnostic criteria? Be sure to match specific symptoms with specific criteria.
• Based on your review of Allison’s symptoms and the diagnostic criteria, could Allison be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder or would she be better diagnosed with a phobia or obsessive –compulsive disorder?
• Does Allison appear to have a comorbid panic disorder? Refer to the diagnostic criteria for panic disorder with agoraphobia and determine if she warrants this diagnosis, too.
• How would the sociocultural perspective explain Allison’s generalized anxiety disorder?
• How would the current psychodynamic perspective explain Allison’s generalized anxiety disorder?
• How would the cognitive perspective explain Allison’s generalized anxiety disorder?
• What are the second-generation cognitive explanations for generalized anxiety disorder and how do the activities associated with each theory serve to maintain the worry?
• Describe a biological explanation for why Allison developed generalized anxiety disorder.

Treatment

• Which theoretical perspectives offer treatments for generalized anxiety disorder that have been more than modestly supported by the research literature?
• Discuss the cognitive therapy technique of focusing on worry.
• What are some of the nondrug biological treatments used to treat generalized anxiety disorder?

Introduction

This paper seeks to demonstrate, in some detail, on how one could say that in City Bank A, the organization and its work and workers were organized on the basis of the divisional grouping (in a divisional structure) and that, in the City Bank B, the organization and its work and workers were re-organized on the basis of functional grouping (in a Functional structure). Simultaneously, this paper will also attempt to show how the text list of strengths and weaknesses for both Divisional and Functional structures respectively apply to what is going on the First National Bank before and after the reorganization of work based on the introduction of new technology. Thus such demonstration in some detail on how the text’s definitions, advantages and disadvantages for both Divisional and Functional structures apply on the cases “A” and “B” respectively above will also is made. The last part of the paper will make recommendations on how things should now be done in the light of the end of the case.

Case A -First National City Bank

Case facts (A) say the Operating Group (OG) was one of the six major divisions established in a reorganization of Citibank at the end of 1968, where the other five division are market-oriented divisions ones as shown in its organization chart. These five other divisions have varying demands for OG services and hence all of them want to have for continued growth in 1971 as all has been demanding for improved performance on the OG.

The fact of varying demands for OP services by each of the other five divisions proves the existence of a divisional grouping or the presence of divisional organizational structure for Citibank. The other five divisions which are market oriented include the Personal Banking Group, the Investment Management Group, the Corporate Banking Group, the Commercial Banking Group and the International Banking Group (IBG) (Case facts – A). In theory, divisional grouping,  connotes  people are organized according to what the organization produces in terms of products or services to customer or clients and each division may have the elements or personnel coming from the different functional areas of expertise like marketing, manufacturing and sales which are grouped together under one executive  (Text on Fundamentals of Organizational Structure). Under the same concept of divisional grouping, the text on ‘Fundamentals of Organizational Structure’ asserts the possibility of independent business units in huge corporations but it would seem that in the case of Citibank A, the other five divisions are still dependent on the support and performance of the Operating Group, although there is a showing of some independence of each division as shown by the fact of having for each division its own employees.

As further proof of divisional grouping, the different services or products handled by the other five divisions are as follows: For the Personal Banking Group (PBG) of Citibank, it has  181 branches and 6,000 employees and the groups provided a full range of services to customers and small business into the metropolitan New York Area.  PBG’s services are different from that of the Investment Management Group (IMG) which serves its own customers with 1,700 employees by managing assets for personal and institutional investors, and providing full banking services to wealthy individuals. As compared with PBG, IMG normally has normally a smaller quantity accounts which is presently carried at some 7,000 accounts, hence it is not surprising for the group to also have smaller number of employees (Case facts – A).

Still another group offering different services from the rest includes the Corporate Banking Group which has its subdivisions into six industry specialist divisions, which render service to big business, financial institutions and government accounts within the US. This is further being made different from the services offered by the Commercial Banking Group which operated 16 regional centers in the New York area by serving medium-sized companies (Case facts – A). Most of the latter’s clientele-companies failed to employ their own professional finance executives and thus causing them to rely from the banks for advice about money matters as well as banking services.

The fifth group is the International Banking Group (IBG) which also caters to different customers from the others by operating some 300 overseas branches. The group also managed several subsidiary units of First National City Corporation that dealt with foreign investments, services and leasing (Case facts – A).

Some of the strengths of a divisional structure that may be confirmed in the case of City Bank A include the fact that the structure is good for organization with multiple products; that it suited for fast change and unstable environment; that it allows units to adopt to differences in products, regions and customers; that it is best in large organizations with several products and that it decentralizes decision making (Text on Fundamentals of Organizational Structure).

A suitability of the divisional structure for Citibank A confirms the applicability of then mentioned strengths as provided by the case facts that that there were only few major changes in equipment or physical space as a result of implementing changes under the new organization. Case facts further provides that the approach used made the transition an easy one thus the claim that by the late 1969, OPG was running smoothly under four-area structure as briefly discussed as follows:  Area I was in charge of processing the transactions that mainly constituted the bank’s business. Areas II covered system design and software computer operations and was considered the intellectual side of OPG. Area III was made independent from OPG’s paper-oriented processing groups and was made in charge of the bank’s real estate, physical facilities, and building services. Area IV was focused to relatively low-volume, high- value transaction processing departments as those dealing with corporate bonds, stock transfer, mutual funds, and corporate cash management (Case facts – A).

Among weaknesses of a divisional grouping that could be confirmed in Citibank A include the fact that it leads to poor coordination among product lines (between different divisions) and the fact that it eliminates in-depth competence and technical specialization (Text on Fundamentals of Organizational Structure). These weaknesses may be found by inflexibility of one division to make coordination with other division from the market oriented ones since each division is focused on attaining its own objective as a way showing performance.

Case B – First National City Bank

Citibank B follows the functional grouping as admitted by case facts (B) that the company’s processing has always been conceived of in functions, rather than in systems processes. This means that all the work flow into one pipeline of processing functions. Given as illustration includes the activities of processing, encoding, read-to-tape, sorting, reconcilement, repair, and dispatch which fall under the Operating Group’ function. Thus the existence of one pipe line of activities for Citibank B. Thus case facts also provide from the report of the consultant that the pipeline creaked and groaned under the strain until it eventually burst. This was not surprising as transactions could reach 2-3 millions per day (Case facts – B).

Among the strengths of functional structure that may be confirmed by the circumstances of Citibank B include the following: that it allows economies of scale within the functional department that it enables in-depth knowledge and skill development; and that it enables organization to accomplish functional goals (Text on Fundamentals of Organizational Structure).   As to how the strengths of the functional grouping are applied in the case of Citibank may be found with company by the fact that having the work to flow into one pipeline of processing functions could result to economies of scale. With the repetitive nature of work flow, the people involved in the work flow would have an easier way to mastery of the knowledge that would result into more skill development as contrasted to that of divisional grouping.

As for the weaknesses or disadvantages of the grouping; the following may be confirmed by Citibank B: that there is a slow response time to environmental changes; it may cause decision to file up on top; that it leads to poor horizontal coordination among departments; that it results in less innovation; and that it involves restricted view of organizational goals (Text on Fundamentals of Organizational Structure).

These observations may be confirmed in the case facts which provide that in case one pipe breaks, all the work in the pipe before the break stops or spill out.  This actually happened with the bank when the pipeline reached the point of bursting and these created many backlogs for the company that was causing overtime work and increase employees. It was the very reasons also the Reed of the Operating Group implemented two phases of changes for the company with the objective of improved performance and reduced costs.

 The strategy of Citibank B was to break down that pipeline into smaller lines each carrying a different product and each supervised by a single manager who controlled every aspect of his process (Case facts – B). This strategy has the characteristics of divisional grouping as more focused now is made to the customer. Thus the aim of the changes was that from a time a customer originates a transaction all, a manager will be able to control all the way through a straight line until we dispatch the results back to the customer (Case facts – B).

Conclusion and Recommendations

The text on ‘Fundamentals of Organizational Structure’ provides that the organization structure of an organization must accomplish two things. First, is the need to provide a framework for responsibilities, reporting relationships and groupings, and it second is the need to must to provide mechanisms for linking and coordinating organizational elements in a coherent whole.

City Bank A has the characteristic of the elements of well functioning divisional structure hence there are only few things to be done to improve the system. Theory however requires linking the organization into a coherent whole by the use of information systems and linkage devises in addition to the organizational chart to allow the effective working of the organization, hence the same must still be applied to City Bank A particularly as to the improvement of the processes in the operating group by still developing new computer systems for the use of Area I which was considered the operating part of the Operating Group in  processing checks for collection from other banks, posting the accounts for Citibank’ customers transferred funds from one customer to another, and preparing customer bank statements.

At its present status, Citibank appears to be on the right track in the minor changes that the company is doing under the divisional grouping.  Thus its present structure is consistent with theory that gives importance to understanding the information–processing perspective on structure. It has therefore allowed its present design of organizational in providing information linkages on the basis of its defined goal. It has less emphasis on vertical linkages such as hierarchy and formal information systems and instead focused on the customer by grouping its people and work process while allowing greater communication and coordination as contrasted to a functional grouping

As for Citibank B, the company is advised to continue with its Phase II of the changes desired for the company.  The company wanted to effect a performance criteria under the different approaches which included defining the products or services as given importance by the customer, developing a customer-to-customer flowchart and procedures for processing each product or service, and developing the organization to match and support the product definition and process flow and customer-to-customer basis.

Part of the approaches includes also developing its physical layout in closed-room, one-floor layout that matched the flows, procedures and organizations that could improve control and minimize movement, and fit in support functions into the responsible line organization. The plan of the company is closer to converting to divisional grouping. This is further evidenced by its plan to have a manager responsible in controlling transactions from the time it originates from all the way through a straight line until and the company dispatches the results back to the customer.

It is found in the analysis of Citibank A and B that the type of the organizational structure is governed by the need of company in terms of its products and customers While one grouping may have some strengths which are the weaknesses of the other, still the company must determine the right combinations as it sees what is more important.  For Citibank which has different products and services, it was found that the divisional grouping was better than functional grouping.

Reference

1. Case Facts- A (1974)- First National City Bank, Harvard Business School case 474-165.
2. Case Facts- B (1975)- First National City Bank, Harvard Business School case 474-166

In June 1971, air transportation was not seen to be the primary transportation tool because of all the time wasted from checking in, expensive price, and air time. Therefore, SWA was not only competing with other airlines but also on-ground public transportations. SWA had to come up with a marketing strategy that will convince people that they are different from Braniff and other airlines that were seen to be inefficient and poor punctuality. SWA utilize market positioning by evaluating all other airlines’ characteristics and where they are being positioned in consumers’ minds. Afterward, SWA had to create a new position that will be able to convince and persuade consumers. SWA strategically positioned itself to be the most obvious and fun airlines in comparison to others. This was the direction SWA went as they advertise and send out messages to the public. The primary factors positioning SWA were lowest fare, short haul, high frequency, point to point carrier, and fun to fly. SWA was able to crack the nature of typical airlines marketing problems by positioning itself to be more revealing and convincing to the general consumers.

The steps of purchase decision process are problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, postpurchase behavior. SWA recognized the problems in the existing airline service that were not met to consumers’ expectations. The purchasing process went as consumers first discover their need to find a transportation to get to the destination in a timely manner. Then they further look into the values, cost, and services of the existing options. Consumers then assessing the values to decide with one match with their intention the most and continue to look for alternatives. This is when product positioning will affect consumers’ purchasing decision. A good marketing strategy will attract consumers in doubts. Consumers then proceed to make the purchase. Lastly, consumers evaluate their flying experiences. The factors could be ranging from if the price was reasonable, if the services were beyond their expectations, if the check in and flying time were efficient…etc. All these postpurchase behavior could be beneficial and detrimental to airlines. If consumers had a good flying experience, they would most likely fly from the same airline again and recommend others to do so as well.

 Some segmentation existing regarding airline services were value-conscious consumers, small business executives, travel short distances, prefer low cost fares, and frequent schedules. Value-conscious consumers care about the services they get from the amount of dollars they invested. This is where airlines can get loyalty from consumers. Values that consumers care about could be ranging from the service and attitudes of hostesses on flight, the quality of the snacks, and the comfort during the flight. Different consumers will value different things. However, it is crucial for SWA to realize the important ones and make a marking strategy out of them to target this group of consumers. The second segment is the small business executives. These consumers fly regularly and represent 89% of SWA’s traffics. It is important to gain commitment from this segment. SWA offers exclusive supply of tickets and billing on the monthly basis are the strategy to keep this segment of consumers. Business executives can save tremendous amount of time by cutting down the costs of frequent purchase and payment of the tickets. The third segment is traveling short distances. Consumers in this segment look for time saving efficient travel transportation. SWA attracts these consumers by simplifying checking process and waiting time for the flight. The forth segment is consumers who prefer the lowest cost fares. This segment is easier to deal with as SWA simply offers lower ticket prices than others within the region. Lastly, the segment of consumers who look for frequent schedules. SWA’s strategy to contain these consumers is to shorten the time of planes resting at the designating airport and increase the trips a planes travel in a day.

Braniff and TI were not satisfying consumers’ needs in the early 1971. This is why SWA saw the opportunities to create a well-established and consumers oriented airline to take over the market. The flights provided by Braniff and TI were usually crowded and hard to make reservation. There were a lot of cancelled flights and the routes were not direct flying. Therefore, consumers looking to travel usually have to stop at somewhere first, then their destination. The poor punctuation and services led consumers to step away from flying and look for alternatives transportations. In January 1973, Braniff came up with a new pricing strategy in which all tickets became half priced flying in the major routes of SWA. Such strategy actually increased the amount of consumers and passed SWA’s number of passengers during that time. It can be seen clearly that price was the biggest factor in this industry.

The pricing strategy in marketing mix was utilized in favor of SWA. The lowest price fares not only compete with other airlines, but also ground transportations. SWA focuses on keeping the price down. Even when the market gets busy, it will resolve to add more flying schedule than raising the price. The second marketing mix is the product strategy. SWA’s product is simply travel. They are competing with all companies providing the same services. SWA’s product strategy is to provide the most frequent, convenient, and low fares travel experience. Also, SWA emphasizes on direct nonstop travel from point A to point B unlike most of other transportations. The third marketing mix is promotion. SWA’s promotion strategy is to differentiate itself from other airlines. They want to bring a whole different experience to the consumers. SWA emphasizes on having “fun” while traveling. The atmosphere SWA gives off to consumer is different from other airlines. Also, SWA wants to make every passenger to feel special and important. SWA’s low fares, fast travel, and fun factors are the promotion strategy SWA aim to achieve and persuade consumers. Lastly, the place the SWA’s service. SWA really cares about its passengers and conducted a survey to discover a more efficient airport for consumers. SWA reopened an old airport to fly simply because it was more convenient and closer to most of the passengers in the region.

I don’t think SWA should match Braniff’s deal. Braniff’s company strategy revolves around the amount of passengers. However, SWA’s strategy emphasizes on passengers’ flying experience. The amount of passengers Braniff will take away from SWA with this deal will not be that significant. The flights will be packed and services will not be as good as SWA. Instead of matching Braniff’s new price, I think SWA should come out with advertisements to persuade consumers that flying experience worth more than few dollars of discount. Also, SWA should have a good amount of loyal customer by now. The only consumers they need to worry about are in the lowest ticket price segment. Since people from this segment care the most about pricing. I think SWA can have one day out of the week dedicated to a lower priced trip with the same services of regular price. This way, consumers from this segmentation will still be willing the travel from SWA.